Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 131, § 59 (2026)

Reservations, parks, public lands; hunting; state forests

✓ current as of July 2026

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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 authorities or persons having the control and charge of such reservations, parks, commons or land owned or leased or held for public use, the director of law enforcement, his deputy directors of enforcement, chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement, environmental police officers, deputy environmental police officers, wardens and members of the state police in areas over which they have jurisdiction and all officers qualified to serve criminal process shall enforce this section.

This section shall not apply to state forests acquired under section thirty or section thirty-three of chapter one hundred and thirty-two or any other provision of law, or to state parks and reservations under the control of the division of forests and parks of the department of environmental management. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit any agency of the commonwealth or any political subdivision of the commonwealth from permitting the hunting, during the applicable open season, in any area owned or leased by it, of any bird or mammal, or from entering into agreements with the director for the establishment of wildlife management areas.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 1 case, 1985–1985 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Gangemi, 475 N.E.2d 1247 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985).

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Commonwealth v. Gangemi, 475 N.E.2d 1247 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985). · cites it 3× “The defendant’s brief contains a bald assertion to the effect that the evidence was insufficient to warrant a finding that he had been “hunting” within the meaning of G. L. c. 131, § 59. No effort has been made to sift the nuances of the definition of *589 the words “to hunt”…”

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