West Tisbury resident Richard Huffam grabbed two hooves in one hand, two hooves in the other hand and his friend held the antlers. Together the two men heaved the deer from the pickup truck onto the scale, similar to one you’d see at the doctor’s office.
For the second year in a row, Richard Carlson of Oak Bluffs has been named Top Gun at the Rod and Gun Club’s annual Fall Shoot, held Sunday, Nov. 25. Past winner Cooper Gilkes III earned second place; Michael Ferry captured third. Participants were ranked based on their participation in three categories of competition.
Prizes were also awarded to the following people for their individual performances: Mike Ferry for the Bulls Eye competition; Dick Carlson for the Over the Shoulder competition, and Matt Gamache for the Standing Deer competition.
A total of 173 deer had been taken yesterday in the first week of shotgun season. The three primary deer check-in stations on the Island reported Thursday that the number of deer taken so far is about the same as in recent years. The two-week shotgun season for deer ends on Saturday, Dec. 8.
State wildlife forester Brian Hawthorne has been counting the deer checked in at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. Mr. Hawthorne said, based on what he has seen so far, the deer population is healthy and well-fed.
Next week the deer hunting season shifts from bow and arrow to shotgun.
“You are up close and personal when you are in archery season, at 20, maybe 30 yards away,” said Walter Ashley, an experienced hunter on the Island. “With a shotgun, it’s not so critical.”
Mr. Ashley has been hunting for nearly 50 years, whether it be bow and arrow, shotgun or muzzleloader.
“I’d go if they had a stick and stone season,” he said.
Are you ready for shotgun season? Prove your mettle with the metal at the Rod and Gun Club’s annual Shotgun Shot, a marksmanship competition that takes place Sunday, Nov. 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., one day before the beginning of shotgun deer hunting season.
Participants are invited to compete in a variety of events including the Bull Eye Target at 60 yards; the Standing Deer Target, a 60-yard competition for slug shotguns with both open and scoped sights.
Vineyard archery season, now in its waning days, has brought out large numbers of hunters, who in turn have harvested at least 100 deer. Archery hunting season began on Oct. 15 and continues through Saturday, Nov. 24.
The end of archery hunting season for deer will be followed by shotgun season, which runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 8, and black powder season, which runs from Dec. 10 through the last day of the year.