Written Permission & No Discharge Towns
Massachusetts
This is from 2016, with all the new people popping up on here, thought it might be useful.
According to a list compiled by MassWildlife, towns requiring hunters to obtain written permission of landowner or town authorities include Acton, Essex, Milton, Swampscott, Andover, Framingham, Monterey, Tolland, Alford, Georgetown, Natick, Topsfield, Bedford, Gosnold, Needham, Tyngsboro, Beverly, Groveland, New Marlboro, Tyringham, Billerica, Hamilton, Newbury, Walpole, Blandford, Hampden, North Andover, Waltham, Bolton, Harvard, Northboro, Wayland, Boxford, Holliston, Norwood, Wellesley, Boxborough, Hull, Peabody, Wenham, Brewster, Ipswich, Reading, Weston, Brookline, Lincoln, Rowley, Westboro, Carlisle, Littleton, Sandisfield, Westford, Chelmsford, Lunenburg, Saugus, Westwood, Concord, Medfield, Seekonk, West Newbury, Cuttyhunk, Methuen, Sheffield, West Stockbridge, Danvers, Middlefield, Sherborn, West Tisbury, Dover, Middleton, Southboro, Wilbraham, Dracut, Millis, Stow, Dunstable, Sudbury and East Longmeadow.
Those towns with ordinances prohibiting the discharge of firearms include: Arlington, Chelsea, Medfield, Stoneham, Ashland, East Longmeadow, Medford, Tewksbury, Avon, Lawrence, Melrose, Wakefield, Bedford, Lexington, Newton, Wilmington, Belmont, Longmeadow, North Reading, Winchester, Boston, Lowell, Randolph, Winthrop, Braintree, Lynn, Salem, Woburn, Burlington, Lynnfield, Somerset, Canton, Malden and Somerville.
New Bedford is not on the list, but according to the New Bedford Police Department, the discharge of firearms within city limits is prohibited. MassWildlife states that the information is compiled from the best current information available and is offered only as a general guide. Since local ordinances can, and do, change — sometimes without the knowledge of the agency — there is no guarantee as to its accuracy and hunters are urged to check with local police departments when in doubt.
OK, so this raises questions for me. There are some towns on the written permission list above that I've searched the town bylaws and found nothing indicating written permission is needed. Some of them have no mention of hunting whatsoever in the bylaws. If written permission isn't in a towns bylaws then how does it end up on this list?
Medfield no discharge? They stock pheasants in medfield....
Add Sharon to the list . As far as I know it is No Discharge of weapons . Good deer there too.
Isn't hunting in Mass awesome!
This list is from SouthCoast Today who claim they got it from Mass DCR.
I'm looking to see if there are any more recent lists. I know the Tripod link I used to use is many years old and most likely not accurate anymore.
Discharge ordinances could mean you can use a shotgun but not a rifle so find out before you dismiss the town.
so this is something I ran into a long time ago in Burlington, MA. I called and asked and was told that since there is a state law (MA Gen Laws Chapter 131 Section 59) regarding hunting on public land that the individual towns do not need an additional law. In other words, the state says no hunting on public lands so that's that.
here is the first line of the law: Section 59. A person shall not hunt, or in any manner molest or destroy, any bird or mammal within the boundaries of any reservation, park or common, or any land owned or leased by the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any land held in trust for public use; except that the authorities or persons having the control and charge of such reservations, parks, commons or other lands, may, with such limitations as they deem advisable, permit the hunting, within said boundaries during the applicable open season of any birds or mammals."
the full law is in the link provided.
as it was explained, by a clerk in Burlington, you cannot hunt on public land in MA unless a specific town allows hunting on public land.
I don't mean to stir the pot but just sharing what I was told and the law that was referenced.
God I love New Hampshire!!!!
DCR is the authority or person having control and charge of the State Lands. The are also the body that manages the hunting seasons. There are State Lands you cannot hunt, and areas of State Lands you cannot hunt. I have had EPO's tell me, any State Land not posted or without a no hunting regulation is fair game.
"except that the authorities or persons having the control and charge of such reservations, parks, commons or other lands, may, with such limitations as they deem advisable, permit the hunting, within said boundaries during the applicable open season of any birds or mammals"
Bruce, There you go being logical again. You know, Asking a reasonable question and all .
It's Massachusetts. It happens in a magical way. But still, Good question .
Bruce you have raised the problem of proving a negative. "Nowhere saying you can't," is a tough proposition. Pretty frustrating. Then you can call the local police and it's a good bet that whoever answers the phone won't know with certainty, and will, instead, tell you what they think--possibly passing it off as fact. Endless fun trying to be compliant.
Unfortunately, as much as I hate to think about it Badjuju's explanation makes perfect sense, and means that my attempt to stay in compliance with the law by searching town bylaws is essentially useless. Having said that, I bet there are many towns where MGL 131-59 is probably never enforced and law enforcement wouldn't bat an eyelash about public land hunting, especially bow hunting where no firearms are involved. You just have to guess which towns they would be :) Don't ya just love this state...
I'm in the Rowley Georgetown area. Can't speak for the written bylaws but most towns around here have signs on the borders where you cross into town that say written permission required from landowner to hunt. Though it hasn't happened often I have come out of the woods to find a cop waiting. They have always been fine to deal with.
I'm going to continue going about my life with the belief that I've never seen that MGL notation.
I say that, solely because well, I've hunted town land in places for decades without a problem. Admittedly, more rural than eastern MA...
Ironic, in that, unless a town has a bylaw prohibiting hunting or hunting without land owner permission, the state law RE non posted land being accessible, functionally makes private unposted land MORE legal and open than this law makes town owned land.
mrw you raised a good point about DCR. We know we we can hunt WMA's, and there are DCR lands that you can hunt as well like the Wachusett Watershed properties just to list one example. because they are the "authorities ... having control" of that land and they allow hunting. There are also state parks that the DCR controls and you can hunt on some but not others. You have to check each individual park for that info.
I think this came up a few years ago. Towns w/ no firearm discharge laws but did not have a no hunting bylaws, and since a bow is not a firearm what is the law? Some guys posted that town A police said 'no firearm discharge = no hunting' and Town B said something else.
I've also had EPO's and town PO's tell me "if it ain't posted you can hunt it", but like Will said that is usually out west of I495 & north of I90. Where PO's and people are generally speaking more hunter friendly. I actually had a town PO tell me that a posted property was illegally posted and therefore I could hunt it! He said "you can't just slap up signs, you have to do it legally". That was pretty cool.
It's just so confusing and sometimes even when we do check with local police departments they don't seem to know.
I have a big binder, that is full of what I call proof. their are spots that you almost expect to get hassled. print out the town by laws, print out the town land use plan, print out the assessors map with property lines. print out the no discharge list. then when the police get called about the crazy guy with a gun trying to hunt in their snobby little town I show the proof, yes the town does own this land, yes the town land use plan does allow hunting on town property, and no this is not a no discharge town. so thanks for stopping by.
Still, I know a lot of cops, and having that stuff available so they don't have to do a lot of work and can close the complaint will make them your friend, or at least not your enemy.
if figure even if the officer does not agree with me, I can show my point of why I believe I have the right to be their.
Still, that's a great idea. I sorta did that recently... But considering what you described, I'm going whole hog in, and will be making a binder this week.
The spot in point, is a few homes down from a minor issue I had last year. I discovered it while reviewing assessors maps a couple weeks ago and was stoked. It was a spot I could park, not right in the line of sight of several houses, with posted land around it... but which was town owned. As was noted above, it's not legally posted, there are like two signs really far apart, but it makes it look like this spot is kinda sorta posted. Thus I always avoided it. On the assessors map, it's clear there is a couple hundred foot wide finger of town land (which is legal) going back from the road connecting to a bigger section. BINGO.
I printed a little note card that said: "I am walking the town land east of the truck, assessors map plot number XX" (forget the number off the top of my head). and I stuck that in my driver side window so any cop/EPO who pulled in to check the truck out would at least have something to think about - because I'm confident some one will call on me should I hunt there. It REALLY feels and looks private and posted... But it's not.
I think I'm going to print the map, and do as you suggested, and just keep updating the binder as time goes on. GREAT idea!
Badjuju raises a great point RE DCR land. Around wachusset Res, there is a lot which you can hunt with the free permit - NONE directly on the res, it's off site watershed land. What's brutal, is that some, is legal and some, as you get a little closer to the actual res, is not. Same big signs, but some has a pic of a little hunter guy showing it's legal with the permit, some does not... (this is actually likely to change, just read an article where they are hoping to open up the rest, including the res proper soon :). You can now see me dancing the happy dance at that prospect). Now, you want to make it MORE confusing... Go another 5-10 miles west... There are tons of spots that are DCR owned, but do not require a permit and are legal. I mean shoot, my home town has, I'd bet, several thousand huntable DCR acres which are NOT in the permit system... But if you ask random people some will tell you that it is.
Point being, you need to review the data a bit, because a lot of this confusion is created by 1 or 2 random people who may have NO clue, and are just trying to get your question off their desk fast and thus chucking an answer at you.
Back to the key thing though, Stillhunter, thank you for that idea - HUGE help!
the whole thing started when a friend of mine was telling me about a piece of conservation land he was hunting, and like an uninformed person I said you know you cant hunt conservation land right?. well wrong, some of it you can but each piece has special rules and so started my binder. now my binder is so big I might need to start a second one. I have it separated by town.
that is a killer idea Stillhunter.
If I had to go through all that BS just to hunt I would either quit hunting, become a total outlaw, or move.
I'm confused about Medfield State Hospital (filming site of "Shutter Island" and this summer a new XMEN movie.) DCR used to have it posted as a hunting site with a smaller "BOW ONLY" portion. YET Medfield is no discharge. AND it looks like they've taken that down and I called Medfield today and it seems they are running a special hunt-by-application-only-culling program. Anyone hunt that area and know the law?
conservation (trusts) are the ambiguous ones.... i asked the town hall employee,and, she said "ya" think you can... now the whole area is posted. wth? this was 10 yrs ago. to bad great area w/lots of deer.
The other day I got pulled over by a cop in Wenham on my way to hunt. I had rushed home from work, showered chucked my shit in my car and ran out the door. He pulled me over for my car being uninspected. My car was such a mess and my wallet was in my bag in my trunk, also couldn't fine my registration, great! He says, "you moving or something?" And I told him no I'm on my way to go hunting right up the road. He says, "nice!, What's your name and date of birth, I don't need your license or registration I'll just look you up." Went to his car for 15 seconds came back and said good to go, good luck. Not sure if he was a fellow hunter or just a real down to earth guy or both, but 1. I lucked out and 2. I think most law enforcement don't even have hunting on their radar or they don't care if we are hunting and it only gets on their radar when some confused person starts complaining about it.
They stick that place with pheasants I've hunted it 100 times seen a million guys there and have been checked by warden multiple times. You can discharge in Medfield....
That bow only spot across the street is pretty good if u can sneak a morning hunt during the week in...
Okay I got info on medfield. Dcr manages some land but mass wildlife has a wma there they lease from us army Corp engineers. They stock pheasant and any place they stock pheasant you can hunt for anything legal to hunt. Wma rules trump local regulation even if medfield is no discharge you can still shoot there.
seems their is maybe some misinformation, where did you get the no discharge in Medford info from? is it in their bylaws or did it just come from a website other then the towns. I only found one website that says no discharge in Medford. I found nothing on Medford's web site. also not all state stocked pheasant hunting areas are WMAs , several are privately owned. I cant think of any places they stock pheasants in no discharge towns. I don't mean to doubt you, but I have been keeping track of this type of stuff for the towns I hunt( not Medford) for years. I have also never heard of fish and wildlife leasing land. All the WMAs around me belong to commonwealth of ma Fish and Wildlife, and look that way on assessors maps.
so I just realized you wrote Medfield no Medford, so... just ignore me
What do you mean Lunker, no discharge?
There is some Attleboro water dept. land that is no firearms, or was last time I was there. Nice spot too.
