A deer stands in a field. (Spectrum News file photo)
ENVIRONMENT
Tremont to consider ending nearly 100-year deer hunting ban
BY David Ledford Maine
PUBLISHED 8:17 AM ET Apr. 13, 2026
TREMONT — The Mount Desert Island community of Tremont will soon make a historic vote on whether to lift a nearly 100-year-old ban on deer hunting.
MDI has been closed to deer hunting since the 1930s.
However, town officials said the growth of the deer population has led to a number of issues for residents over the years.
“Concerns about Lyme disease, concerns about deer-vehicle accidents, property damage, all of the above really,” said Jesse Dunbar, Tremont town manager. “Just the abundance of them here.”
According to the town’s proposed management plan, there have been no special studies to estimate the number of deer in Tremont, but there is “general agreement among residents that the number of deer has significantly increased during the past decade.”
Dunbar added that they’ve also become a nuisance for some.
“A lot of residents have expressed, as the years have gone on… that they’re eating everything,” said Dunbar. “They’re eating the deer-resistant plants that they haven’t eaten for the last 10, 15 years.”
Reasons for the existing ban vary, but include safety concerns and the proximity of Acadia National Park, according to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife testimony from 2025.
“The precise reason for the ban and all of the conversations that precipitated it are subject to debate at this point,” wrote Nate Webb, Wildlife Division Director at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Tremont Town Manager Jesse Dunbar discusses the town’s upcoming vote in the Tremont town office. (Spectrum News/David Ledford)
Webb’s comments were made as testimony neither for nor against LD 1438, a “Resolve Regarding Deer Hunting on Mount Desert Island” in 2025.
That particular bill, presented by Republican Representative Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor, ultimately did not pass. But since that time, Tremont officials have refined the details of a “special hunt” for deer.
“The select board here got involved and decided, before the state just opens it the way the state wants to, the town should discuss it and see if it’s something we would want to open so the town and select board could put up rules and restrictions that it was comfortable with,” said Dunbar.
If approved, hunting would still be heavily regulated.
Dunbar said hunting would be limited to archery and shotguns, and hunters would have to stay in a fixed location like a deer stand or a ground blind. There would also be a number of other restrictions.
“You have to be a Tremont resident or a Tremont landowner to do it. You have to get landowner permission if it’s not your land,” said Dunbar. “Just different things the select board wanted to make it as safe as possible and as restricted as possible since the town isn’t used to it and to address as many concerns as they could.”
Further details and rules for the proposed hunt are available through the town of Tremont’s website.
If passed, the issue would still need to go through the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for rulemaking and a final decision.
“If residents decide to open the town to deer hunting, we will work with the town to establish a deer hunting season framework that will go through a public rule making process,” MDIFW Communications Director Mark Latti told Spectrum News in a statement.
Residents will make their decision during the town’s annual municipal election on May 11.