Hi Everyone,

Our Herd will have a table at the Southcoast Harvest Festival on Saturday, September 28th. We will be giving a short presentation on Saturday at 3:30pm. 
Please come show your support at this fun local event. We also need help staffing the table. If you can volunteer for a few hours, please email us at: [email protected]
Hours are:  Saturday, Sept. 28 10am to 8pm

September Meeting Summary

Thank you to everyone who attended our Round Table last Saturday. We had valuable discussions, and many good ideas and goals resulted.

We talked about MassWildlife's new Deer Damage Permits, methods for managing the deer population, the difference between regulatory and legislative changes, and how we can have an effect, chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer, and MassWildlife's Share the Harvest venison donation program.

Deer Damage Permits allow farm and land owners to designate a hunter to take deer out of hunting season if they are experiencing deer damage to crops or landscape plantings. Only 2 deer were taken since January 2024. We need to get the word out about this valuable tool for assisting farmers and landowners. For more details see the pdf below.

MassWildlife Deer and Moose Biologist, Martin Feehan effectively explains techniques for managing deer populations in the article titled Modern Deer Management in Massachusetts Wildlife's publication No. 2, 2023. We will have these available during our future meetings and at the Harvest Festival.

MassWildlife has made many changes that are within their regulatory authority to help reduce the deer over-population. There are many changes that need to be made at the State, legislative level. Our Herd will continue to identify goals and bring these to the Statehouse in the future. If you'd like to assist, email us at: [email protected]

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a serious disease in animals such as deer, elk, moose and reindeer. Since first reported in the United States, CWD has spread to animals in more than half of the states in the continental United States. It is always fatal in infected animals. There is no vaccine or treatment. The closest state it has been detected is Pennsylvania. Our high density deer population would allow it to spread quickly if it were to enter MA.

MassWildlife's Share the Harvest venison donation program is a valuable tool to both help reduce the deer over-population and provide high-quality protein to families suffering from food insecurity. The program has been very successful, however Our Herd would like to aid MassWildlife by proposing new local processing options and distribution partners. A local deer cooler would benefit both the program and local hunters, by providing a place to refrigerate and hang deer prior to processing.

Our Herd continues to reach out to our local community and organizations to create partnerships. If you have anything to offer, we'd like to hear from you. Thank you!

Round Table Meeting of Our Herd

Saturday, September 14th at 3:30pm at the Westport Grange
931 Main Road, Westport, MA

In the past year MA Wildlife has introduced new Deer Damage Permits, and expansion of their Share the Harvest Program.  What are Our Herd’s next steps? Join us for news updates and an open public discussion during our Round Table Meeting. We invite you to ask questions, share ideas, volunteer your expertise, and generally keep the conversation going.

Some of the topics we hope to cover are:

• Introduction - overview of Our Herd, and the goal of our round table

• New Info - Deer Damage Permits which allow off-season harvesting under certain circumstances and new additions to the Share the Harvest Program, including more processing facilities and additional program recipients.

• Connecting Hunters and Landowners - We have many more hunters looking for land than we do land for them to hunt on. How do we reach out to landowners and especially farmers?

• Constructing a local Deer Cooler - Where would it go, who can help construct it, where will we get the materials, how will we manage and fund it?

• How can we help MA Wildlife's Share the Harvest Program? Work on new local options to process donated venison, and new local distribution partners.

• Looking for legal and accounting help to allow us to accept donations toward Our Herd programs like a Deer Cooler.

• Volunteers to present info on hunting, venison, ecology, etc. at future Our Herd Meetings.

• Getting the word out- volunteers to educate the public about the impacts of Deer Overpopulation at farmers markets, and other events.

Hope you can join us!

Mass Wildlife has updated their very successful Share the Harvest Program to include:
• New processing sites in Southeastern MA.
• More Program recipients that will benefit from the venison.
With the support of donors, hunters who donate their full deer pay no processing or packaging fees. 

Our Herd gave a presentation during Lyme Disease Awareness Month at the Westport Grange. We talked about the Lyme Disease Life Cycle, preventing interactions with deer, and health concerns due to over-population for deer, and people. See the slide show below.

Watch our presentation of the 2023 Hunting Season Data on YouTube:

SEMAP's Susan Murray and OurHerd's Alex Goodman testified at the State Hearing yesterday. Read the news coverage here.

An Act establishing a deer population control commission
By Representative Markey of Dartmouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 858) of Christopher M. Markey and others for an investigation and study by a special commission (including members of the General Court) relative to deer population control. Environment and Natural Resources.

"Notwithstanding any general or special laws to the contrary, there shall be established a commission called the deer population control commission, hereinafter referred to as the commission, for the purpose of identifying best practices and methods for controlling the deer population in Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Berkshire, Hampden, Worcester, Franklin, and Hampshire Counties.
The commission shall be made up of 8 members: 1 member of the Senate, whom shall be appointed by the Senate President; 1 member of the House of Representatives, whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; 1 member representing local Rod and Gun Clubs, who shall be appointed by the Massachusetts Bow Hunters Association; 1 member representing the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Resources; 1 member representing the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife, who shall be appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife; 1 licensed automobile insurance broker representing the insurance industry, who shall be appointed by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents.
The commission shall recommend best practices for controlling the Commonwealth’s deer population and methods for assisting farmers in preventing and combating property damage caused by deer.  The commission shall file its findings and recommendations, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry those recommendations into effect, with the Clerks of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the chairs of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture no later than March 1, 2024."

(From the website for the 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of MA. The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The General Court provides this information as a public service and while we endeavor to keep the data accurate and current to the best of our ability, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. )