Vermonters are only allowed to sell meat from that year's harvest, during that season and 20 days post-season. I don't think it's because they are uninformed that they don't sell their meat. It's more like, Why would they want to? Freezing up in a tree at the crack of dawn, day after day. If you are blessed with the opportunity to finally harvest one or more deer, it's far more meaningful to a hunter to share the bounty with their immediate and extended family and friends/neighbors. Problem is, the state of Vermont is too expensive to survive in. If Vermonters are out investing time into filling their freezers, it's because they know that between taxes, heating bills and other additional expenses during the winter months they won't be able to afford to add meat on their grocery lists.

I read the article in The Atlantic. I survive on the "veni" that we harvest and I butcher 12 chickens each year and I can promise you that one deer alone is not going to comfortably feed a family of three or four, even when you are able to salvage all edible organs (which is difficult, because to kill the deer you must damage vital organs-you aim at the heart). Though if someone were living alone and had the time to get out there and fill all four of their tags, of course selling the meat would be a source of income.

Also, "too small to kill" is nothing that a true, cold-and-hungry hunter, needing to fill their freezer, says during bow season. The smaller the tastier. Sorry for the brutal honesty. However, it's nothing that any other hunter wouldn't say.

Instead of people trying to buy deer meat from Vermonters, why don't they get out there and kill it for themselves? It's not easy.  Which means that if you look online and find a deer farm selling meat you should plan on double or triple the cost from someone who invested time into scouting, setting up stands, then waiting for the opportunity. Then God forbid you miss your shot after going out and practicing every day with your bow or gun. So much disappointment and frustration to deal with.

It's about much more than money. It's about strategy, perseverance, and tradition for myself and all the hunters that I know.

So, in conclusion I'd just like to say, We need more hunters out there, not more shoppers.

— Nicole Moore, Bradford, VT

In response to the 1/12/26 item:

A bounty of “succulent, free-range meat is currently running through America’s backyards.” Though to write about why Americans should be eating more deer meat, The Atlantic’s Yasmin Tayag (gift link) headed not to the suburbs, but to our very own backyard, where she went hunting last month with Dartmouth biology prof Ryan Calsbeek and Wolf Tree owner Max Overstrom-Coleman. Tayag details how, “Wherever deer are overabundant, they are at best a nuisance and at worst a plague”—and how efforts to encourage hunters to sell venison to shoppers and restaurants run up against state policy and longstanding tradition. Turns out, VT’s the only state where hunters can legally sell deer they kill—but no one takes advantage of it.