Worcester County, Massachusetts · 1,354 acres
Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area Hunting 2026: Species & Access
Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area covers 1,354 acres near Bolton, Harvard, and Lancaster (spans all three) in Worcester County. The Nashua and Still Rivers wind through forested floodplain, wet meadow, and leased hayfield and row-crop farmland, with scattered oxbow ponds left by the rivers shifting course over time; the Pine Hill section adds a glacial sand deposit with rare sandplain grassland.
01 — What you can hunt here
| Species | Notes |
|---|---|
| Ring-necked pheasant | MassWildlife stocks pheasants up to three times a week each fall on both sides of Route 117. |
| Waterfowl | The rivers and seasonally flooded fields draw strong duck numbers, best hunted from a cartop boat; agricultural fields also attract Canada geese. |
| White-tailed deer, Wild turkey | Drawn to the extensive edge habitat around the farmed fields south of Route 117. |
02 — Access rules specific to this WMA
- A standard Massachusetts hunting license covers hunting here — MassWildlife WMAs carry no separate area permit under 321 CMR 3.01.
- No motorized vehicles, camping, or campfires — standard statewide WMA rule, not specific to Bolton Flats.
- Much of the northwest section is only reachable by canoe or kayak; the rest is unmarked trails and woods roads, not maintained paths.
04 — Facilities
Camping: Not permitted. No shooting range on-site.
Parking areas beyond the red barn off Route 110 and on both sides of Route 117 near the Nashua River bridge; a boat access site at the Route 117 bridge serves cartop boats for both hunting and fishing.
05 — Where to go next
Bolton Flats packs an unusual amount of variety into under 1,400 acres — stocked pheasant, river-bottom waterfowl best reached by boat, field-edge deer and turkey, and even trout water on the Still River, all inside one property spanning three towns. The northern tip touches Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, and the annual farm leases that keep several hundred acres in hay and row crops are as much a part of the habitat plan as the mowing MassWildlife does on the rest. Access is plain license-only, same as any other Massachusetts WMA, but a good chunk of the best water is only reachable by cartop boat, not on foot.
Massachusetts hunting license costs and permits →
Verified · Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife · Last verified 2026-08-13
Publisher's note. Read from MassWildlife, retrieved 2026-08-13. Review due 2027-08-01. WMA-specific rules and closures can change between seasons — confirm before you hunt.