State Expands Deer Hunting Season On Nantucket

The state has officially expanded the primitive firearms deer hunting season on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard by a full month in an effort to reduce the deer herds on the islands. The new primitive firearms (muzzleloaders or archery equipment) season lasts through January 31st.

It’s the latest initiative to reduce the density of Nantucket’s enormous deer herd, which has been estimated at more than 10,000 individuals, more than ten times higher than the 900 the state deems a healthy population for the island.

Efforts are progressing on the local level as well, including a new collective called the ACK Deer Management Project that seeks to dramatically increase the take of deer on Nantucket and donate the excess meat to islanders in need.

Additionally, at its meeting on Tuesday, the Nantucket Land Bank Commission had Martin Feehan, a wildlife health specialist working for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, provide a presentation on deer damage permits as the organization continues to evaluate its options for addressing the overpopulation of deer on its extensive land holdings on the island.

Deer damage permits allow certain landowners to let sub-permittees kill deer on their property to address damage outside the regulated hunting season when the damage is significant enough and other options aren’t working. It’s a possibility the Land Bank is considering.

Feehan spent much of his time explaining to the board that the program is strictly for deer removal, not hunting. All deer harvested would need to be processed and donated to the MassWildlife Hunters Share The Harvest Program. Feehan said they are receiving at least one deer “almost daily” from other programs across the state in just the second summer of the program.

“I'm really encouraged that you have the vision to be so creative as to bring something like this forward, and it seems to cut through a lot of red tape," Land Bank Commissioner Neil Paterson said. "I really compliment you on that. It's a massive problem on Nantucket.”

Nantucket’s extraordinarily large deer population, easily the densest in the state, has a wide array of negative impacts on the island. The deer cause massive damage to local ecosystems, are notorious disease vectors, routinely prove a nuisance to local landscapers and gardeners, and are a danger to drivers. Unchecked, Nantucket’s deer could lay waste to the island’s forests, accelerate erosion, and eventually begin to starve themselves to death.

Understanding the crisis, the state has extended the primitive firearms season for the island from December 31st to January 31st. Hunters can participate with a valid 2026 hunting license and will receive a free winter deer hunting permit, good for an additional deer taken on the islands this winter, on top of the deer they can take with traditional permits.

The state approved the expansion on February 27th, and the new rules were promulgated in May. An extended primitive firearms season wasn’t the only change the state approved, either.

They also eliminated the daily bag limit for antlerless deer and authorized the use of youth deer permits during all open deer seasons, among other changes.

Whether the changes will be enough to make a meaningful impact on Nantucket’s deer population remains to be seen. Last year, hunters on Nantucket killed 863 deer. Advocates like the ACK Deer Management Project’s Mike Leavitt think a healthier take would be closer to 2,000.