State considers relaxing hunting regulations

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This story was produced with support from the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice.

For Tommy Stang, a Hampshire County resident who says they spend over 100 hours a year chasing deer, hunting is much more than just a sporting activity. 

“It’s not just a hobby, it’s a way we feed each other,” they told The Shoestring 

Stang recalled how their first experiences trying hunted meat — gifted white-tailed venison and home-cooked moose — came from friends. 

“Much like how your neighbor may show up on your doorstep every July with an armload of zucchini and they’re practically begging you to take it off their hands… hunting is similar. There’s an entire gift economy that revolves around it.”

Venison from white-tailed deer hunting makes up an estimated 4.4 million meals per year in Massachusetts, according to the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Hunting is also tied to government programs like Hunters Share the Harvest, which has distributed up to 90,000 meals through food banks, many of which — such as the Northampton Survival Center and Pequoig Farm — are right here in western Massachusetts. 

But even as the annual deer harvest has trended upwards across the state for decades, the animal’s population has swollen well above target numbers in some parts of eastern Mass, bringing with them public health and ecological concerns. 

The issue has become so pronounced that the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has proposed relaxing some hunting regulations to boost harvest numbers. Massachusetts’ hunting regulations remain among the most restrictive in the United States, particularly because it is one of only two states with an all-out ban on Sunday hunting, a restriction dating back to the 19th century to ensure a Sunday day of rest. 

Under the directive of the administration of Gov. Maura Healey, the division, known as MassWildlife for short, announced proposed changes in January that would lift the ban on Sunday hunting, expand allowable crossbow use, and relax minimum setback limits for hunting near human settlements. 

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In the weeks following its announcement of the proposed changes, MassWildlife hosted five listening sessions — both virtually and in person — and collected written comments. 

The first listening session, a three-hour virtual speak-by-turn on Jan. 27, drew passionate public response both in support and in opposition to the changes, with Sunday hunting emerging as the main point of contention.

Dennis Rochon, a hunter from South Hadley, referred to the ban lift as “long overdue.” 

“I hunt public property along with hikers every day, and there’s never an issue. We coexist,” he said.

Several resident non-hunters cited safety concerns, arguing that Sunday is the one day in the week when hikers, runners, and bikers can enjoy the outdoors without the fear of getting shot. 

Jennifer Jackman, a Lynn resident, claimed that hunters make up just 1% of the state’s population. “The 1% can hunt for six days a week [during hunting seasons]. Why does 99% of the population who do not hunt not merit one day to be able to enjoy the woods free from guns and other weapons?” 

Stang, who also volunteers as a hunting education instructor for MassWildlife, supports Sunday hunting and told The Shoestring that the majority of hunting-related injuries actually don’t involve guns. 

“They involve people falling out of trees,” they said.

MassWildlife’s basic hunting education courses are mandatory for first-time adult hunters and can last up to 16 hours. The curriculum, Stang said, emphasizes tree-stand safety and dedicates half of the course to gun safety, including handling and carrying firearms and shot placement. 

As for gun-related hunting accidents, Stang said most are incurred by hunters themselves or other members of their party. 

The last reported incident of a hunting-related injury occurred in December of last year from an accidental shooting of a hunter by another member of his party on Martha’s Vineyard, according to Stang. 

Stang also said that despite hunting exclusively on public land for nine years, they have never had a negative encounter with a non-hunter. 

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Before opening for public comment, MassWildlife Acting Director Eve Schlüter provided background on the proposed changes and their potential benefits. According to Schlüter, the proposed changes mirror hunting laws already in place across the country and in the Northeast. 

Whereas Massachusetts currently has a full ban on crossbow hunting, except for those with a permanent disability who are unable to draw a traditional bow and arrow, recent decisions by several northeastern states, including New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, now allow all hunters to use crossbows.

Current Massachusetts setback limits prohibit hunting within 500 feet of a building or residence and 150 feet of a road. The proposed change — to halve setback limits for buildings to 250 feet while maintaining the setback limit for roads — would match limits set in neighboring states.

Schlüter further suggested that expanding regulated hunting opportunities could better support family food security, further connect communities to nature, and boost the state’s economy and conservation by funding them through hunting license fees. 

Officials also hope the changes, if implemented, would address issues associated with deer overpopulation in Massachusetts. 

“Overabundant deer contribute to increased human-wildlife conflict, vehicle collisions, the spread of tick-borne disease, degradation of forests, and crop damage at local farms,” MassWildlife Assistant Director of Outreach and Education Nicole McSweeney wrote in a statement to The Shoestring. 

According to Stang, once natural predators like wolves and cougars became locally extinct in Massachusetts, humans became the main predator of deer. “Human hunting of white-tailed deer is an ecological process … it can play one very important role in mitigating some of those effects [of deer pressure].” 

During listening sessions, residents went back and forth on this. Karen Schwalbe, who spoke on behalf of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, outlined the effects of wildlife overabundance on crop and livestock. “Wildlife is managed by the state, but the costs of overpopulation fall almost entirely on farmers with limited tools and no compensation.”

Schwalbe argued in favor of all three proposed changes, stating that Sunday hunting, reduced setback distances, and crossbow hunting would more successfully manage wildlife populations and reduce damage to farms.

Nelson Sigelman, a hunter from Martha’s Vineyard, referenced an ongoing crisis in tick-borne diseases on the island, where rates of Lyme disease are 11 times higher than on the mainland, and deer density is the highest in the state. To help alleviate the crisis, state officials recently announced an expansion to winter and fall deer hunting seasons on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, starting this year. 

“State lawmakers would be wrong to conclude that these changes only concern hunters,” Sigelman said. “If approved, residents and communities across the state where deer numbers continue to rise stand to benefit.” 

Other residents disagreed. 

“One additional day of hunting a week would have no appreciable impact whatsoever on the deer population,” said Director of Western Mass Animal Rights Advocates Sheryl Becker, arguing that populations tend to quickly bounce back due to a sudden abundance in food, allowing a higher rate of offspring in surviving deer. 

Bruce Spencer, a now-retired local forester who managed both the Quabbin district’s forest as well as a hobby woodlot in Leverett for decades, noted that the ecological impacts of deer have become more visible even in western Mass, where populations are closer to MassWildlife’s targets. According to Spencer, increasing deer numbers in Leverett have long been slowing forest regeneration, and the problem has only worsened as the number of active hunters in the town has dropped. 

“When I first purchased the wood lot in 1973, I was getting oak regeneration. But there were a lot more hunters hunting on that property at that time than there are now,” he told The Shoestring. Forest-dominating hardwood trees like oak and maple are especially preferred by deer, Spencer said. Deer often target young saplings, which prevents native vegetation and forests from regenerating and replacing themselves. 

“Hunting is hard work,” Spencer said. “It’s cold winters … and it’s something that doesn’t appeal to enough people.” 

And even among active hunters, many described time constraints as a major barrier. At the listening sessions, several hunters said that a busy workweek leaves little time for hunting. 

“Weekends are the primary time that I can hunt with friends and family. When Sundays are off-limits, I effectively lose 50% of my available days to hunt,” Tony Vinciguerra, a hunter from Canton, said.

Even so, Spencer had mixed feelings when asked about Sunday hunting. “[Hunters] have the whole month of December, so that makes it difficult for people wanting to roam the woods during that month, to [also] not have Sundays now,” he said. 

Spencer supported allowing crossbow hunting as a more accurate and easier-to-shoot alternative to a regular bow, and argued that it can often be more successful at taking deer than shotgun hunting. Stang agreed but argued that crossbow use should be added to the hunting license safety curriculum at the same time. 

As for setback distances, Spencer acknowledged that increased housing in Leverett has restricted hunting areas, but still understands the implications for gun safety. 

Ultimately, Spencer said he would support less restrictive setback distances for archery but not for firearms. Stang echoed this, saying that shotgun safety concerns should keep setbacks at 50 feet, but argued that bows are less dangerous and loosening these setbacks would allow suburban areas to better manage deer overpopulation. 

Considering all three changes, Spencer suggested increasing doe permits, which allow hunters to shoot one female deer per permit, as the most effective way to control deer populations in the state. 

“At Quabbin, [Fish and Wildlife] gave everyone a doe permit … and they were able to bring the deer population down very quickly to the numbers they wanted,” he said. “I think the key to it is really just opening up the doe permits.” 

With the conclusion of the feedback period last week, MassWildlife will begin evaluating public input and wildlife management impacts before issuing its recommendations sometime in the coming months.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of two names: Karen Schwalbe and Nelson Sigelman.

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