Personally, I feel the hunting here in Western MA is going down hill. The kill is down quite a bit out this way. The Central and Eastern part of the state are making up for our down numbers. I just remember seeing many more deer in seasons past. Maybe next year will be a different story.

I got 2 does this year in Central Mass and over the border in Thompson,CT....saw alot of deer this year......4 of my buddy's got a deer too ......

Good looking doe blackeye. That's all I saw during CT bow... a few does... couldn't get a shot at any of them. 7 of the 8 deer I saw in Berkshire County during bow were does. No shot opportunities.
Rough....

Passed on a couple of does with the bow. Took a big spike with ML in NH (dressed 160 lbs.), played tag with a couple of rack bucks during ML in MA but no shots.

Doughboy, seeing that I grew up in Midwest and have hunted other states I think I have something to compare the hunting in Mass. to. To be honest, the eastern part of the state....if you can find a nice piece or two of property to hunt and put your homework in, it's really not bad. It's not like a Midwestern state, but the terrain and densities aren't either. The first few years I hunted it was tough, but once I got the deer movements under control and changed my hunting strategies to hunting woodland deer the tags started getting punched again.

The quality of bucks can be good also if a guy is willing to pass up the spikes every now and then, there have been some absolute monsters shot in the eastern part for quite a few years now..........but we're trying to keep that quiet.

I had my worst year ever in MA deer wise, although I hunted a tough zone for density (Zone 2)

I think western MA got hit hard the past few years w/ snow and thats part of the decline. Doe permits could be lessened in Zones 1-4n & 4S in my opinion. The good thing about MA is that now the central and eastern part of the state is picking up where the western part is dropping off. This in turn is also spreading the pressure so its less intense than it used ot be out in western MA.

i dont know i live in massachusettes and hunt in vermont as well there was so little acorns and beach nuts i saw 1 buck this year in the mnts. in vermont and it was a little 6 pointer that i jumped outa his bed on the day befor opener(sux) but then all i saw was button bucks and small does has every state hade that problem i hear ny had the same luck as mass and vt by a guy at our camp his soon got a lil 4 pointer (first deer) but has every1 had this problem?

There seemed to be plenty of sign in SE. Mass this year, and the owner of the place that I hunt brought in a real nice shed antler from her yard for me. Oh, well...better luck next year. DL