DEEP offers online guide for hunting

HARTFORD — Connecticut outdoor field guides, produced by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, make it easy to find and follow the laws and regulations that apply to hunters, trappers and anglers.

Connecticut's Fishing and Hunting Guidebooks are now available online in an easy-to-use eBook version. New in 2022, digital formats will allow you to quickly check a regulation, confirm legal hunting hours, check season dates and more, according to an announcement from the DEEP.

In 2020, very few printed hunting and fishing guides were utilized due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many outdoor users learned how to use the DEEP website to find their information. With more than 70 percent of the U.S. population now using smartphones, our agency's mission clearly directed us to make a shift to reduce waste while also saving valuable dollars for fish and wildlife.

“And, while DEEP is still printing some fishing and hunting guides (available in limited quantities), we are asking hunters, trappers and anglers to do their part and make use of the convenient and responsible digital options,” according to the announcement.

The magazine-style guides for hunting and fishing that were published in previous years are being replaced with limited copies of guides printed with text only and no color, images or advertisements.

The limited number of printed guides for 2022 will be distributed to over 240 locations statewide, including town clerks’ offices, license vendor locations, outdoor equipment businesses, and most DEEP offices.

Outdoor users are encouraged to find the guides on the DEEP website as e-books or downloadable PDFs at https://portal.ct.gov/ DEEP-CT-Outdoor-Guides.

The downloadable PDFs of the guides can be saved to a mobile device for reference even without cell service.

Hunters and trappers will also be able to download and print harvest tags, permission slips and a listing of public hunting areas, as well as find out how to report harvests from the website.

Any updates or changes that occur during the year related to hunting and fishing can also be found readily on the website so that you can have the most recent information, DEEP officials said.

The 2022 CT Hunting and Trapping Guide should be available sometime in December 2021/ January 2022 and the 2022 CT Fishing Guide in March 2022.