Judging by initial reports, the first week of the two-week deer shotgun season on Martha’s Vineyard is slightly off the 2014 pace.
Ginny Dautreuil, Manuel F. Correllus State Forest supervisor, said state wildlife biologists checked in 143 deer last week at the state forest and three deer Monday and Tuesday.
Brett Stearns, Wampanoag tribe director of natural resources, said the up-Island check station took in about 40 deer last week. Karen Kukolich, who was minding the store Wednesday at Larry’s Tackle in Edgartown, which also checks in deer during the shotgun season, was unable to provide a count.
Generally, hunting effort lags in the second week as hunters, many of whom take time off during the first week of the season, return to work.
By comparison, in 2014, hunters on Martha’s Vineyard took 337 deer over the course of the two-week season.
One hunter who found success is David Andrews, who arrowed a nine-point buck that outdistanced the state forest check station scale, and which biologists estimated weighed in the neighborhood of 230 to 240 pounds.
Mr. Andrews, 20, said he traveled to the Vineyard from New Hampshire, where he lives and works, to hunt with his father, David Andrews of Edgartown. He and his dad each shot does early in the week. Late in the week, his father returned to work, and David decided to hunt a Chilmark property where the landowner only allows archery. The result was a trophy buck.