Massachusetts Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary at 280 Eliot St. in South Natick is once again engaging in deer management via a controlled archery hunt this year. To date, five hunters have taken three deer. Hunting at Broadmoor takes place at a significant distance from trails, and generally during times when the sanctuary is closed to the public.
A couple of deer take a stone wall on route 16 on the Natick/Wellesley line. 2023 photo.Deer hunting season in Massachusetts started in October and goes through December.
Aaron Gouveia of Mass. Audubon said in an email, “We are seeing plenty of evidence of deer impact on the forest, which indicates the deer population remains abundant.”
Deer populations are broken down by MassWildlife into 15 Wildlife Management Zones. The government agency comes up with its estimates by evaluating hunter harvest data and biological data collected at check stations. The statewide goal is a population of 12–18 deer per square mile. Anything beyond that range results in a reduced diversity of native plants and shrubs, loss of tree seedlings that grow to be the next generation of tree canopy, and extreme thinning of shrub and ground cover that are necessary for the survival of certain species.
Natick, in Zone 10, well exceeds that 12-18 deer goal, with an estimated 30-40 deer per square mile. About 75 other towns are part of Zone 10, which runs as far north as the New Hampshire border and as far south as Hull. Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, located in Zones 13 and 14, respectively, are positively overrun, with 50+ deer per square mile.
For those concerned about Bambi, no town in Massachusetts has a deer abundance rating of “below goal.”
