Strange Biller

I' ve never hunted anywhere but on family land in Maine, even though I have lived in Massachusetts for a six years now. I was wondering how someone goes about finding an area to hunt in Mass.

I wouldn' t pay for the right to hunt somewhere (apart from a nominal fee for a permit or what have you - I mean I' m not going to fork over $500), but I am more than willing to trade labor on the land throughout the rest of the year or something along those lines.

Ideally, I' d like to bow hunt in Mass and save my gun hunting for Maine, but I would also be open to a shotgun area.

So, how do I go about finding such an area? Anyone here willing to trade? Or know of a place that is hunting friendly and lokking for free labor to clear brush, cut wood, etc?

MA Jay

Strange-

You don' t need to pay anyone for rights to hunt in Mass. I live in Waltham, next town over from you and have many spots within 30 minutes of Arlington. You will need to do a bit of leg work though, get yourself town by town maps and look for small parcles of state/public land. Most of the hunting in our area is going to be on small parcels, 5-20 acres tops and you' ll be tucked in behind companies and houses, but there are a LOT of deer around. The last few years the population has really exploded, I' ve seen more deer this winter/spring than any year before. Do yourself a favor and get a climber and some maps, and you' ll have several spots in not time. Don' t overlook the blocks of woods behind office complexes.

Strange Biller

Thanks, Jay. Do you have any idea what the hunting laws are in Mass in terms of hunting on non-posted land? Most places if there is no town ordinance against hunting and the land isn' t posted, as well as not violating basic rules (too close to houses, etc) then any non-posted land is fair game.

I know places as close as Weston are crawling with deer in any spot that has more than an acre of woods. I' ll have to check some ordinances.

jf5

Hunting in MA has changed in the past decade as the deer populations have come up statewide, and more hunters are working central and eastern MA, rather than travelling to the CT valley or the Berkshires. There are alot of places to hunt, and even alot of state parks and WMA' s are worth it. Go to www.masswildlife.com

SothEast MA-Especially Zone 11 is really hot right now with the highest kill. Or, As the other gent said, a little west of Arlington on RT2 you can start to get into deer hunting areas quickly. I know a guy who shoots super bucks in the Concord area.

Certainly, Bowhunting is a huge advantage in the eastern part of the state, as it will allow you to hunt the small blocks of land that you cannot do with forearms.

More and more deer in Weston, just saw a doe on the Newton/Weston border a few weeks back, but good luck getting permission to hunt there!

Definitly check town ordinances. As for posted land, I would assume that all land that is not public would require land owner permission regardless if there is posted signs or not. You do not want to get into a situation.

GOOD LUCK

Strange Biller

Weston reservoir has lots of deer around it and plenty of woods - I think I' ll check the ordinances there for bow hunting, although I get the feeling they probably don' t allow huning of any kind.

MA Jay

I' ve seen a lot of deer around the Weston reservoir as well. Weston only allows hunting with land owner permission though, better than Bedford MA which created a town bylaw making ANY hunting illegal, even on property you own. I found 1 place in Weston by asking for permission from a house I noticed had a fleet of Landscaping trucks in front of it every week. $10,000 in damage to pretty yard plants made a pro-hunter out of an anti, just had to agree to not drag any kill through the yard. The area around Concord House of Correction looks great on Route 2, see a lot of turkeys there as well.

jf5

I am not even sure that you can tresspass on Weston Reservoir, but I don' t know for shure. Last sunday I saw 4 deer off of the Pike eating, right near the 90/95 connection. Same are where I saw an 8 point buck last fall (coming home from scouting the berkshires!!!) I would love to hunt Weston too, but I havn' t bowhunted in 12 years, and a shotgun blast dosn' t go over well in that part of the state!!

Glad to see you got some permission! Hope you hook up!

MA Jay

I have been seeing a LOT of deer in Mass this spring. I' ve seen over 10 just this week. 1 nice doe was feeding along the Sudbury river off the Pike today, there were 7 deer bedded in the clover leaf of the route 2A exit off of 95 2 days ago and a small group feeding in the woods off the road a bit in Lincoln. My buddy saw a large group of 10-15 in Bedford Mass as well. On Sunday we saw a nice group out by Devens feeding on a field edge.

Anybody seeing turkey in Mass at all? I called 1 big Tom in Lexington on my lunch break last week and I' ve heard a few gobbling in Burlington near where I work.

jf5

Me too... have been fishing Wachusett Res. the past couple of weekends. 2 sundays ago, right after we left the res... We saw 15 deer in a field and then saw 3 other deer a few minutes later in a different field. Last sunday, we saw 10 deer again in the same field that we saw the 15 the previous week. (Same deer)

My brother was talking to me last night and saw 5 deer in the Scituate area.

The new green grass has been pulling the deer into view. Hope next year was as good as this year was.

My father and brother are seeing a few strutting Toms in central MA. I personally have seen a few, but have not seen as many as usual.