The eight-week bow season showed an increase of 23 per cent in zone 13, which includes the Vineyard and surrounding Elizabeth Islands. Archers pulled in 291 deer this year compared to 236 in 2022. 

Deer hunting season began on the Island Oct. 2 and continues through Dec. 30. The season opens with bow hunting, followed by shotgun and primitive firearms seasons on Nov. 27 and Dec. 11, respectively.

As officials tally the numbers at the end of deer hunting season on the Island, signs point to an increase in the deer harvest over 2021, but not enough to help slow the upward trend in the Island’s deer population.

As bow hunting season is set to begin on Monday, Oct. 3 the question of what to do about the increasing deer numbers is much on people's minds.

As deer hunting season nears an end, Island hunters are reporting a slow season this year, pointing to a warm autumn and an abundant crop of acorns.

The two-week shotgun hunting season for deer began 30 minutes before sunrise Monday on Martha’s Vineyard, as bright orange attire is again in vogue at properties across the Island.

The two-week deer shotgun season opened on Monday, and the woods were filled with camouflage and bright orange.

Shotgun season for deer hunting begins Monday, Nov. 30 in Massachusetts, and state officials are encouraging hunters to register their take online this year instead of bringing it to a check-in station.

When deer hunting season on Martha’s Vineyard begins Oct. 5, so will the venison donation program. Coordinated by Island Grown Initiative, the agricultural society and the tick-borne illness prevention program, the system allows hunters to donate surplus meat that will go to feed hungry Islanders.