WORCESTER, Mass. - Deer, turkey and pheasant hunting season is in full swing in Massachusetts, but people will have to make sure they're properly licensed in order to participate.

"Every hunter needs to have a license, to be able to hunt and so there's different licenses depending on what you're trying to do," said MassWildlife deer and moose Biologist Martin Feehan. "If you're a resident or nonresident. So residents would be having a hunting or sporting license depending on whether you want to also be able to fish within the state, and then non-residents need to have a big game license to be able to hunt."

Feehan said different parts of the season do determine what can be used for hunting.

He said only archery equipment is allowed right now for deer hunting and the use of shotguns will be allowed in late November.

Hunters can use shot guns to hunt pheasant and turkey, and all hunters have requirements of wearing orange colors and being visible.

"To be able to hunt though you do need to have a hunter education program," Feehan said. "And so you need to have done hunter safety either within Massachusetts or in another state. If you're trying to get it in this state, make sure to look for when those will be posted and then enter to be in those classes." 

Hudson’s Bill Lively was in Westborough field headquarters on Friday hunting pheasant.

He said he's been hunting in locations all over the state since the season began last week.

"I've done it all my life and it's just the atmosphere of being out in the woods," said Lively. "The fields, and it's just a nice experience for me a couple people in my family."​

There are protocols in place for the community’s safety during these hunting seasons.

Feehan said it's important to have strict guidelines so hunters do have opportunity, but the ecosystem stays protected.

"You can lose habitat for a lot of endangered species," said Feehan. "A lot of threatened birds and it also can start to impact the future of the forest because we have high deer abundance. They'll eat seedlings and saplings before they're able to grow and so you can lose different age classes within the forest which are really essential long-term."

Pheasant and turkey hunting season will run until the end of November with deer hunting season going until the end of the year.

Information about hunting licenses is available on MassWildlife’s website.