Nantucket deer?

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Apparently they are overrun with deer there. BUT they all probably have lyme disease.

What are the precautions for gutting/butchering a deer that u suspect of lyme disease?

And what are the precautions for eating said meat?
 
Apparently they are overrun with deer there. BUT they all probably have lyme disease.

What are the precautions for gutting/butchering a deer that u suspect of lyme disease?

And what are the precautions for eating said meat?

Nothing. Dont worry about it.
 
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Wear your bulletproof vest if you go there ;)

You may find yourself crawling under brush to get places. Lots of scrub brush. :)

Lots of deer though, too. Lyme is more of a concern for you, not the deer, although from what I understand, they can get it. Ticks can make a deer anemic if they're loaded with them....
 
There is no problem with eating the meat. You can't get Lyme disease from the meat. You can get Lyme disease from the ticks on the deer. Chances are the deer will be covered in ticks. Note, that is probably also true here on the mainland.

As trophygrl alluded to, deer hunting on Nantucket is a bitch. The scrub is thick. Really, really thick. It might take an hour (and a bunch of curse words) to get 100 yards through some of that scrub.

Many of the successful hunters on Nantucket use drives to get deer. I was chatting with an environmental police officer who said that there is a group of about 20 guys from the Cape who come over every year. The drivers wear hockey helmets that they paint orange. Their motto is "if you're not bleeding, you're not hunting." That scrub really is a bitch.

One other issue with the scrub is that someone can be 25 yards away in the scrub and you will have no idea they are there. If you (or he) shoots at a deer that is between you, bad things can happen. There have been a number of hunting accidents on both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
 
Went down there back about 8 years ago, drawn by the "unlimited" doe tags offered. Had to be the epitome of BAD hunting and "hunters". Big groups of guys (15-20) doing drives and shooting ANYTHING that ran. 40 pound yearlings, anything. They were bragging about "throwing some lead" at EVERY deer. One guy driving a white truck down the road got shot in the side of the face, the guy at the checking station said the flash of white was mistaken for a tail, seen thru the woods. 3 hours into the season, the 2 guys I was with, and myself, called it quits before we got shot. Stopped at the checking station, and you wouldn't believe the carnage. Snouts blown off, gut shots, ass shots, legs hanging, etc.
We decided to head back to the mainland, but a storm came up and ferry service was shutdown for 3 days. Was stuck there for 3 days doing nothing. By the way, antlers on ALL deer we saw(40-50 of them) at the checking station were hugely deformed from running thru the dense brush when in velvet, and the biggest buck was about 110 pounds.
 
I grew up on the Vineyard. Deer week was similar to what is described above. It forced islanders to be very strategic regarding "deer season".
 
K
Went down there back about 8 years ago, drawn by the "unlimited" doe tags offered. Had to be the epitome of BAD hunting and "hunters". Big groups of guys (15-20) doing drives and shooting ANYTHING that ran. 40 pound yearlings, anything. They were bragging about "throwing some lead" at EVERY deer. One guy driving a white truck down the road got shot in the side of the face, the guy at the checking station said the flash of white was mistaken for a tail, seen thru the woods. 3 hours into the season, the 2 guys I was with, and myself, called it quits before we got shot. Stopped at the checking station, and you wouldn't believe the carnage. Snouts blown off, gut shots, ass shots, legs hanging, etc.
We decided to head back to the mainland, but a storm came up and ferry service was shutdown for 3 days. Was stuck there for 3 days doing nothing. By the way, antlers on ALL deer we saw(40-50 of them) at the checking station were hugely deformed from running thru the dense brush when in velvet, and the biggest buck was about 110 pounds.

Wow! All I can say. I was invited out by a fisherman who has a place out there. He was telling me about all the deer. But none of this. Good recap...good information to have. I'll take a pass...
 
I hunt Nantucket, this is my third year. Everything described is accurate, except possibly the safety issue and cull info. My group varies from 12 to 18 guys this year. Safety is first and foremost on our list. There are a lot of people so yes it is crowded. Yes we do take tiny deer, there is a reason for this. The deer learn very quickly it is hunting season and go where you cannot shoot. Combine this with the thick brush and no predators and you have a recipe for the overpopulation that Nantucket has. It is a herd thinning hunt, everything must go. And the herd continues to grow, est to be about 50 per sq mile. When you are with a large group others mostly stay away, they stay with there group. Shooters on the drive never shoot into the piece being pushed and shoot from atop a 12 foot ladder so they are shooting down.
 
This will be my second year going there, its definitely tough going with the underbrush and scrub...but the higher than average deer population I think makes up for it. I went during the second week of the season last year and they were already very spooked, wouldn't really move until after dark, so I came home empty handed. Hoping to have some better luck this year. Also, re: the safety issue, I try to avoid the places were the idiots migrate to in masses and shoot at anything that moves.
 
yeah I have an invite to some private land...no scrub. Maybe I will go, but bring a flack jacket
 
I've hunted there for 10 years (minus 1 season)
Ive seen the large gangs... And some of them (not all) are jackasses
A few of the large gangs give a bad name to the others.

The last few years, we have had between 7 and 10 guys.
We are safe. We don't shoot everything we see.
Everyone sees deer.... Everyone gets shots... And everyone gets deer meat.
 
Never hunted there but my bro has a place there and they literally just walk down the roads at dusk and dawn. Could take em out from his widow walk but the 500 foot setback rule from other houses in Mass makes that tough.

A friend of mine does an annual drive there with about 20 guys. They bagged 19 deer last year. Had them piled up in a back of a pickup like cordwood.
 
My father's best friend was born, raised, and lived there all his life. We called him our uncle and growing up we went over to the island to hunt rabbit, hare, jack rabbit, pheasant, and deer. Because he was an "islander" he had privileges to hunt many pieces of private land and to even hunt from closed homes (right from those widow walks) that he caretaked. I can tell you there was no better place to rabbit hunt in NE and the deer hunting was also pretty darn good. The brush is tough and most guys don't know how to put on the drives properly for the particular areas they are hunting. We used to go sit in my uncles truck on a hill that had a tower or radar dome (can't remember, but is was one of the highest places on the island) and watch guys putting on drives. With binoculars you could literally watch the deer being driven double back right between two drivers less than 20yds apart. They would never even see the deer the brush was so thick.

One time while watching a drive my uncle got excited and said they were going to push a big buck out a way that no one realized he was going. He told me to get four shells ready (he only shot o/u guns) and started his truck. We took off down the sand roads, through water holes, around hills, etc. He was really going like a bat out of hell and I was having a hard time even holding on. All of a sudden he pulls over, jumps out and tells me to bring him his gun. He would always put two shells in the gun and then two between his fore, middle, and ring fingers on his left hand so he had a quick reload at the ready. He told me to look over at the edge of the hill and watch. Within a couple minutes a buck and two does came right over that hill in the run he said they would come out at. He quickly shot twice, opened his Antonio Zoli with ejectors, dropped the other two rounds in, closed the gun, and shot the last doe about 25 yards past where he shot the first two. He was an amazing shot and I saw him make many like this through the years.

My dad died young at 55 back in 85' and my uncle died in 2001 or so. I continued to hunt with him every year until he no longer was able to. He missed my dad and would always talk about their time together in the US Coast Guard and the times just hanging out hunting. Most people know my uncle if they lived on the island as he was a sports fisherman captain for hire to many of the elite and would care take most of their homes. He was also influential in the Nantucket Sportsman Association. If I remember right he was responsible for getting the sharp tailed grouse introduced to the island and he had something to do with the jack rabbits also. His name was Fred (wiggles) Coffin. He was a great guy and a great outdoors-man.
 
Coffin that's a name that was on the mayflower I believe. That guy had deep roots in the island. Great story thanks for sharing it
 
Cool story. I think I know the hill you are talking about.
Coffin is a prominent name on the island.
One of the older guys I used to hunt with when I first went there, referenced "wiggles" often
 
"One of the older guys I used to hunt with when I first went there, referenced "wiggles" often"

I would definitely believe that. All he did in the winter was hunt and scallop so anyone else that hunted knew him. He always had at least 10 beagles and a Brittany or two. He lived right on Fairgrounds road and a couple of his daughters with their kids still live on island. I think one of his grandsons still live in his house. His wife, Joan, who also has passed many years now worked to the island Chevy dealer then became the island's treasurer I believe or at least some sort of town official.

I really miss my uncle and times I had there. My brother and I were just reminiscing about those times today after Thanksgiving dinner. I have to say I was lucky to experience that in my life time because I think things like that are pretty much gone forever. Hunting rabbits with a crew of 6-10 guys who were all good friends. 30 rabbits killed before lunch. Having used up 4 beagles by noon and having to back for 4 more so we could hunt the afternoon. Hunting jack rabbits on Coatue penninsula out of the back of a moving pickup, hanging on to the wood headache rack, shooting a .410 contender pistol! (I know illegal but super fun! ) Putting the dogs down on one side of a dirt fire lane and have them drive rabbit. Put them down on the other side of the road and they would drive snoeshoe hare.(never understood why those animals segregated themselves like that but honestly, that is the way it was. And the best one of all, watching "green horn" hunters who came to the island give their cars/trucks some of that good old Nantucket Scrub Oak Pinstripe!
 
"
And the best one of all, watching "green horn" hunters who came to the island give their cars/trucks some of that good old Nantucket Scrub Oak Pinstripe!

Yeah, hunters should own beater trucks just to get into the woods with. If you care about a stump bouncing of the side, it is not "beater" enough
 
I hear some enterprising hunter "bagged" a nice kitchen window on the island.
 
Problem with nantucket is the cost of getting over there and the cost of staying there. Hunting the brush sucks too. A friend did it years ago on that february fiasco the DEP tried and he said never again.

Bowhunting southern ct is a way better deal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Problem with nantucket is the cost of getting over there and the cost of staying there. Hunting the brush sucks too. A friend did it years ago on that february fiasco the DEP tried and he said never again. Bowhunting southern ct is a way better deal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That February hunt was the only time I hunted Nantucket.
 
the one I hear of, the guy had a tree stand, and the slug bounced when he missed the deer. 900 feet from the house, so it was technically legal.
 
My father's best friend was born, raised, and lived there all his life. We called him our uncle and growing up we went over to the island to hunt rabbit, hare, jack rabbit, pheasant, and deer. Because he was an "islander" he had privileges to hunt many pieces of private land and to even hunt from closed homes (right from those widow walks) that he caretaked. I can tell you there was no better place to rabbit hunt in NE and the deer hunting was also pretty darn good. The brush is tough and most guys don't know how to put on the drives properly for the particular areas they are hunting. We used to go sit in my uncles truck on a hill that had a tower or radar dome (can't remember, but is was one of the highest places on the island) and watch guys putting on drives. With binoculars you could literally watch the deer being driven double back right between two drivers less than 20yds apart. They would never even see the deer the brush was so thick.

One time while watching a drive my uncle got excited and said they were going to push a big buck out a way that no one realized he was going. He told me to get four shells ready (he only shot o/u guns) and started his truck. We took off down the sand roads, through water holes, around hills, etc. He was really going like a bat out of hell and I was having a hard time even holding on. All of a sudden he pulls over, jumps out and tells me to bring him his gun. He would always put two shells in the gun and then two between his fore, middle, and ring fingers on his left hand so he had a quick reload at the ready. He told me to look over at the edge of the hill and watch. Within a couple minutes a buck and two does came right over that hill in the run he said they would come out at. He quickly shot twice, opened his Antonio Zoli with ejectors, dropped the other two rounds in, closed the gun, and shot the last doe about 25 yards past where he shot the first two. He was an amazing shot and I saw him make many like this through the years.

My dad died young at 55 back in 85' and my uncle died in 2001 or so. I continued to hunt with him every year until he no longer was able to. He missed my dad and would always talk about their time together in the US Coast Guard and the times just hanging out hunting. Most people know my uncle if they lived on the island as he was a sports fisherman captain for hire to many of the elite and would care take most of their homes. He was also influential in the Nantucket Sportsman Association. If I remember right he was responsible for getting the sharp tailed grouse introduced to the island and he had something to do with the jack rabbits also. His name was Fred (wiggles) Coffin. He was a great guy and a great outdoors-man.

holy shit , the coffins were the first( English ) family to to live on the island.
 
I just finagled 4 days on Nantucket to hunt. Tomorrow with a friend, Monday and Tuesday solo. Muzzy and bow, I have a climber. I've scouted a couple of public places, and suggestions where I won't get blasted by drivers and that I'll see some deer?
 
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