Selectmen in Oak Bluffs and Chilmark last night threw their full support behind a plan to add a second two-week shotgun season for deer in January next year.

The Vineyard has more deer per square mile than most areas in the state, but most of land remains off limits to hunting.

Martha’s Vineyard may soon join a growing list of communities in New England that have taken aim at white-tailed deer to reduce tick populations.

There appears to be considerable confusion about ticks, the role of their different host animals and what can be reasonably be done to reduce the high incidence of Lyme disease.

Our Island and neighboring areas are faced with a full-blown epidemic of these diseases. Accordingly, we need to plan and act.

Hunter orange is showing up around the Island Monday as the two-week shotgun hunting season gets underway. The season runs through Dec. 12; hunting hours begin half an hour before sunrise and end half an hour after sunset.