A drop in deer hunting this season combined with the rise of tick-borne illnesses has Vineyard hunters wondering if increased access to butchering could help manage the Island’s overgrown herd.

Several different efforts are in various stages of development on the Island to increase deer processing options, and advocates said making it easier for hunters to butcher their harvest could boost hunting.

“Certainly, one of the things that is missing from Martha’s Vineyard is a more accessible place for hunters to process deer, and then particularly, having a full on commercial processor on-Island…” said Martin Feehan, a deer and moose biologist with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “We would love to see a more formal processor on-Island. It would help encourage a lot more deer to be taken.”

So far this year, hunters in Dukes County have only checked in 144 deer — tracking 22 per cent lower than last year. That was concerning for some because the Vineyard’s deer density, along with the Elizabeth Islands and Nantucket, is already higher than any other part of the state. 

Charlie Granquist feels education is essential.

Jeanna Shepard

Charlie Granquist feels education is essential.

Jeanna Shepard

Without a public facility for venison processing, most hunters butcher their deer at home in basements, backyards or even home kitchens.

“If I could just bring a deer to a place and get it butchered and they’d give it back to me, I’d think nothing of trying to shoot more deer,” said Nelson Sigelman, an avid Island hunter.

Mr. Sigelman is retired and said many young hunters with day jobs don’t have as much time to trek the forests and wait in stands. Without a butchering service on-Island, their time is even more limited.

With the lack of a centralized, public-facing facility, some hunters have taken matters into their own hands. 

The MV Hunt Club in West Tisbury is in the midst of building a processing facility for its roughly 40 members, according to founder Brian Athearn.

Set on private property, the facility is an addition to the club’s deer cooler and would only be available to members.

“The demand from the community has gotten so great…” Mr. Athearn said. “To produce that much viable [meat], we had to have something that was clean and safe.”

Mr. Athearn hoped the center will be up and running later this month. A rail system will move hanging deer from the cooler, to an existing room where a skinning machine will remove the deer hides, and then finally to the processing room where members will carve their cuts. 

“We want to use this as a template, as an operational demo, of what could be built on-Island,” Mr. Athearn said. 

The only butchering service on the Vineyard started in 2022 through Island Grown Initiative. The farm’s gleaning manager Astrid Tilton accepts deer donated through the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s deer locker and harvests them in the nonprofit’s commercial kitchen for the Island Grown food pantry.

There are few places on the Vineyard to get your deer processed.

Jeanna Shepard

There are few places on the Vineyard to get your deer processed.

Jeanna Shepard

Island Grown only accepts full deer donations, meaning hunters can’t keep any of the meat for themselves. The program is in its third year and so far this season Ms. Tilton has harvested five deer, which is a normal amount for this time of year.

“I never have any trouble distributing all the venison that we process,” Ms. Tilton said. 

She said the state’s decision to extend the hunting season into January could increase donations because by the winter most hunters have filled their freezers. Island Grown partners with the state’s Hunters Share the Harvest program, and this year any hunter who donates a full deer will receive a replacement antlerless permit from the state. 

Nantucket is facing a similar issue to the Vineyard. The deer population there is also spiking and tick-borne illnesses are raising alarm. 

Mr. Feehan said the amount of deer Nantucket has checked in so far is up 2 per cent and that island has made significant advancements in making deer processing more accessible.

The Nantucket Land Bank purchased a processing facility attached to a food pantry last month in collaboration with Nourish Nantucket, an organization that aims to end food insecurity on the island. The land bank hopes the facility will be up and running for shotgun season on Dec. 1.

“Our hope is that hunters will consider continuing to hunt after they have fulfilled their own personal needs for venison when there is an option to donate deer to the MassWildlife’s Share the Harvest program,” wrote Rachael Freeman, the executive director of the Nantucket Land Bank in an email statement.

Matt Coffey preps the harvest.

Jeanna Shepard

Matt Coffey preps the harvest.

Jeanna Shepard

Dean Belanger, a former environmental police officer who was hired last week to be the Nantucket facility’s venison processing manager, said the land bank is taking applications for seasonal butchers. While all the deer meat will go to the food pantry, Mr. Belanger said in the future it could be possible for hunters to choose which cuts they want to keep for themselves. 

“We’re going to be appreciative of every deer that they can bring to us,” Mr. Belanger said. 

On the Vineyard, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society is looking to do something similar. Executive director Lauren Lynch said the agricultural society is having early discussions about expanding its community-based deer cooler to potentially add a processing center.

“If we can provide a space where people can process deer, it would make it easier [and] more inviting for people to hunt,” Ms. Lynch said.

She said the expansion would primarily serve farmers who could also use the cold storage for their livestock. 

“We have this deer cooler, which is a wonderful community resource,” she said. “But is there more we can do?” 

There are several regulations that venison processing centers are required to follow that differ from livestock butchering facilities. It is also illegal to sell wild game in Massachusetts.

Ms. Lynch stressed that conversations are in the early stages and she does not have a timeframe for when upgrades to the cooler could be completed. While she’s not sure how it would be funded, Ms. Lynch said the Agricultural Society is working on a proposal to assist with fundraising efforts.

In the meantime, hunters are learning more about how to effectively butcher deer without a facility.

Charlie Granquist, the culinary director at Slough Farm, often leads butchering workshops that are well attended. He used to butcher deer for Island Grown and taught Ms. Tilton before handing over the cleaver. 

Mr. Granquist is encouraging non-hunters to eat venison in hopes it will keep deer in the food stream and out of the forests. He said sometimes people are intimidated to try it for the first time. 

“Anytime you get away from chicken, beef or pork it’s hard to get people to try new things,” Mr. Granquist said.

Mr. Granquist has been a chef for decades and said a common critique of venison is that it’s too gamey. But the venison he’s enjoyed on the Vineyard is fairly mild. He added that deer meat is lean and easy to cook – his favorite way is to roast the neck until it’s falling off the bone and then add it to a ragu.

Once people are over the hurdle of trying venison for the first time, he said they tend to enjoy it.

“I love eating venison, it’s delicious,” Mr. Granquist said. “Also, I think for our community... the less deer we have, the less worry we have about this epidemic of ticks we’ve got going on right now.”