Massachusetts Canned Hunting Statutes and Regulations

Partial Ban: Deer may be hunted on a commercial shooting preserve during shotgun or primitive firearms periods of the open deer season.

Statute

Massachusetts General Laws state that no one shall "bring or cause to be brought into the commonwealth any live bird or mammal" without a permit" (§131-19A).

A propagator's license or dealer's license is required to "not engage in the propagation, cultivation, or maintenance of, or the dealing in, fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, or amphibians, or parts thereof" that are wild by nature. The director has authority to make and alter regulations "governing the possession, propagation, maintenance, disposition, purchase, exchange, sale or offering for sale of fish, birds, mammals, reptiles or amphibians, or parts thereof" and "may issue licenses in accordance." It is necessary to obtain a propagator's license "to possess, maintain, buy, sell, offer for sale or have in possession for the purpose of sale, birds, mammals, reptiles or amphibians," a special propagator's license "to possess birds or mammals to propagate for the purpose of liberation into covers open to public hunting, for which there shall be no fee," a dealer's license "to possess, buy, sell, or offer for sale, fish, birds or mammals lawfully taken or lawfully propagated outside the commonwealth or lawfully propagated within the commonwealth" (§131-23).

The director may "issue permits for the operation of commercial shooting preserves." To obtain a permit the proposed shooting preserve must "consist of a single parcel of land containing not less than one hundred acres nor more than five hundred acres. The permit entitles "the holder and his guests to kill and take on such preserve, by shooting or falconry only, such native or non-native game birds as shall be determined by the director" (§131-31).

An owner or tenant of land may, upon such land, "hunt or take by other means, except by poison or snare, any mammal which he finds damaging his property except grass growing on uncultivated land, " however, all "deer so killed shall be turned over to any environmental police officer" (§131-37).

Regulation

Massachusetts regulations promulgate that a permit "to operate a commercial shooting preserve shall entitle the permittee, and his clients, guests, or members, to hunt, kill, and take game birds of those species and at those times and in accordance with such conditions as shall be prescribed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 131, § 31, and 321 CMR 2.05."

A fee may be charged for membership or admittance to the preserve (2.05.01).

A Class A preserve is defined as one "operated on a commercial basis and open to the general public, and on which the holder of a permit charges a daily fee for hunting, or a fee for each bird killed, or a combination thereof," while a Class B preserve is defined as one "operated as a nonprofit shooting preserve or a nonprofit club or membership shooting preserve with use limited to members and their guests" (2.05.02).

Deer may be hunted on a commercial shooting preserve "during the shotgun period or the primitive firearms period of the open deer season," (2.05.19).

According to an official, this refers to any wild deer that may wander onto the property of a commercial shooting preserve. Massachusetts presumably has very few deer farms, and all are raised for meat, not hunting. Commercial shooting preserves reserved for game birds are not usually fenced, aside from the area where the birds are raised.

A letter from the Assistant Director of Wildlife clarified the following regulations: “1) that the Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (DFW) has authority to issue permits for the operation of Commercial Shooting Preserves where only certain farm raised birds, primarily pheasants, can be released for the purposes of hunting, 2) no mammals can be raised and liberated for hunting (on or off of Commercial Shooting Preserves), and 3) DFW has authority to issue permits for the propagation of specific wildlife species for specific reasons but, except for five species of birds (like pheasants), not for the purposes of hunting in Massachusetts.”

Return to canned hunting map.