Blue Hills Deer Hunt Begins Monday

Hikers beware ... those are gunshots you hear!

State Police and park rangers are at the entrances to the Blue Hills Reservation to warn hikers that deer hunters are prowling the park for the first time in more than a century.

The shotgun deer season begins in Massachusetts Monday, and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation has included Blue Hills in the hunt for the first time since 1893. The hunt is an attempt to reduce the crowded population of deer in the area, which measure as many as 85 per square mile, seven times higher than the state recommends.

Not only does reducing the herd make it easier for individuals to find food heading into the winter, ultimately strengthening the herd as a whole, the hunt is also an attempt to reduce the prevalence of deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease.

The hunters will be in the 6,000-acre reservation area north of Route 128. Only the 196 permitted hunters will be allowed in the reservation area Monday and Tuesday this week and next week. Chickatawbut Road between Route 28 and Route 37 and Wompatuck Road between Chickatawbut Road and Route 37 will be closed between midnight and 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, and Tuesday, Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, wcvb.com reported.