Is It Illegal to Feed Deer in Vermont? What the Law Actually Says

If you live in Vermont or spend time in the Green Mountain State, you may have spotted a white-tailed deer browsing at the edge of a field and felt the urge to leave out some corn or apples. It seems harmless — even kind. But Vermont takes a firm stance on this practice, and what you do not know about the law could cost you.

Vermont is one of the strictest states in the country when it comes to deer feeding. The prohibition applies year-round, covers both homeowners and hunters, and is rooted in serious wildlife health concerns. This article walks you through exactly what the law says, where and when restrictions apply, what you can and cannot put out, how Chronic Wasting Disease shapes the rules, and what happens if you violate them.

Is It Illegal to Feed Deer in Vermont?

The short answer is yes — feeding deer in Vermont is illegal at virtually all times and in virtually all circumstances. It is illegal to bait or feed deer in Vermont. This prohibition is not limited to hunting season. It applies to backyard wildlife enthusiasts, homeowners, and hunters alike, making Vermont’s approach more sweeping than many other states.

The rule comes directly from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board, which sets the regulations governing the state’s deer herd. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department confirms that baiting or feeding deer and bear is prohibited at all times in Vermont, and while products labeled as deer food may appear in some Vermont stores, it is strictly against state law to put that food out for deer, whether for feeding or baiting purposes.

Vermont’s deer is the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the state’s most popular game species and a familiar sight across its forests, farmlands, and rural communities. Deer is Vermont’s most popular game species, with about 60,000 resident hunters and 7,500 out-of-state hunters heading into the white-tail woods each fall. Protecting this population from disease is central to why the feeding ban exists.

Important Note: Even if you see bags of grain or corn labeled as “deer food” at a local store, purchasing and placing that product out for deer is a violation of Vermont law. The state’s Fish and Wildlife Board regulates wildlife feeding, not commerce, so the sale of such products is technically permitted — but using them is not.

Where and When Deer Feeding Is Restricted in Vermont

Vermont’s deer feeding prohibition does not vary by county, wildlife management unit, or season — it applies statewide and year-round. There is no window during the year when a private citizen may legally place food out to attract deer on their property.

It is illegal to feed wild deer at any time, except under a license or permit issued by Fish & Wildlife for scientific research, mitigation of wildlife damage or nuisance problems, or wildlife population reduction programs. Outside of those narrow, permit-based scenarios, no geographic area or time of year creates an exemption for ordinary residents.

This statewide, year-round scope sets Vermont apart from states that only restrict deer feeding during hunting seasons or in specific zones. Whether you live in Chittenden County near Burlington, in the Northeast Kingdom, or anywhere else in the state, the same rule applies to your property.

Vermont’s rules also extend to hunters in the field. It is illegal to take deer by using bait. Hunters cannot place food to attract deer before or during any deer season, including archery, rifle, and muzzleloader seasons. This prohibition covers all Wildlife Management Units across the state.

What You Can and Cannot Feed Deer in Vermont

Given the broad prohibition, it helps to understand what specific activities are and are not permitted under Vermont law. The rules are detailed, and a few lawful exceptions exist for agricultural and incidental scenarios.

What Is Prohibited

• Placing corn, grain, apples, salt licks, mineral blocks, or any other food intended to attract deer
• Using bait to hunt deer during any deer season
• Using deer lures made from natural cervid urine, blood, gland oil, feces, or other bodily fluids
• Distributing or selling any commercial feed product labeled as bait or feed for white-tailed deer

Deer lures containing any cervid urine, blood, gland oil, feces, or other bodily fluids are illegal to use in Vermont. This extends the prohibition beyond food to include scent-based attractants that could carry disease-causing prions into the environment.

It is also illegal to sell feed meant for deer under Vermont statute 6 V.S.A. Section 324(d), which states that no person shall distribute a commercial feed product in the state that is labeled as bait or feed for white-tailed deer.

What Is Permitted

Vermont law carves out a limited set of exceptions that are not considered feeding or baiting. The following four circumstances are not considered baiting: incidental feeding of wildlife within active livestock operations; standing crops planted and left standing as food plots for wildlife; grain or other feed scattered or distributed solely as a result of normal agricultural, gardening, or soil stabilization, and logging practices; and vegetation or food or seed naturally deposited.

Bird feeders are also addressed specifically. Incidental feeding by elevated bird or squirrel feeders — feeders must be at least five feet above the ground — providing seed, grain, fruit, worms, or suet for birds or squirrels, located within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling, is permitted. If deer happen to access a bird feeder that does not meet these specifications, you could be in violation of the law.

Food plots do not increase disease transmission risk. They are available at all times of day during the normal growing season, often well outside of hunting seasons, and they benefit many wildlife species, including small mammals, songbirds, and pollinators, not just deer or other game species. Planting a food plot on your land is therefore a legal and wildlife-friendly alternative to direct feeding.

Pro Tip: If you want to support deer on your property, consider planting a food plot with clover, brassicas, or native browse species. Vermont law permits this practice, and it provides nutritional benefits without concentrating animals at a single feeding point.

Deer Feeding and CWD Regulations in Vermont

The reason Vermont bans deer feeding is not arbitrary. Feeding and baiting of deer are illegal in Vermont primarily because of the increased disease transmission risk associated with these practices. The disease at the center of this concern is Chronic Wasting Disease, commonly known as CWD.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological disease found in deer, elk, caribou, and moose populations in certain geographical locations in North America. CWD is caused by a mutant protein called a prion. The disease belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and it attacks the brains of infected animals, producing small lesions that result in death.

Vermont has so far avoided CWD in its wild deer population, but the threat is close. CWD has not been found in Vermont, but in 2018 the disease was found in a captive red deer in Quebec Province, less than 100 miles from the Vermont border — a proximity that serves as a serious wake-up call that every precaution must be taken to prevent the disease from entering the state.

Feeding concentrates deer at a single location, which is precisely the condition that allows CWD prions to spread efficiently. CWD is spread by close contact between animals, and animals exposed to a CWD-contaminated environment may also become infected. Research shows prions can be shed in saliva, blood, urine, feces, antler velvet, and body fat. Prions bind to soil where they can remain infectious for years, and usually months to years pass before an infected animal shows signs of the disease, even when an infected deer is contagious.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board adopted a rule that bans baiting and feeding of deer specifically because these practices could expose more deer to the disease should it occur in Vermont. The ban on natural urine-based deer lures follows the same logic. It is illegal to use natural urine-based lures, because lures containing natural deer urine or other bodily fluids increase the risk of chronic wasting disease being introduced to Vermont’s deer herd.

Vermont also restricts the importation of deer carcasses from CWD-affected states and provinces. The following states and Canadian provinces have found CWD in their deer or elk populations: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. If you hunt in any of these states, review Vermont’s carcass importation rules carefully before returning home.

For more on how neighboring states handle these issues, see how New York regulates deer feeding, given that CWD has already been detected there, or review the rules in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two other states on Vermont’s CWD importation restriction list.

Penalties for Illegally Feeding Deer in Vermont

Vermont conservation wardens actively enforce the deer feeding prohibition, and violations carry real consequences. The state’s chief game warden has publicly stated that wardens follow up on tips and will prosecute violators.

Wildlife officials confirm that wardens will be following up on tips and will prosecute violators. This is not a regulation that goes unnoticed — Vermont’s warden force takes wildlife law seriously, and deer feeding violations are treated as genuine offenses.

For violations related to illegally importing deer or elk from CWD-affected areas — a related offense under the same regulatory framework — a fine of up to $1,000 and loss of hunting and fishing licenses for one year are applicable for each deer or elk imported illegally. Penalties for baiting and feeding violations fall under Vermont’s general fish and wildlife enforcement statutes, which carry similar consequences including fines and potential license revocation.

The amount of a fine will be doubled for a violation on Youth and Novice Deer Weekend, and the fine shall be assessed against the licensed adult who has the youth or novice hunter in his or her charge. This means that if a violation occurs during a youth hunting event, the consequences are compounded.

Beyond fines, a hunting license suspension means losing access to Vermont’s deer seasons — a significant penalty in a state where deer hunting is deeply tied to local culture and economy. If you are unsure whether a specific activity qualifies as feeding or baiting, contact the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department directly before proceeding.

Why Feeding Deer Is Discouraged Even Where It’s Legal in Vermont

Even setting the law aside, wildlife biologists and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department strongly advise against deer feeding for a range of practical reasons that go beyond CWD. Wildlife biologists throughout North America, including those at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, advise strongly against feeding deer.

Feeding deer creates dependency. Deer that learn to associate human-provided food with a reliable food source can lose their natural foraging instincts and become habituated to human presence. This increases the risk of vehicle collisions, property damage, and conflicts with neighbors and communities.

Concentrated feeding sites also attract deer ticks, which are the primary vector for Lyme disease. White-tailed deer are the primary reproductive host of the adult black-legged tick, so they may influence the abundance of ticks on the landscape. Bringing more deer to a fixed point on your property increases tick exposure for you, your family, and your pets.

Supplemental feeding can also harm deer directly. Deer have a specialized digestive system adapted to browse, forbs, and grasses. Sudden access to high-carbohydrate foods like corn can cause a condition called acidosis, where rapid fermentation in the rumen leads to illness or death — especially in winter when deer are already metabolically stressed.

Vermont’s approach recognizes all of these risks together. The state does not treat the feeding prohibition as a minor technicality. It reflects a coordinated effort to protect one of the state’s most valued wildlife resources from disease, habitat degradation, and the unintended consequences of well-meaning human behavior.

If you are curious how other states balance these concerns, the rules vary considerably. Colorado and Minnesota both restrict deer feeding with CWD prevention as a central rationale, while states like Texas and Georgia take a more permissive approach. States in the Northeast, including New Jersey and Virginia, have their own distinct frameworks worth reviewing if you spend time hunting or living near state lines.

Key Insight: Vermont’s deer feeding ban has been in place since 2005, when the Fish and Wildlife Board adopted the regulation in response to the growing CWD threat across North America. The rule predates CWD’s detection in neighboring New York and Quebec, reflecting Vermont’s proactive stance on herd health.

The bottom line for Vermont residents and visitors is straightforward: do not feed deer, do not bait for deer, and do not use natural deer urine lures. If you see a sick-looking deer, report it to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department at 802-828-1000. Supporting Vermont’s deer population means respecting the rules designed to keep it healthy for generations to come.