MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – The Department of Fish and Wildlife will issue stiffer penalties this fall for hunters who shoot deer from the road or from vehicles.

The maximum fine will increase from $50 and a one-year loss of hunting and fishing license to $1,000.

Sportsmen said they expect the fine increases – which apply to road or vehicle shooting of all wildlife – to be well received by law-abiding hunters.

“The only ones who expressed resistance are the ones who break the law,” said Clint Gray, northern vice president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.

The fine increase “elevates it to the offense that it is,” he said. “Before it was just a slap on the wrist.”

The Legislature last spring increased the fines at the request of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officials who wanted the punishment to reflect the seriousness of the offense.

Until now, minor violations like fishing without a license or failing to have a fishing license carried steeper fines than shooting from a public highway, said David LeCours, a lieutenant with the Fish and Wildlife enforcement division.

“We wanted the fines to mirror more the egregiousness of the offense,” he said. “They did not fall in line with anything else. It was our smallest fine possible.”

The new fines will affect the following offenses:

– Shooting from a motor vehicle.

– Shooting within 10 feet of a public highway.

– Having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle while on a public highway.

“These are some of our most common violations,” LeCours said.

About 100 people each year are charged with these offenses. Fines have not been increased since the violations were established in 1961, he said.

AP-ES-07-29-04 1553EDT