Tremont Select Board limits proposed deer-hunt eligibility to residents and landowners after public hearing

The Tremont Select Board voted on Feb. 17 to limit eligibility under a draft Deer Management Plan to residents and landowners, and asked the Town Manager to submit the revised plan to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for review.

The board opened a public hearing on the draft plan and the allowance of deer hunting in Tremont; the minutes record that public comment was heard and that the hearing was closed at 6:18 p.m. The minutes also record the hearing opening at 5:02 p.m., while the meeting record lists the call to order at 5:06 p.m. (this timing discrepancy is noted in the audit accompanying these minutes).

During regular business the board considered several motions about who should be eligible under the draft plan. A motion by Chair Jamie Thurlow, seconded by McKenzie Jewett, to restrict the draft to residents was made and then rescinded. A later motion by Kevin Buck, seconded by Chair Thurlow, to allow only residents failed on a 2–2 vote (Select Board members McKenzie Jewett and Howard Goodwin opposed). The board then approved a motion by Jewett, seconded by Goodwin, to include both residents and landowners; that motion passed 3–1 with Chair Thurlow recorded as opposed.

After approving the residents-and-landowners language, the board unanimously approved a motion by Kevin Buck, seconded by Howard Goodwin, requesting that Town Manager Jesse Dunbar make the approved amendments to the draft and submit it to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for feedback.

The actions leave the draft plan amended to limit eligibility to residents and landowners and formally in the hands of the Town Manager and the state agency for additional feedback. No formal timetable for further action was recorded in the minutes. The board adjourned at 7:08 p.m.; its next regular meeting is scheduled for March 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at the Town Office.