by Hannah Taylor ·
Friday, October 25, 2024
Harvard’s forests are home to an abundance of wildlife, and its sprawling nature trails welcome avid hikers. But as the cool autumn weather draws out animals in search of food before winter, the season also brings out the town’s hunters.
Monday, Oct. 7, marked the beginning of the state deer hunting season, which lasts until the end of December, and although hunting is normally prohibited on public land in Harvard, the Conservation Commission makes certain exceptions for deer.
The Conservation Commission allows an annual controlled deer hunt, run by its Deer Management Subcommittee, with the goal of reducing the town’s high deer population. The deer management program takes place on assigned parcels of conservation land where only approved participants are permitted to hunt, according to the Conservation Commission web page. Here, the subcommittee outlines the hunting regulations for the program, which is limited to close-range archery from stationary tree stands set a distance away from houses and trails. By state policy, hunting is prohibited on Sundays and is allowed only from 30 minutes before dawn until 30 minutes after dusk during the rest of the week.
In an Oct. 11 interview, the Press spoke with Conservation Commission Chair Eve Wittenberg to better understand the guidelines of the deer management program and how the commission ensures safety on town conservation land. “Paramount for us is balancing that activity [hunting] with other uses of the land,” Wittenberg said. “Safety is a real consideration for our committee.”
While Wittenberg reports there has never been an accident as a result of this program, the subcommittee remains cautious and has put in place numerous safety measures. In addition to limiting the type of hunting allowed to archery from tree stands, the subcommittee also prohibits firearms on public land and specifies that the stands must be at least 75 feet away from trails, 150 feet away from roads, and 500 feet away from homes. These regulations are more stringent than the state hunting policies, Wittenberg said, and “should be sufficient” for maintaining trail safety. Moreover, she explained, hunters who join the deer management program must pass a competency test; they are then assigned to a specific land parcel and given an identification card to carry and a placard to place on their vehicle at the trail entrance as a notice to other patrons. “We want to make sure [the program] works in the way it was planned and don’t want anything to go wrong,” Wittenberg said.
Yet Wittenberg still advises trail users to take precautions this time of year. The 20 land parcels where hunting is allowed can be viewed on the program map on the ConCom website. And although there is no requirement that people and pets remain on the trails when exploring conservation land, doing so better ensures distance from hunting grounds, Wittenberg said. She noted that members of the Deer Management Subcommittee have put up warning signs at trailheads around town recommending that hikers stick to the trails and keep their dogs on leashes. She also added that, while not necessary, wearing a blaze orange vest or jacket is “always a good idea” for increased visibility in the woods.
Deer hunting season in Harvard is the only time of year when any hunting is permitted on town conservation land, and it’s strictly regulated through the deer management program. But, in terms of deer population management, the number of deer removed through the program is significantly less than those taken on private property, where most of the hunting in town occurs. About 12 deer were taken through the deer management program last year, Wittenberg reported, as compared to a total of about 70 to 80 deer in the whole town.
The deer management program “is making a very moderate contribution to the overall reduction of deer in town,” Wittenberg said. She explained that while the goal of the program ultimately is to control the deer population, the overlap of activities on conservation land means that safety is a higher priority than efficiency. “Stationary bow hunting is time consuming and ineffective in comparison with more lethal weapons,” Wittenberg noted, “That’s why [hunting] outside the program takes more deer than inside the program.”
Hunters in the deer management program must report the deer they have killed directly to the town, as well as to the state. The subcommittee uses an electronic database to track the activity of its participants throughout the season and requires hunters to report data including the number of deer harvested and a time log of each session they spend at their assigned land parcels. Such records give the subcommittee a better sense of deer population data and the progress of the management program, Wittenberg explained. “We adjust a little every year to make the program more effective and successful,” she said.
Controlled deer hunting programs have become commonplace across the state, particularly in towns throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts. But the practice has sparked disagreement as to whether hunting is the appropriate way to manage the deer population. The thought behind these programs, Wittenberg said, is that with few natural predators, deer have become “overpopulated, verging on being a nuisance” so “the deer population needs to be reduced or managed to fix the problem.”
But ecological change has also had an impact on the number of deer roaming about town. Wittenberg explained that as communities continue developing, forest vegetation is destroyed. This loss of natural habitat, coupled with the planting of suburban gardens attractive to deer, leads to a greater imbalance between the high deer population versus the limited habitats and food sources available for the deer. “Everything in our ecological balance is changing,” Wittenberg said. “Do we return to the past?” she asked, by replacing natural predators with hunters to reduce the deer population. “Or do we acknowledge that returning to previous landscaping is not possible … and adapt to the changing climate and ecology?”