Gov. Maura Healey announced in the middle of an East Falmouth wildlife management area on Thursday that she plans to file legislation that would modernize hunting laws that currently limit access to the sport across the state.
The measure is also a part of an effort to curb the spread of tick-borne illnesses and allergies that increasingly pose a risk to public health.
“It’s about more than freedom,” Healey said at the press conference on the changes. “In this case, to hunt, it’s about more than that. It’s about smart public health policy … and doing what we need to do to take care of people in this state.”
Healey felt strongly enough about her support of these changes that she demonstrated how to shoot a bow and arrow versus a crossbow; crossbows are easier to use, but are currently restricted to only those who have a permanent disability.
Among the proposals, Healey plans to reverse a Puritan blue law that prohibits hunting on Sundays, expand access of crossbows to anyone, and reduce the setback limit, or distance from a dwelling, for bowhunting — from 500 to 250 feet — to open up thousands of acres of land to hunting.
“One of the funky things about Massachusetts is that we have these blue laws that go back to the Puritan times. Now, we’ve been able to overcome some of them through history,” Healey said. “We stopped burning women at the stake, and we allow people to drink alcohol, but we still have a Sunday ban on hunting.” It doesn’t make any sense, she added.
Healey plans to file the new legislation in her supplemental budget, which could be submitted in the next few weeks. If passed in the state legislature, officials are hopeful that the change would become effective for the next hunting season, which on the Island starts Sept. 21, as part of an extension implemented in December. The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) may also have to evaluate language between old and new regulations, and submit a regulatory package to address any changes made in the legislature.
These changes were informed by MassWildlife’s five public listening sessions across the state over the past few months, which generated 11,200 comments, a majority of which favored the three changes to modernize the laws to better manage the deer population, improve opportunities for hunters, and reduce human–wildlife contact.
Joseph Capece, president of the MV Hunt Club, said that so far, hunters aren’t able to maintain the deer population on the Island, where MassWildlife estimates there are 100 deer per square mile. But he’s hopeful that these new laws could change that.
“I think we’re going to get a lot more youth in the sport, which I think is huge, because we’ve kind of been losing that culture of generations and families hunting. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to access land. Now, hopefully, we’re going to gain some more access to land, and the restrictions are looser,” Capece said. He called the announcement a “massive win,” and he hopes his daughter can now join him and use a crossbow; she was previously unable to pull back 40 pounds on a regular bow and arrow.
The deer-hunting season for primitive firearms and bowhunting was also previously extended on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket by the Healey administration, for six weeks from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 this year. Based on data from MassWildlife’s biologist Martin Feehan, the number of harvested deer in this extended season reached 171, and brought the total between fall and winter to 934 deer harvested, which was the second-highest season for the Island.
Additionally, state Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner Robbie Goldstein announced at the press conference that he made alpha-gal syndrome a reportable condition for one year as of April 1; there is an opportunity for a one-year extension. Only 17 other states, as well as New York City and the Choctaw Nation, have made the condition reportable.
Alpha-gal syndrome, which is largely unknown to most of the world but increasingly seen on Martha’s Vineyard, is caused by a molecule naturally found in most mammals besides humans; lone star ticks transfer alpha-gal into a person’s blood through their saliva, and trigger an allergic reaction because the body sees the molecule as a threat.
Betsy VanLandingham — an emergency room nurse for 43 years turned public health nurse, who investigates infectious disease cases — was never able to look at alpha-gal cases because, besides a lack of resources, alpha-gal wasn’t reported to the state. That changes now.
Lea Hamner, contract epidemiologist for Dukes County, who was at the press conference, said that this designation allows more information about the allergy to be systematically collected, such as the severity of symptoms. It’s all good information to be more responsive to those that suffer from alpha-gal, she said.
“The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital laboratory data have been critical for tracking this rapid increase. But laboratory results alone cannot tell us who is truly allergic,” Hamner said in a press release from the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative. “Reportability allows
public health to distinguish between a signal and true disease burden. This data then drives prevention. When we measure the who, when, and where of alpha-gal syndrome accurately, we
can better protect our community.”
Hamner is also a senior advisor to Tick Free Martha’s Vineyard (Tick Free MV), which had many representatives at the press conference in East Falmouth. The goal of Tick Free MV is to reduce tick-borne disease and allergy on Martha’s Vineyard, but those involved understand that this is a complex challenge and needs a multipronged approach.
“What was announced [Thursday] represents a big step forward, but there’s still much, much more work ahead,” Virginia Barbatti, executive director of the relatively new nonprofit, said. “It was pretty incredible to hear such coordinated action on behalf of state leaders and agencies, really drawing that connection between the hunting law updates and what that can mean in our community, shared alongside this important announcement around alpha-gal,” Barbatti said. She added that responsiveness of the state reflects the growth of these issues: “It didn’t come out of nowhere.”
Barbatti also applauded the state’s decision to track alpha-gal cases, as the spread of the lone star ticks has turned the Island into a hotspot for the syndrome. In 2020, the hospital’s emergency department performed nine tests for alpha-gal, which resulted in two positive cases. In 2024, tests increased to 1,254, and there were 523 positive results; that’s about a 42 percent positivity rate. Based on data from the beginning of December, the positivity rate was up to 44 percent in 2025.
Now, the hospital’s data as well as work by VanLandingham and Hamner can be compared and analyzed across the state. “By taking this data-driven, proactive approach, we are doing more than just simply responding to an emerging public health challenge. We are helping people prevent alpha-gal syndrome, and prevention is critical, because there’s no treatment yet,” said Goldstein from DPH.
Realistically, it may take reducing the deer population by 80–90% to make a significant impact and begin improving safety for residents and visitors. Recreational hunting, even if legal year-round, seven days a week, and allowed at night, is unlikely to achieve that level of reduction or turn the infection curve downward.
Our deer population is already well above a healthy limit, even for the deer themselves. Healthy does are more likely to have twins, and healthy, mature does can have triplets. The existing population has the ability to double or triple its output if food is abundant. Even if we eliminate half of the females, they can naturally replace that loss within a year. Males can breed with so many does that you could likely eliminate 80% of males without reducing overall fertility rates of the females.
There are many people on this island who chanted “follow the science” in 2020–2023, yet some of those same voices, on both the “anti-population control” and “hunting is the solution” sides, are ignoring the science now. It echoes the idea of “two weeks to stop the spread,” when experts knew it was overly simplistic. In fact, few people seem to be discussing the actual population math: how many deer would need to be removed to meaningfully reduce the tick load to safer levels.