Waterfowl, upland game birds, cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares hunting seasons have already opened up.
Woodcock (timberdoodle) hunting season opened on October 4 and runs through October 28. It reopens on October 30 and runs through November 18. It will be interesting to see how this season goes this fall for many folks never heard or saw any woodcock mating rituals on their properties last spring. Some wildlife biologists feel that with the early spring weather they began their migrations early and then got caught in the sudden return of wintry weather, killing many of them.
In our region, the duck and Canada goose hunting seasons opened on October 10 and will run through November 25. They reopen on December 4 and run through December 13 for geese and December 25 for ducks.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service estimate that there are 10.5 million mallard ducks this year, 11% lower than 2016 but 34% above the long-term average. The decline amounts to about 1.3 million birds less than in 2016. The bulk of that appears to be related to drier conditions in the Canadian parklands region, where the surveys detected about 0.6 million fewer mallards” they said.

Pheasant stockings
MassWildlife reported that some 40,000 pheasants will be liberated statewide this year. In our zone, the pheasant season opened on October 14 and runs through November 25.
Pheasants are stocked on Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and other locations that are open to the public for hunting. According to DFW Western District Supervisor Andrew Madden, they have changed the stocking schedules a little bit by varying the stocking times and days, but not the numbers of birds to be stocked. Unfortunately, some hunters had known the usual stocking dates and times and were frequently waiting for the stocking trucks to arrive. The new schedules will allow more people to have a chance at hunting them. Stocking locations and frequencies for the Berkshires are as follows:
Town(s) Stocked Management Areas Stocking Frequency / Week*
Cheshire / Windsor Stafford Hill WMA 2-3
Hinsdale Hinsdale Flats WMA 2-3
Lee Hop Brook WMA 2-3
Lenox George L. Darey Housatonic Valley WMA 2-3
Sheffield Three Mile Pond WMA 2
West Stockbridge Flat Brook WMA 2
Windsor Eugene D. Moran WMA 2-3
Windsor Peru WMA 1
Other stocked areas
Town(s) Other Stocked Areas Stocking Frequency / Week*
Great Barrington Beartown State Forest, between Monterey Rd and Mt Wilcox Rd. 2
Great Barrington Taft Farm off Rte. 183 and Division Road 2
Lee Meadow Street 2
Lenox Post Farm 2
Pittsfield Brattle Brook parkland east off Longview Terrace 2
Richmond Sleepy Hollow Road 2
Tyringham Slater Farm 1
Washington October Mtn. State Forest , dry reservoir site
2
Williamstown Taconic Trail State Park off Rte. 2 2
Due to factors including equipment failure, personnel, inclement weather, high water or other unforeseen circumstances they are unable to provide actual stocking dates and locations.
The ruffed grouse season also opened on October 14 and also runs through November 25.
Hunting Season Logs
Massachusetts hunters spend many hours in the woods observing wildlife of all varieties. These observations can provide wildlife biologists with a tremendous amount of information to better understand wildlife distribution and abundance across the Commonwealth. Consequently, MassWildlife is asking archery deer and game bird hunters to complete daily hunting logs during their hunting seasons this fall.
Hunters who complete hunting logs before December 20, 2017 will be entered in a drawing to win a blaze orange MassWildlife cap or a Massachusetts Wildlife 1-year magazine subscription. 125 winners will be randomly selected to receive hats and 25 winners will be randomly selected to receive magazine subscriptions. Prizes will be mailed to the address provided by the hunter on the completed hunting log.
Bowhunters are asked to keep a daily log of their hunting activities and observations of wildlife during the archery deer season (Oct. 16 – Nov. 25, 2017). Game bird hunters are asked to keep a daily log of their hunting activities and observations of game birds while hunting bobwhite quail, pheasant, woodcock, and grouse (Oct. 14 – Nov. 25, 2017). Click onto the MassWildlife website to download a copy of the recommended logs.
Huge trout were stocked this fall
That’s according to DFW Western District Supervisor Andrew Madden. “The trout stocked this fall are some of the best quality fish that we have ever stocked during the fall season. Some of those fish weigh 3+ lbs.” So far, they stocked the Deerfield River, Upper Highland Lake, Littleville Reservoir, Pontoosuc Lake, Goose Pond, Laurel Lake, Windsor Lake, Windsor Pond, Onota Lake, Richmond Pond, Stockbridge Bowl, Ashfield Pond, North Pond, Norwich Pond, Lake Buel, Big Pond and Otis Reservoir. As of this writing, there are no plans to stock the East Branch of the Westfield River this fall due to low water. If they get surplus fish, they will try later, but for now it’s off the list for this year.t
Lake drawdown
According to a bulletin issued by Lee Hauge, President of the Friends of Pontoosuc Lake, this year’s target level for the annual drawdown will be only 3 feet. This would have been the year for a deep (5 feet) drawdown, but the purpose of the deep drawdown is to control Eurasian Milfoil, and they have not observed this plant species in the lake since the spring of 2015. “This is surprising, and very good news,” wrote Hauge. “Therefore; there is no need for the deep drawn this year or anytime unless we experience a resurgence of this invasive species.”
The annual drawdown will begin Monday, October 16. They will lower the lake level at a rate of about 1 inch per day until the target level is reached. Refill will start at ice-out, except that if ice-out has not occurred by April 1 partial refill will be started then to enable fish spawning.
TU Meeting
Dr. David Christensen, a fisheries biologist from Westfield State University, will be the guest speaker at the Taconic Chapter of Trout Unlimited meeting which will be held on October 19 at The Cork and Hearth Restaurant on Rt. 20 in Lee, MA (next to Laurel Lake). He will be speaking about both river ecology and lake/pond ecology and how it relates to fishing. With summer temperatures in the rivers being quite high and water levels low, we often have to look for other species and other waters to fish so as not to stress our resident trout. Christensen will shed some light on pike, pickerel and bass fishing as well during these summer months.
The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin with a social hour at 5:30 pm followed by a short business meeting at 6:00pm and then the presentation. Following the presentation an optional “order off the menu” dinner is contemplated. For more information contact chapter president John Burns at ((802) 318-1600.(413) 243-0535