What happens when you call
The intake service answers and connects the call to a trusted area processor. Middleboro Prime is that referral step. Whether the deer can come in, which work is possible, and what it costs are the processor's decisions. A price spoken on the call is the processor's price. It is not a rate card stored on this website. If the plan changes from steaks to grind, ask the price again.
Say the town, whether the deer is field dressed, whether the harvest report is finished, and whether the venison stays with you or you want to ask about Hunters Share the Harvest. Lakeville, Rochester, Carver, Plympton, and Halifax are all in bounds for the call. So is Middleborough, including deer recovered along the Nemasket River or on the south side at Rocky Gutter Wildlife Management Area. The person who answers does not need a street for this website, because no drop-off street is published.
What you finish before the call
Field dress the deer. Keep it whole until it is reported. Report within 48 hours on MassFishHunt, or at an in-person check station during the first shotgun week, November 30 to December 5. On MassFishHunt, log in, open the harvest report on the customer dashboard, and submit the harvest report. Mark the tag with the confirmation number. The official page is the checklist. The second shotgun week, December 7 to December 12, is online again. Sundays are closed.
The processing page explains the referral, and the drop-off page lists what has to be done before the deer travels. Read both if this is your first deer on the line. Ice the cavity when the air is warm. During primitive season, December 14 to December 31, cold air still leaves you with a field-dressing job. The Hunters Share the Harvest inclusion rule recovers and field dresses the deer within 4 hours after the shot unless the ambient air temperature stays below 37F.
Donation is a separate question
A qualifying whole donation has no processing fee. A replacement antlerless permit, including Zone 11, is described as taking two to four weeks. Partner participation is unknown. Hunters use the official map. Some processors may choose not to allow partial donations. This page does not quote discounts, and it does not claim the partner offers a partial donation. The deer in a program donation has to be processed entirely at an approved processor. That sentence is a program rule. Reopen the MassWildlife processor page to see which processors are listed right now.
Youth dates are October 2 and 3. Archery opens October 5 and closes November 28. Paraplegic dates are October 29, 30, and 31. Shotgun opens November 30 and closes December 12. Town centers checked on MassGIS for Middleborough, Lakeville, Rochester, Carver, Plympton, and Halifax are in Zone 11. Wareham still needs the zone map. Myles Standish State Forest, on the Carver side, requires a look at forest rules before the hunt. The referral call cannot waive a forest rule.
- Intake answers and connects you to a trusted area processor.
- A trusted area processor names the price and confirms the deer can come in.
- Cuts, sausage, jerky, skin-only, quarters, caping, other species, capacity, and hours are unconfirmed.
- Taxidermy belongs with a different shop.
- No form on this site takes the deer. The call does.