Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area with your dog: leashes and pheasant season

The regulation is the same on every Wildlife Management Area in Massachusetts. No one may let a dog, horse or other domesticated animal be unattended, roam or be at large, and a dog must be held on a physical leash or tether by its owner or handler. The exemptions cover dogs hunting under the Division's rules, dogs in training for hunting with people who hold a Massachusetts hunting or sporting license, and permitted retriever and bird dog trials. A family walk is none of those.

MassWildlife's summary splits the waste rule in two. In the parking areas and within 100 feet of them, every handler, hunters included, must pick up dog feces and dispose of them off the WMA, and elsewhere on the property every non-hunter must do the same. The regulation also lets the Director close parts of a WMA to dogs, or limit them for a period, by posting a notice on site or on the Division's website, so read the kiosk and check online before a visit.

MassWildlife stocks ring-necked pheasants at Burns throughout the fall, so hunters and their dogs will be working the fields and shrubland. Under the 2026 season summary, archery deer season runs October 5 to November 28, pheasant October 17 to December 31, shotgun deer November 30 to December 12 and primitive firearms deer December 14 to 31, and pheasant hunting closes during shotgun deer week. The last of the 2026 youth pheasant hunt days is October 10.

Every hunter on a stocked WMA must wear a blaze orange cap or hat during pheasant and quail season, and during shotgun deer season every hunter wears at least 500 square inches of orange. Walkers are not required to, but MassWildlife advises an orange vest or hat for people and an orange vest or bandana for pets, and earth-toned clothing is best left at home. Hunters are often most active in the early morning and late afternoon, when the light is dim.

Sunday is the quiet day. Hunting is not permitted on Sundays in Massachusetts, and MassWildlife suggests Sundays for visitors who would rather not share the woods. If you meet hunters, make yourself known by talking or whistling and then let them be, since hunter harassment is against state law. Report a fish or wildlife violation to the Environmental Police at 1-800-632-8075.

A fall walk along burr-heavy field edges is hard on a long coat. At 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester our bath and brush starts at $55 for a dog of 25 pounds or less and runs to $95 for an extra-large long coat, dematting costs $15 per 20 minutes for the knots that form around burrs, and an antiseptic or fungal shampoo adds $8. You can book a bath straight away, since grooming has no evaluation.

Newbury and West Newbury are outside the Pup Van towns, so ask us about pick-up. If the hunting calendar makes the woods unappealing for a few weeks, our hunting season page sets out the wider North Shore picture, Sundays stay free of hunting across Massachusetts, and a daycare day at $42 gives a dog its exercise in a matched playgroup after a free evaluation.