SOUTHWICK — The trustee of a property on Granville Road has filed a citizens’ petition to have an article included on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting proposing a bylaw to prohibit hunting on private property without the permission of the landowner.
In November of 2023, Janet Prifti sent a letter to the Select Board recounting her experience with a hunter on the 55-acre property she oversees, requesting the board consider supporting a bylaw to prohibit hunting on private property.
When Select Board member Douglas Moglin referenced the letter at the November meeting, he called it a “tale of woe.”
Prifti wrote that earlier that year that a hunter or hunters had set up an 18-foot-high deer stand that was “locked to a nice tree” on the property and failed to remove it within 30 days of the end of hunting season, which was Jan. 30.
She waited 30 days and at the end of February, she had the stand removed and its building materials recycled.
Three months later the deer stand’s owner contacted her and let her know he wanted the stand returned or compensation to cover the cost of replacing it. The stand’s owner filed a $450 claim in small claims court, Prifti wrote.
She filed a countersuit for a similar amount, including the cost she incurred retaining an attorney, before dropping it “in the interest of neighborhood peace.”
In the letter she wrote there were “no trespassing” signs posted on the property and that the hunter should have contacted her to even go on the property, but he didn’t.
The hunter claimed he had hunted the land for 30 years and there were “lots of people hunting back there,” and added he had permission to hunt there.
Prifti, however, claimed she never given the hunter permission, and had never heard of him.
She also included in the letter complaints from neighbors about hearing gunshots in the area the year before.
When she contacted the Southwick Police Department about the situation on the property, she was told hunters needed written permission to hunt on private property. Later, however, Environmental Police told her the town did not have a bylaw, like some surrounding towns, that required permission.
Initially, Moglin and noard member Jason Perron supported the idea of the bylaw but wanted the Police Department’s opinion.
It took nearly two months, but former Police Chief Robert Landis said the proposal had merit, but he wanted to hear from the community.
With that recommendation, the board held an informational meeting at Town Hall to hear from residents.
In April of last year, the meeting was held with nearly 50 residents attending and over a dozen spoke out against it.
It was at that meeting that many who attended learned about the state’s private property laws. One attendee said she went to the meeting to support the bylaw but changed her mind after learning the state’s private property laws.
In Massachusetts, unlike Connecticut, unless a property is “conspicuously” marked as private and there are no “no trespassing” signs posted around the property’s perimeter, anyone can access a private property, for any purpose.
At the meeting, Environmental Police Lt. Frank Soleimani provided his perspective on hunting activities in town and the state’s private property laws.
“If [private property] is not posted, you can hunt it,” he said.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Moglin and Perron decided against including the bylaw on the Town Meeting warrant.
Board member Diane Gale didn’t stake out a position during the meeting but did say she believed there were residents who supported it but they were afraid to speak out.
Despite that, she joined Moglin and Perron in deciding not include the proposal on the Town Meeting warrant.
Draft of proposed bylaw
No person shall hunt by any means, trap or discharge a firearm on any private property in the Town of Southwick, other than on said person’s property, without written permission of the owner of the land upon which hunting, trapping, or discharging of a firearm will take place. Permission forms shall be obtained from the Southwick Town Clerk’s office. The fully completed form signed by the owner shall be retained by the hunter and must be carried while hunting. All permits shall be valid for not more than two years or a shorter period as indicated by the landowner.
Each offender shall receive a written notice to appear before the clerk of the district court at any time during working hours no later than 21 days after the date of such notice. Fine for first offense shall be $100. Second time offenders shall be fined a minimum of $100 up to $300. This bylaw shall be enforced by all state and local enforcement officials and shall be administered under the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 21D on non-criminal dispositions. This bylaw shall not apply to the lawful defense of life and property, or to any discharge of firearms in accordance with law enforcement.
For the purposes of this bylaw a firearm shall be defined as any instrument used in the propulsion of shot, shell, bullets or balls, by the use of gunpowder or any weapons as defined in Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140, Section 121, and shall include any bow and arrow.
