Quabbin Reservoir

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Anyone being hunting at Quabbin Reservoir in the past few years (2-3)?

This year the Mass paralyzed hunt is not doing the Fort Devens location and the closest to me will be the Quabbin Reservoir. I have never hunted down there so it will be nice to try a different place but I liked Devens since I knew most of the guys who came out to help us.
 
The Quabbin paraplegic hunt takes place in the Quabbin Park in Belchertown. They started the para hunt there in 2003 and it is the only time that section of the Quabbin gets hunted. They tried to do a lottery hunt in the park area last year due to the overpopulation of deer but MDC got a lot of pushback from the abutting land owners and the hunt was cancelled.

There are supposed to be a good population there still but it is nothing like what it was when I started hunting it In the early 90’s. I shot a lot of deer at Quabbin over the years.

I stopped hunting the Quabbin a few years back as they hunted the deer to near extinction and have closed the lottery hunt in all areas. There is only one type of deer hunt currently scheduled for Quabbin this year: Hardwick, Pelham, and New Salem will be open for the entire two week 2020 shotgun season (Nov. 30 - Dec. 12, 2020). Similar to the Pelham hunt in 2019, access is by foot from DCR gates or designated access points.

I hope that this helps some.

Bob
 
Dont know much about Quabbin but I got my Wachusett Reservoir Deer hunt permit by lottery. I may not do it since they require you to enter a Zoom Rules/Regulations meeting to be approved for the hunt. May be crowded with "brown down". Not worth it to me. I have so much land to hunt. After last year killing 2 deer I've learned alot. I may not even take a deer this year unless my venison stock is depleted more or the world starts to burn a little hotter after November 3rd, lol. Wrt paraplegic hunts I feel there should be better access than a walk-in from a gate.
 
Wrt paraplegic hunts I feel there should be better access than a walk-in from a gate.

They have good access and a lot of volunteers to help. I tried to become volunteer for the hunt years ago but they had more volunteers than they needed.

The last paragraph of my reply was to illustrate the overall changes in the deer population in that area. Not the Para hunt specifically.

@exojam There is also a Quabbin Deer Hunters group on Facebook that is worth a look.

Quabbin Deer Hunters

Bob
 
This year with all this covid bs, they are not allowing any volunteers to help with even getting setup. They state that hunters must be able to get to and situate everything by yourself. I am OK, since I take my track chair with me but I am not sure how that will effect others that will/would be going.

Devens was great besides knowing most all the folks it is only about a 35-40 minute drive. I guess the reservoir is about 1.5 hours away. Now I am not sure if I am getting up at about 3 to head down there. I may head down for the evening sit but I will think about it and decide.
 
I remember the first year they opened the QQuabbin to a lottery shotgun hunt. The kill success rate was pretty dismal if I recollect. I made it out there for day two and all we saw was two deer and they both had been hit with a handful of 1oz slugs.
The problem was that they assigned you a place to hunt rather than let you scout. The blue hills hunt was even worse. A friend of mine landed on a rock face and didn't see squat.
Let the able bodied hunters hunt the Quabbin and find some cooperative land owners with loads of deer that don't let the everyday hunter in.
 
This year with all this covid bs, they are not allowing any volunteers to help with even getting setup. They state that hunters must be able to get to and situate everything by yourself. I am OK, since I take my track chair with me but I am not sure how that will effect others that will/would be going.

Thats sad; for many that is their only opportunity to hunt. It would be nice if they just gave the volunteers a Covid test and allowed them help with the setup and recovery. I’m sure it’s all about liability.


I remember the first year they opened the QQuabbin to a lottery shotgun hunt. The kill success rate was pretty dismal if I recollect. I made it out there for day two and all we saw was two deer and they both had been hit with a handful of 1oz slugs.

I never saw so many deer in my life, before or since, when I hunted it 1992. It was incredible. They were under weight though. Just not enough feed for them.

Bob
 
I need to look at my paperwork again and see what place the state is doing for the western part. Depending what do on where it is I will reach out to someone who hits the western areas coming over from NY. Thank his dude is a stud deer hunter so his thoughts would be interesting.
 
The Quabbin paraplegic hunt takes place in the Quabbin Park in Belchertown. They started the para hunt there in 2003 and it is the only time that section of the Quabbin gets hunted. They tried to do a lottery hunt in the park area last year due to the overpopulation of deer but MDC got a lot of pushback from the abutting land owners and the hunt was cancelled.

There are supposed to be a good population there still but it is nothing like what it was when I started hunting it In the early 90’s. I shot a lot of deer at Quabbin over the years.

I stopped hunting the Quabbin a few years back as they hunted the deer to near extinction and have closed the lottery hunt in all areas. There is only one type of deer hunt currently scheduled for Quabbin this year: Hardwick, Pelham, and New Salem will be open for the entire two week 2020 shotgun season (Nov. 30 - Dec. 12, 2020). Similar to the Pelham hunt in 2019, access is by foot from DCR gates or designated access points.

I hope that this helps some.

Bob

Surprised they cancelled it last year. The abutting landowners have the last deer hunting goldmine in west central ma. Not surprised they didnt want it
decimated.
What the MDC and hunters have done to the deer herds at the other parts of the quabbin and the central ma area in general is horrific. The quabbin was a great sanctuary that acted as a feeder for our area.

The same decimation will happen to Watchusett and Sudbury Reservoir areas. Brown its down and taking way too many deer per square mile than the herd can recover.
 
I remember the first year they opened the QQuabbin to a lottery shotgun hunt. The kill success rate was pretty dismal if I recollect. I made it out there for day two and all we saw was two deer and they both had been hit with a handful of 1oz slugs.
The problem was that they assigned you a place to hunt rather than let you scout. The blue hills hunt was even worse. A friend of mine landed on a rock face and didn't see squat.
Let the able bodied hunters hunt the Quabbin and find some cooperative land owners with loads of deer that don't let the everyday hunter in.

No. The first years of the quabbin were great. Every year after that got continually worse because they allowed way too many deer killed.

If they cared about herd management, At some point they should have closed it back up instead of opening it up fully. Now if you hunt there you will see more moose than deer, and youll be lucky to see a deer.

Everyone in the area knows this and its why the pressure from locals to cancel the quabbin park hunt was high. Because locals know if they open it up the state managers will decimate it, and their local hunting spots will be shit
 
Surprised they cancelled it last year. The abutting landowners have the last deer hunting goldmine in west central ma. Not surprised they didnt want it
decimated.
What the MDC and hunters have done to the deer herds at the other parts of the quabbin and the central ma area in general is horrific. The quabbin was a great sanctuary that acted as a feeder for our area.

The same decimation will happen to Watchusett and Sudbury Reservoir areas. Brown its down and taking way too many deer per square mile than the herd can recover.

Agreed, Spot on.

Had I realized at the time that it was the same area that they use for the Para-hunt I would have been against opening it up as well.

I admire hunters like exojam . What they go through to hunt would make the vast majority of us stay home.

Bob
 
Fort Devens is back in the mix!

Cannot wait till the end of the month. Good excuse to head to the range to check the sighting of my Savage.
 
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