Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 26 — FISHERIES AND GAME · Chapter 490 — Fisheries and Game
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 26-65 (2025)

Commissioner authorized to regulate hunting. Landowner permission required for hunting on private land

✓ laws through the 2024 session: the source has not yet published 2025 Public Acts (checked Sept. 2026)
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(a) In the interest of developing a sound wildlife program for all species of wild birds and wild quadrupeds, to encourage landowner participation in such program and to develop public hunting on public and private lands and waters, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection is delegated authority to regulate hunting within the state as hereinafter provided.

(b) No person may engage in hunting on private land without the permission of the owner of such land.

(1955, S. 2475d; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 260; P.A. 93-408, S. 3; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: 1971 act substituted commissioner of environmental protection for board of fisheries and game; P.A. 93-408 added new Subsec. (b) re landowner permission for hunting on private land; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.

See Sec. 53a-217e re negligent hunting offenses.

Cited. 3 Conn. Cir. Ct. 417.

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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1965–1999 · leading case: Elliott v. City of Waterbury, 715 A.2d 27 (Conn. 1998).
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Elliott v. City of Waterbury, 715 A.2d 27 (Conn. 1998). · cites it 4× “ht of the fact that the tract was 1800 acres in size and that no municipal ordinance barred hunting on it; in light of the statutory and financial support of this state for maintaining hunting as a recreational activity and wildlife management technique and for encouraging…”
State v. Brennan, 216 A.2d 294 (Conn. App. Ct. 1965). “Under chapter 490 of the General Statutes, and more particularly under part IV thereof, the state has preempted the field of regulating and encouraging the hunting of wildlife on public and private lands and waters (§26-65) and has delegated to the state board of fisheries and…”
Michael Kaluszka v. Town of East Hartford, 24 Conn. L. Rptr. 405 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1999). · cites it 2× “General Statutes §§ 26-65 and 26-66 provide the commissioner with the authority to regulate hunting in Connecticut and, through this power, to adopt regulations that restrict hunting activities in several ways. Pursuant to this authority, the commissioner has promulgated…”
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