ST. ALBANS BAY, Vt. - The hunter's prey darted into the
shadows, just out of reach of Henry Demar's gun.
"Come on, stand up and be counted," Mr. Demar whispered
excitedly. "There was a ripple that came out of the weeds.
There's something out there."
Dressed in camouflage, gripping his .357 Magnum, Mr. Demar
was primed to shoot. But this time, no such luck. With a
flick of its tail, his quarry - a slick silvery fish - was
gone.
Fish shooting is a sport in Vermont, and every spring,
hunters break out their artillery - high-caliber pistols,
shotguns, even AK-47's - and head to the marshes to
exercise their right to bear arms against fish.
It is a controversial pastime, and Vermont's fish and
wildlife regulators have repeatedly tried to ban it. They
call it unsportsmanlike and dangerous, warning that a
bullet striking water can ricochet across the water like a
skipping stone.
But fish shooting has survived, a cherished tradition for
some Vermont families and a novelty to some teenagers and
twenty-somethings. Fixated fish hunters climb into trees
overhanging the water (some even build "fish blinds" to sit
in), sail in small skiffs or perch on the banks of marshes
that lace Lake Champlain, on Vermont's northwest border.
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