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VPT's Outdoor
Journal #307
Road Bike
TripExploring Vermont's back roads on a bike trip is a terrific way to discover places you didn't know existed. A bike trip slows the pace of travel down. You see things that most people don't see. You get a feel for the terrain you're traveling on. You get a lot of exercise during the day, and you sleep really well at night. A bike tour also offers you the opportunity to meet new people who share your interest in cycling. Friendships can take hold as you peddle through the countryside. You find yourself sharing moments together that people in cars never have. Taking a bike tour with an established tour company can not only take a lot of the guess work out of planning your route, it can offer invaluable things such as roadside repairs, or even a ride if you get little tired. Host Marianne Eaton joins Vermont Bicycle Tours on their Champlain Valley Tour for a little inn-to-inn biking through the Champlain Valley.
RETURN TO TOP  Youth
Deer HuntAccording to surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the average age of hunters has increased from 35 in 1980 to 42 in 2001. The best way to get young people interested in hunting is to make sure that they have a positive hunting experience the first time around. The Lake Hortonia Country Store in Hubbardton holds a "Youth Hunting Weekend" during Vermont's annual youth deer season in an effort to foster an interest in preserving Vermont's hunting heritage for kids. It was first held in 1999 and has become a big community event, attracting upwards of 300 kids interested in celebrating our hunting heritage. The event was founded on the idea that hunting is not just about bagging game, but quality time spent with those you hunt with. It also strives to promote the ethical aspects of hunting and stresses the importance of sportsmanship to new hunters. Though the highlight of the weekend is the drawing of lifetime hunting licenses for a few lucky kids, the real reward comes from introducing them to the joys of quality time spent in the woods.
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Goose HuntIn the Atlantic Flyway almost as many Canada geese are bagged as all duck species combined. There are basically two kinds of Canada geese — migratory birds, which are the birds that fly north in the spring and nest on the tundra, and resident Canada geese, which nest all through the Atlantic Flyway and only migrate as much as they have to when they're forced south by winter weather. There are no distinguishing features between a resident and migrant Canada goose. In addition to banding operations, researchers have taken to the skies over the nesting grounds in northern Quebec on the Ungava Peninsula to determine migratory populations. Data from these operations can help determine how goose hunting seasons are established. In Vermont there is a September season that is specifically targeted at resident birds, while migrant goose season usually begins around the third week in October. In the fall of 2003 the first reciprocal license existed between Vermont and New Hampshire for waterfowl hunting along the Connecticut River zones. Host Lawrence Pyne joins Rob Harvey, a Vermont native and one of the top goose biologists in the country, for a day hunting migratory Canada geese on the Connecticut River.
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