White Bull Killed in Vermont
The taking of an albino moose in Vermont by a teenage girl has brought up the debate again. The photos of the moose killed in Vermont are rather impressive. Within the hunting community there are two basic camps a trophy or something that should be protective.
I fall in the trophy camp I see no reason to protect an animal that has a recessive gene. Albino animals are often deaf and suffer other abnormalities that make survival in the wild a lot more challenging. By protecting them you risk passing on the trait to future generations.
One of the arguments against the killing of albino animals is that Native Americans saw them as sacred or special. While there are numerous stories of how magical encounters with ghost deer or buffalo by Native Americans there is also stories about how they killed and used their hides for special powers.
I see it like many of the other characteristics of the animal that we hunt be antler size, beard length, or whatever we see that makes it special to us.
With that said it is sad that a hunter especially a young hunter has to hide their identity because of the craziness that the legal taking of a rare moose.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department moose registration report on the kill shows the moose was shot with a rifle at 7:15 a.m. Oct. 20 on the North Side of Black Mountain in Averill, just south of the Canadian border. The region is a haven for moose with its vast stretches of undeveloped paper-company land and the sprawling Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. The area is crisscrossed by dirt roads where a motorist can wind by forests, mountains and bogs for an afternoon without seeing another car.
The bull moose weighed in at 744 pounds and had antlers with a spread of 45 inches. The hunter was among 770 people awarded a legal permit to shoot a moose in Vermont during the Oct. 16-21 season. About 11,000 people applied for permits in this year’s annual lottery.
Although Vermont has restrictions on moose hunting, there is no prohibition on shooting an albino moose.
The animal was hauled out of the woods by horse — a common practice — loaded into a pickup and brought to be tagged and registered at the Island Pond weigh station, a temporary setup erected for the season at a highway department garage on Railroad Street. Vermont State Game Warden Jason Dukette received word that an albino had been shot and was at the weigh station to study the animal, which he estimated to be about 2 years old. The moose’s eyes were pink, as were its hooves — indicating a true albino.
“It was as white as white can be,” Dukette said.
Congratulations to the successful hunter You have taken a spectacular trophy.
