Deer

Hunting Regulations Changed to Address Large Deer Population

Next week the deer hunting season shifts from bow and arrow to shotgun.

“You are up close and personal when you are in archery season, at 20, maybe 30 yards away,” said Walter Ashley, an experienced hunter on the Island. “With a shotgun, it’s not so critical.”

Mr. Ashley has been hunting for nearly 50 years, whether it be bow and arrow, shotgun or muzzleloader.

“I’d go if they had a stick and stone season,” he said.

Mass Highway Says Deer Killed on Road Not Their Business

By PETER BRANNEN

With the rut just around the corner and hot-and-bothered deer at their most reckless, the Massachusetts Highway Department has told the town of West Tisbury it is done disposing of dead deer on state roads.

“Last Friday Mass Highway was called because a dead deer was on a state road and generally they go out and pick it up but they informed us they’re not going to do it anymore,” said town administrator Jen Rand. “The reason being they say there’s no place to put it.”

Deer Hunters Having Productive Harvest

Shotgun season for deer began on Monday and the first week of the 12-day season was marked by good weather and a decent harvest by hunters.

By 1 p.m. yesterday, Brian Hawthorne, a forester for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, had seen 71 deer come through the deer check-in station in the state forest.

sign

Deer Count Suggests Herd Thrives Though Hunters Hurt This Season

A total of 292 deer were taken during the two weeks of shotgun season on the Vineyard, which ended on Saturday, Dec. 12. Hunters were successful and the numbers are close to what was expected, despite weather conditions that were less than ideal.

“The weather was not that great,” said John Scanlon, state wildlife biologist. Mr. Scanlon operated the deer check-in station at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest during the first week of the hunting season. He checked in 137 deer.

John

Four Days In and Nearly Two Hundred Deer Already Taken; Shotgun Season Continues

Four days into the deer shotgun season and already 196 deer have been taken. The two-week hunting season began Monday morning with foul weather. John Scanlon, a state wildlife biologist assigned to the Vineyard this week, said that the hunters didn’t start bringing deer to the check-in station at the state forest until later in the afternoon.

By Wednesday afternoon the number was 79. By yesterday afternoon the number had grown to 95, even though Thursday morning was windy and stormy.

Pages