Attn VT Waterfowl Hunters- H.I.P. registration changes

VERMONT AGENCY OF NATURAL RESOURCES

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: December 22, 2009

Media Contacts: William Crenshaw, 802-879-5699; Scott Darling, 802-786-3862



Fish & Wildlife Improves Harvest Information Program Registration



WATERBURY, VT – If you hunt migratory game birds, you must register with the Federal Harvest Information Program each year. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is providing migratory game bird hunters with an improved registration process in effect for 2010. Vermont, like other states, will forward the required information to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help in managing migratory game birds.



The Harvest Information Program (H.I.P.) enables the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S.F.W.S.) and state fish and wildlife agencies to develop reliable estimates of the number of migratory game birds harvested throughout the country. These estimates are important in making sound decisions about setting hunting season dates, bag limits and population management for ducks, geese, coots, snipe, and woodcock. .



Vermont sends between 8,000 and 10,000 addresses of these hunters to the U.S.F.W.S. each year. The U.S.F.W.S. uses the list to randomly sample hunters for the required information.



The new H.I.P. registration process is easier and more accurate. Hunters who may go hunting for migratory game birds are required to either register on Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s website (vtfishandwildlife.com) or to call, toll free, 1-877-306-7091. After providing some basic information, you will receive your annual H.I.P. registration number, which you then need to record in the H.I.P. section of your hunting license.



Hunters who have a permanent or lifetime Vermont hunting license should print out the website response form showing the H.I.P. number and write it on the back of their hunting license. Permanent and lifetime who register by telephone between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will receive a number over the phone for their license.



Hunters who have registered for H.I.P. and have lost their license or H.I.P. number can look up their number on Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s website.