Brief deer hunt window yields no kills at Barrett’s Mill Farm
Although hunters came up empty at the farm, officials are considering changes to make future efforts more successful.
A bowhunting pilot program at Barrett’s Mill Farm ended last month without any deer killed.
Officials are considering changes to make future efforts more successful.
“It was a pretty small time frame,” Assistant Natural Resources Director Rose Kaforski told attendees of Acton’s monthly Conservation and Climate Coffee. “If we do it again this year, hopefully we can get folks out there earlier.”
The Natural Resources Commission approved bowhunting in November on a limited portion of the town-owned Barrett’s Mill parcel after farmers described how hungry deer defeated protections around crops.
Without natural predators, experts say, the booming deer population can also hurt forest health. Some private Acton landowners already had bowhunting programs.
Massachusetts’ archery hunting season usually starts in early October. At Barrett’s Mill, hunters had only a few weeks before the season wrapped on December 31.
One of the property’s permitted archers, Wyatt Biel, told The Acton Bridge that it “has a lot of potential,” and he was grateful for the opportunity.
He said a longer season could help. For population control, he also suggested the town allow hunting bucks — not just female deer — because they can impregnate several does in a given year.
Although hunters came up empty at the farm, Annursnac Hill Road resident Janet Rothrock said her neighborhood’s annual hunt had its “biggest year ever,” with archers harvesting six deer.
Some have floated different ways to cull Acton’s deer. At this month’s conservation confab, Concordian Amanda Calabro asked about sterilization.
Kaforski said sterilization isn’t under consideration at Barrett’s Mill “due to the cost and complexity of it,” and staff are still eyeing hunting as an option.
