Land superintendent Harrison Kisiel revealed how low the demand was for Youth Deer Hunt Day, held on Oct. 1, on Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank properties during a Monday Zoom commission meeting.
“We ultimately received three applications for it. Two of those applications were a husband and wife. Each signed up respectively because they weren’t sure who was going to take their son,” Kisiel said. “The third applicant withdrew … it’s really just one pair.”
The Land Bank Commission first considered holding Youth Deer Hunt Day during an August meeting, but nobody had signed up by the time Kisiel gave an update in a meeting held a couple of weeks later.
Kisiel said the couple applied for archery hunting, so the commission will not need to worry about shotgun hunting occurring on Land Bank properties yet. Kisiel recommended Waskosim’s Rock Reservation since it “is a liked property for [hunting].” Since it is archery hunting, the property would not need to be closed off, and a notification about it will be posted on the Land Bank website.
“Waskosim’s, given how it’s so large and it’s just one [pair], even if people were on the trails you may never even realize someone’s up there,” Kisiel said.
“You would hope they would be off in the woods somewhere, too,” commission chair and Chilmark commissioner Pamela Goff added.
Land Bank executive director James Lengyel said hunting takes place from “dawn to dusk.”
