Massachusetts hunters- help!

[jamz]

Is there any "plain english" giude to what you can hunt when?

I've been pouring over the Mass hunting regulation for the last YEAR, and I consider myself pretty good at reading legalese. However, there are always suprises. I was all set to go squirrel hunting with my .22, then I read that rifles and handguns are not permitted in the eastern part of the state for squirrel. So I borrow a 20 ga from my brother in law, and get ready to go out. I call the wildlife division to make sure I can use a shotgun, because there is a regulation that I find that says it is illegal to posess any shotgun shell whatsoever unless it's shotgun deer season.

They tell me that it's illegl to hunt anything other than deer during deer season. I can't find a reference to that anywhere in the regs at all!! It's getting to the point where I have no idea what to do now, except to go out and hunt deer, which I'm not prepared to do by myself yet because I want to field dress it with a more experienced person.

So are there any MA hunters out there that can give a plain, straightforward version of when I can hunt squirrels? And with what?

 

[GooseGestapo]

Get on the internet.
Buy an airplane ticket.
Go to Georgia.
Buy an one day non-resident hunting license- $5.50!
(big game, or waterfowl will set you back a good bit more)
Go Squirrel Hunting with your .22! Limit is now 12/day.
.17cal or larger rimfires, or 10ga or smaller shotgun (plugged to 3 or less shells) with #2 shot or smaller (#T or smaller non-tox ) is legal. No centerfire rifles or handguns in possession.

Join the NRA

Get a job anywhere but N.E. USA, or California.

Vote Republican!

My wife is from Mass. I just spent 11 days up there when her mom died (after long illness, 48yrs long- home sickness for Mobile, Al- no, not really -Cancer!) I have never been so BORED in my life. All I could think about was the fact that I had killed 6 of my 12 deer limit, and I was stuck in "Liberal Land" w/o my firearms. After I got back, I killed 3 deer and 10 squirrels in 4 days just to get over the "cabin fever" I developed in Southbridge, Ma. (Waterfowl season hadn't opened yet)

My sympathy for your being "stuck" in Mass.

Only thing I ever do up there in the outdoors is run, and trout fish.
Almost got "locked up" for not leaving the parking lot before the park closed for the day at 9:00pm.
In late June, thats before sunset!!!!

Really, I suggest you meet up with one of the Wildlife Enforcement Officers, take him to lunch and attempt to get an education from him. Most will gladly help a "Newbie" if you politely identify yourself as such.

Good luck !!

 

[Johnpl]

If I remember correctly, ALL other hunting seasons close during shotgun season for deer, except for waterfowl hunting along the coast. This really stunk when grouse season ran from mid-October to January...you had a 2 week break right at the best time of year! I guess the theory was that the woods would be too crowded with all the deer hunters out there.

It's always been my understanding that rifles and handguns (.22 lr) could be used for squirrels in the "western" zones, with the boundry beginning right around route 495. In other words, you could use a .22 rifle or handgun west of rt 495. I had hunted with a rifle in the Upton state forest several years ago, based on this belief.

If the abstracts don't spell it out clearly, make sure you get specifics from one of the field offices. I've found the staff at these offices very helpful. Good luck, and don't let the lack of info dissuade you from hunting-it may be intentional! Sometimes it really takes a great deal of effort to get the proper info in order to hunt in Mass.

 

[jdkelly]

Read the whole thing.

jamz,

Try here:

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwpdf/dfwab04.pdf

I think page 6 and page 9 are what you want for Sudbury. Your hunting on your friends or your parents land, if I remember. Don't shoot with in 500' of a building. Don't have your gun loaded outside of legal hunting hours (see note 9).


Good Luck,

jdkelly

 

[billykaldrich]

mass hunting good luck

Grew up in Springfield and left in 67,now I really justify the move. Kali is almost just as bad but there are so many wilderness areas that we need not worry now about the B.S. you got to go through in Mass right now. but I fear its comming.Good luck

 

[jamz]

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually moving up to Maine in the spring or thereabouts- can't wait.

I'm hunting a Wildlife Management Area that is only a half mile from my house- sure beats the hour drive to my parent's, that's why I'm so confused about the rules. Oh well, deer season for shotgun is only another week here, then I got clarification on the whole shotgun thing. It's wierd that you can't hunt squirrel with a .22, yet you can hunt things like english sparrow with one.

Oh, and I already am an NRA member and voted a repub ticket this time around, except for Badnarick for president.