After 19 months of planning and approvals, the town has approved 92 hunters for a monthlong season beginning Nov. 2.
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TREMONT—After nineteen months of planning, public hearings, town votes, and state hearings and approvals, in less than six days the Town of Tremont will become the first town on Mount Desert Island to have a legal deer hunt in almost 100 years.
According to Town Manager Jesse Dunbar, the town received 99 permit applications, 92 of which have been approved as of press time.
“Each hunter will be called this week, likely beginning Wednesday, to notify them of their approval and inform them that their permission slip is ready for pickup,” Dunbar said.
The state has limited the month-long season to a total harvest of 200 anterless deer. That means that each permit holder will have a two-deer bag limit. Any deer harvested during the Tremont hunt will not count toward a hunter’s bag limit for other state hunting seasons and areas.
The deer hunt process began on April 3, 2025, when Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) presented a bill, LD 1438, that he was sponsoring to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that would make it legal to hunt deer on all of Mount Desert Island.
On May 7 at an IFW Committee meeting, the committee unanimously voted that the bill ought not to pass (ONTP), which “killed the bill in committee.”
Since that decision was made, the Tremont Select Board has been refining plans to hold a special deer hunt in Tremont as a way to attempt to reduce the number of deer-involved car crashes, destruction of private property through deer grazing, and instances of Lyme disease in humans.
Voters in the town approved the hunt in a May 2026 vote, approving a limited deer hunt in its town with a vote of 314-227. Opponents have expressed concerns about the lawfulness of the hunt and safety of residents.
On September 16, 2026, the IFW Committee approved the hunt for the second time. The hunt had also been approved at an August 11 IFW Committee meeting but due to an advertising error the committee held the approval meeting a second time.
Tremont Hunt Final 2026 211
1.55MB ∙ PDF file
The approved hunt will last for three years with the Select Board having the authority to end the hunt early after any November if it chooses to do so. At the end of three years, the town will vote on whether or not to open Tremont to hunting under a specific type of season.
Important Information from the Town of Tremont
Maine’s firearm season for deer opens with a resident’s only hunting day on Saturday, October 31. The town wants to remind everyone, especially permitted hunters, that Tremont’s season does not begin until Monday, November 2.
When hunters are notified that they have been approved for a permit, they must pick up their permit prior to hunting and must carry their permit on their person at all times when hunting. A hunter who does not have their permit on their person while hunting, if caught, will have their permit rescinded and will be removed from the hunt, according to Dunbar.
Only verified residents and resident or nonresident landowners have been issued permits.
Links to Learn More
Maine deer hunting rules and regulations
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