Muddy Brook Wildlife Management Area: hunting, access and parking in Zone 6

Muddy Brook Wildlife Management Area is 1,937 acres of MassWildlife land in Hardwick (Worcester County), in Wildlife Management Zone 6. MassWildlife says all of its WMAs are open to hunting, fishing and trapping. Hunters took 351 deer in Zone 6 in 2025, and MassWildlife maps 2 parking areas for the property with room for about 10 vehicles.

Data updated October 2026. Area facts: MassWildlife's Muddy Brook WMA fact sheet. Harvest: MassWildlife 2025 Deer Harvest Summary. Seasons: MassWildlife deer hunting regulations (2026 dates).

What is Muddy Brook WMA like?

MassWildlife describes it: "Muddy Brook is an extensive property made up of two parcels. The smaller, northern tract is a mix of abandoned pastures and orchards, marsh, swamp, and upland forest. The larger southern tract, bisected by Patrill Hollow Road, contains mixed upland oak-hickory and white pine forest, remnant sandplain communities, and acidic shrub marshes. Muddy Brook is an exceptionally unique area given the glacial lake delta that supports a fire-adapted sandplain ecosystem containing pitch pine, scrub oak, dwarf chestnut oak, American hazelnut, lowbush blueberry, huckleberry and interspersed patches of little bluestem."

On its habitat work: "MassWildlife has completed a 500-acre barrens restoration project at Muddy Brook WMA to provide habitat for wildlife. Restoring barrens at this location is critical to conserving plants, insects, and animals, including 75 species on the Massachusetts Endangered Species List, that depend on these uncommon habitats. These management practices also benefit many game species."

On wildlife: "This fire-adapted sandplain ecosystem contains glacial outwashes, eskers, and frost bottoms that may be of interest to geology, botany, and moth/butterfly enthusiasts. Patches of young forest and wetland complexes provide good opportunities for viewing moose. As a result of habitat restoration efforts, long-absent birds like the eastern whip-poor-will, along with pollinators and specialized plants, are returning to the area. Biologists monitoring the native pollinating insects at Muddy Brook WMA observed a dramatic, positive increase as a result of restoration activities. Within one year after prescribed burns, an abundance of lowbush blueberries, native little blue stem grasses, and scrub oaks are now established in the treated areas."

Quoted from MassWildlife's Muddy Brook WMA fact sheet.

What does MassWildlife say about hunting Muddy Brook WMA?

"The recent forest cut creating early successional habitat has greatly enhanced wildlife habitat. Particularly, food sources for white-tailed deer and black bear in this area are now abundant. Muddy Brook and its associated marshes and swamps provide excellent habitat for waterfowl and aquatic furbearer species including North American beaver, river otter, mink, and muskrat. Warm water fish species are abundant in Muddy Brook and the numerous beaver impoundments along its length."

How do you get into Muddy Brook WMA?

"Parking areas are located off Patrill Hollow Road and Muddy Brook Road with parking available at each location for about 6 vehicles."

From MassWildlife parking for recreation.

Highways within five miles: MA 32, MA 9, MA 122 and MA 67. Distances to the nearest town centers: Ware 3 miles, New Braintree 4 miles, Barre 4 miles and Petersham 4 miles. Other WMAs nearby: Ware River (3 miles), Winimusset (5 miles), Raccoon Hill (5 miles).

When can you hunt deer on Muddy Brook WMA in 2026?

Deer seasons follow Zone 6: archery October 5 to November 28, shotgun November 30 to December 12, primitive firearms December 14 to 31. In 2025 the zone gave 62 deer to archers and 249 in shotgun season.

Seasons: MassWildlife deer hunting regulations (2026 dates). Harvest: MassWildlife 2025 Deer Harvest Summary; MassWildlife 2024 Deer Harvest Summary.

What rules apply on Muddy Brook WMA?

Under 321 CMR 3.01, camping, fires and target practice need the Director's written permission, vehicles stay on roads open to traffic, and dogs must be leashed unless hunting or training with a licensed hunter.

Source: MassWildlife WMA regulations.

Questions hunters ask

Can you hunt on Muddy Brook WMA?

Yes. MassWildlife says all WMAs are open to hunting, fishing and trapping; deer seasons follow Zone 6, where the 2026 shotgun season runs November 30 to December 12 (MassWildlife WMA regulations).

What zone is Muddy Brook WMA in?

Zone 6, as MassWildlife's fact sheet gives it. Hunters took 351 deer in Zone 6 in 2025, 194 of them adult males, after 384 in 2024 (MassWildlife 2025 Deer Harvest Summary).

Where do you park for Muddy Brook WMA?

MassWildlife maps 2 parking areas: Unmaintained (about 5 cars, dirt); Unmaintained (about 5 cars, dirt). Its fact sheet adds: "Parking areas are located off Patrill Hollow Road and Muddy Brook Road with parking available at each location for about 6 vehicles."

What can you hunt on Muddy Brook WMA?

MassWildlife's fact sheet: "The recent forest cut creating early successional habitat has greatly enhanced wildlife habitat. Particularly, food sources for white-tailed deer and black bear in this area are now abundant. Muddy Brook and its associated marshes and swamps provide excellent habitat for waterfowl and aquatic furbearer species including North American beaver, river otter, mink, and muskrat."

Sources: MassWildlife fact sheet; MassWildlife Lands (MassGIS); MassWildlife parking for recreation; MassWildlife 2025 Deer Harvest Summary; MassWildlife deer hunting regulations (2026 dates); MassWildlife WMA regulations; public land MassGIS Protected and Recreational OpenSpace for state and Army Corps land; USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US 4.1) for federal land; towns U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 primary and secondary roads; U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer, towns (county subdivisions). FilledTag is not part of Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife).

Massachusetts hunting Zone 6