HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3628        FILED ON: 3/14/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3585

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

An Act relative to bow hunting.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 58 of Chapter 131 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking it out in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:-

Section 58. A person shall not discharge any firearm or release any arrow upon or across any state or hard surfaced highway, or within one hundred and fifty feet, of any such highway, or possess a loaded firearm or hunt by any means, except for hunting by arrow, on the land of another within five hundred feet of any dwelling in use, except as authorized by the owner or occupant thereof.  A person shall not release any arrow on land of another within one hundred fifty feet of a dwelling in use, except as authorized by the owner or occupant thereof; provided further that, a person, while hunting with a bow and arrow in the perimeter established in the bill, shall be permitted to be elevated in a tree, on a hill, or at another higher vantage point where the person could angle an arrow downward.  Massachusetts’s diverse topography and landscape includes many naturally higher points which would qualify under the evaluation requirement under this bill.