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.
Are you ready for shotgun season? Prove your mettle with the metal at the Rod and Gun Club’s annual Shotgun Shot, a marksmanship competition that takes place Sunday, Nov. 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., one day before the beginning of shotgun deer hunting season.
Participants are invited to compete in a variety of events including the Bull Eye Target at 60 yards; the Standing Deer Target, a 60-yard competition for slug shotguns with both open and scoped sights.
Vineyard archery season, now in its waning days, has brought out large numbers of hunters, who in turn have harvested at least 100 deer. Archery hunting season began on Oct. 15 and continues through Saturday, Nov. 24.
The end of archery hunting season for deer will be followed by shotgun season, which runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 8, and black powder season, which runs from Dec. 10 through the last day of the year.
With each shout of “Pull!” came a loud crack as the competitors tried to find their target at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club’s annual skeet shooting championship Sunday. With guns loaded, ear plugs in and glasses on, Bill Damora, Brian Reed, Laurence Clancy, Bill Shanok and Brian Welch hoped they had luck on their side as they sought glory in the competition’s first flight.
Shotgun deer hunting season started with a bang this week. Less than 40 hours into the two-week season, hunters had bagged at least 100 deer, according to the three mandatory check-in sites throughout the Island. A check-in station in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest reported that 60 deer had been brought in by Tuesday afternoon. Check-in stations at Larry’s Tackle Shop in Edgartown and at the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) reported 20 deer each.
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.
