Hunters get ready, and hikers use caution. Shotgun deer hunting season begins today.

Shotgun season marks the end of archery hunting season, which ran from Oct. 20 through Nov. 29. Shotgun hunting season runs from Dec. 1 through Dec. 13.

Hunting hours begin a half hour before sunrise and close a half hour after sunset. Hunting is prohibited on Sundays, and hunters are required to wear hunter orange.

Check stations on the Vineyard are at Larry’s Tackle Shop in Edgartown, Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, and at the Wampanoag Tribal Council building in Aquinnah.

The primitive firearms season follows, from Dec. 15 to Dec. 31.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has announced that several land bank properties will be closed to hikers for the first two weeks of December because of the hunting season.

The following properties will be closed to hikers from Dec. 1 to Dec. 13: Brine’s Pond, Five Corners, Poucha Pond Reservation, and Quammox Preserve on Chappaquiddick; Blackwater Pond Preserve, John Presbury Norton Farm, Sepiessa Point Reservation in West Tisbury, Gay Head Moraine in Aquinnah, Middle Line Woods Preserve, Peaked Hill Reservation, and Tiasquam Valley in Chilmark, Wapatequa Woods North in Oak Bluffs, and Waskosim’s Rock Reservation in Chilmark and West Tisbury.

According to state data, last year 726 deer were harvested on the Vineyard. Of those, 368 were taken by shotgun, 257 by archery, and 101 by primitive weapons.