Aquinnah, Chilmark and Chappaquiddick are the Island’s deer hotspots, according to the results of a thermal drone survey newly released by Tick Free MV Wednesday.

The young Island nonprofit, which aims to tackle tick-borne illnesses and allergies by confronting the Vineyard’s deer population, partnered with wildlife management company White Buffalo between February 17 and March 9 to study the distribution of deer on Martha’s Vineyard with infrared technology.

Deer tend to go to the more rural areas. — Courtesy Tick Free MV

By surveying the Island in a grid pattern and capturing the heat signatures of individual deer, researchers located 4,681 deer over a survey area of 87.7 square miles, which translates to a deer density of 53 deer per square mile. According to Mass Audubon, a deer density of below 20 deer per square mile is ideal for the health of Massachusetts forests.

Virginia Barbatti, executive director of Tick Free MV, wrote in the report that the organization deemed it necessary to collect concrete data on deer overpopulation before attempting to take action. The organization sees targeting the deer population as a way to meaningfully decrease the Island’s number of ticks, as deer are the arachnids’ main food source.

“Tick Free MV’s mission is quite clear: we want to reduce tick-borne disease and allergies on Martha’s Vineyard by reducing the number of ticks in the environment, and … it’s a complex challenge,” she told the Gazette Wednesday. “But it’s quite clear, especially when looking at these survey results … that we really need to focus on deer management as a community if we want to resolve tick abundance.”

To assess deer density across the Island, White Buffalo’s drone operators used the cameras on the aircraft to get a closer look at deer on the ground. From the drones’ control panels, operators could see heat signatures of individual deer and entire herds, which showed up like white blobs on a gray background, but could also toggle the camera to see actual color images of deer moving around in real time.

There were several areas of the Island where deer densities far outpaced the Islandwide average. The highest deer density areas were Aquinnah, with 101 deer per square mile, Chilmark, with 85 deer per square mile, and Chappaquiddick, with 62 deer per square mile.

“Survey results revealed that estimated deer population densities on surveyed lands exceed commonly cited thresholds for ecological sustainability,” the written report from White Buffalo reads.

White Buffalo researchers recommended that the Vineyard be surveyed annually for deer density moving forward to discern long-term trends.

Drone flys over Aquinnah. — Ray Ewing

“Reliable trend data will enable adaptive management, allowing wildlife managers to adjust harvest quotas, refine habitat enhancements, and make informed decisions that support ecosystem health and sustainability,” the report reads.

The drone survey is one of many initiatives that Tick Free MV has taken to confront the Island’s overpopulation of deer. The group has offered cash incentives to deer hunters, advocated for the state to remove a number of hunting restrictions and helped agricultural land owners secure deer damage permits to hunt deer as pests on their property. 

Ms. Barbatti told the Gazette that conversations about how to use the data are still ongoing. She invited the public to an April 30 panel at the Agricultural Hall to discuss the results of the survey with local experts.

“We’re intentionally going about this one step at a time,” she said. “We want to hear from people about what they think when they see this, and we want to have a dialogue about what could come next.”

The survey results are available on Tick Free MV’s website.