Controversial Deer Hunt Starts Monday in the Blue Hills Reservation

Located on the outskirts of Boston, the Blue Hills Reservation is a getaway for hikers.

However, many of them are upset they'll have to share the land with hunters starting Monday.

For the first time in more than a century, the Blue Hills Reservation will host a controlled deer hunt. More than 160 hunters are registered for the four-day hunt that starts early Monday morning.

The hunters will be met by some angry neighbors hoping to keep them away.

"This is an urban area. There are hundreds of thousands of people around here and there's plenty of other places to hunt," Peter Morrissey of the Friends of the Blue Hills Deer group said.

The hunters, armed only with shotguns, will be allowed on 3,000 of the park's 7,000 acres.

When necn spoke with the Department of Conservation and Recreation's deputy commissioner in October, he said said although it sounds dangerous, the hunt is necessary.

"There are 85 deer per square mile in the Blue Hills Reservation. To put that into perspective to you, a healthy deer herd hovers between eight and 12 deer," Sisk said.

Morrissey disagrees, saying he hikes the hills on the reservation nearly every day and he told necn he sees more families having picnics than deer.

"This is just not the place to have a picnic and the next day you have a hunt with 400 deer slaughtered," he said.

Hiking trails will be open during the hunt, which will run from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

The DCR is handing out orange vests to anyone who plans to be in the hunting zones, but they recommend the public stay away until the hunt is over. 

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