Overpopulation and

Hunting in Massachusetts
By: Hunter Secor
Eng 200
12/14/2016

In the hunting history Massachusetts has is some of the longest and most confusing
history. What I mean is there are laws to prohibit hunting still in effect when hunting first started

back in 1627. Also laws that just did not make sense to follow such as no fishing in inland waters
on Sundays, or how law stated in this new world hunting will always be free, this was stated
twice in 1627 and 1641, but in today's world we must pay fees and for a licenses. From there on
the state started to refine its laws. They would start to make bounties on animals, and once this
happened over hunting started to occur. In 1739 that's when the nation appointed their first game
warden. From this point on the ethical issues arrows whether or not the nation should be able to
put limits on how much a family could hunt. ("History of the Massachusetts Environmental
Police." 2012). Hunting back then was a way of life, the only food source some people had. So is
it ethical for departments such as MEP (Massachusetts Environmental Police) and DCR
(Department of Conservation and Recreation) to limit how much we hunt? I lay on the side of
yes but we need to lighten up the rules, because A if we hunt too much we will deplete our
natural resources. B Its cruel and inhuman to over hunt a species, C with too many laws the more
laws for people to brake and get fined for. Finally, D with too many restrictions the populations
can get out of control.

What I first want to go over are the two examples that hunters and non-hunters have. One
being why do we need to be regulated and the other why hunting should be regulated. Both of
these are examples at their extremes to put what Im talking about into perspective.

What are the effects of overpopulation? Off the top of your head youd think of vast
amounts of animals and the amount of room they have to live. Possibly the effect it could have
on humans. For example, if the deer population were to grow exponentially over the next 2
years, let's say by 100%. So no hunting was allowed those years and the off chance no sickness
came upon the deer population. The end result would be that there being way too many deer.

People plants, the wild life in those areas would be greatly affected dude to the amount of deer
now needing to be fed. The deer would venture off from their natural habitat and into the areas
where humans tend to populate more. This will lead to more deer related accidents and overall
more population growth due to the new land and food sources. Now that's an extreme if the
hunting laws were too strict.

Now on the opposite end what happens if there are no hunting laws and hunters can hunt
until they can hunt anymore? Well let's look at another situation. Let's take the deer again, If the
agencies that protect our natural resources suddenly stop getting funding or simply were shut
down, no one would enforce the laws of how many deer 1 hunter can hunt. Now that no one is
stopping the hunters they go out and hunt just keep hunting. Well eventually there will be no
more deer for them to hunt. Hence the deers in Massachusetts would be extinct. So what right
well this has an environmental impact. Now there's no deer to eat leaves, flowers small plants.
This allows these plants to grow a bit more and year after year these plants will grow and
consume the areas they grow in. Second part of this is, other animals food source. Such as bears,
fox, coyotes all eat deer and that food source would be gone causing them to over hunt and eat
other animals with will just perpetuate the previous problems of vegetation overgrowth and other
animals food sources getting smaller. Eventually this will lead hunters to start hunting more
bears and other animals. These animals now with a limited food sources and being hunted die
off. Well now the hunters have nothing else to hunt in Massachusetts. They will not go and hunt
in other states. This will put a larger strain on other states natural resources, such as New
Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York. Lastly with no fines
being dealt, or license fees Massachusetts loses a part of its funding.

As someone who has interned for the environmental police, as well knows lots of hunters
and written the hunting brochures for MEP, I can say it is a very hard and confusing process to
get a hunting license. Whether it is to fish, hunt with a gun or bow, trap, or to get one for big
game. The laws are a necessary thing to keep the wild life afloat, but do there need to be as many
as there are, or can some be taken away and amended? The question to that answer is not a
simple one. These are some examples of laws that are necessary for us to have.

You can't have too many traps out or over trap in one area your traps must be labeled and
be approved by all departments. Such as a case on May 16, 2016 in Gardner MA. MEP was
called for bear cubs stuck in a near high power telephone lines. After the two cubs were safely
taken into custody the officers found signs of food not native to the area and found the power
lines nearby had been baited to attract bears. A quick sweep of the area revealed a dead mother
bear. The bear must have been found before the trappers were able to retrieve their victim.

Cases of overfishing happen every day on the shores of Massachusetts and the only way
to catch these law breakers is by random boat inspections. Such the case on October 18 2016. A
random boat inspections of a lobster boat yielded over 603 pounds of illegal lobsters. Lobster can
only be caught at 100 per day yielding ruffle 200 pounds.
The last case I want to mention has to do with the illegal sale of food. During one of my
ride along with Officer Kaldwalf, we heard over the radio that a suspect was caught in an
undercover sting. The officer was overjoyed that they had finally caught this suspect. He had
been illegally claiming for the past year with no success at capture. I asked why this one was so
important. Most of the illegal clammers are drug addicts trying to catch these clams and sell

them to get drug money. Now what's the problem in that well it's the problem of who they sell to.
Most of their buyers are restaurants in the north end of Boston who can't afford to always be
buying the FDA approved clams.

Now these are three current cases that MEP has dealt with and every day there's more like
them. But there are a few laws that people get in trouble for that should not be there. Such as the
law that prohibits Decoys for hunting deer. You're allowed to hunt turkeys this way. Why not
deers, the population as of 2015 is over 93,000 deer in Massachusetts. ("Deer Management |
MassWildlife." 2016). Another law I find to be over stepping the bonds is Hunting on Sunday.
Hunting has turned into a recreation, Sundays are a non-business day, it's a recreational day.
These next 2 laws go hand in hand, but I believe them to be unreasonable and should be
amended. Loaded shotgun or rifle in or on any motor vehicle, recreational vehicle (including
snowmobiles), aircraft or motorboat, except as stated in the Migratory Game Bird Hunting
Regulations. Motor vehicles, off-highway vehicles (including snowmobiles), and/or aircraft for
hunting any bird or mammal. ("Hunting Prohibitions | Massachusetts Hunting & Fishing
Seasons & Regulations 2016." 2016). These laws should not be in places, being able to hunt in
large areas the use of an ATV or snowmobile should be allowed, also not being able to have the
firearm loaded should be allowed. I understand the ruling of not being able to hunt from an
aircraft but it's not unheard of. From someone who has shot out of a helicopter it is something
that with special training and or licensing should be allowed. There is the argument of why some
of these methods could be seen as unfair to the animals but with the Deer population always
growing and at an all-time high of 93,000, as well as the black bear population growing at a
recorded high of 4,500 and growing faster every year. ("As the Black Bear Population Continues

to Grow, Sightings Will, Too - The Boston Globe." 2016). The hunting laws should be changed
to allow more conventional ways to hunt. The Last law I want to mention that I feel needs some
type of remedy other then you have to deal with it, is the law that states Often people want to
catch a problem animal and release it elsewhere. It is illegal to move any live wild animal from
one area to another. This law has been in effect for many years, protecting both people and
wildlife. (Moving Wildlife | MassWildlife/2016). The reason I have a problem with this one is
my family owns a farm that constantly floods due to beaver. Now there's the options to shoot
them but were too close to the road and homes and you cannot discharge a weapon 150 feet from
the road or a 500 feet from a building. This law yet helps protect animals from being harmed
should have some way of an official capacity to be able to move nuisance animals. These laws
are just some of the ones that should change, for they were put in places to stop over hunting so
the animal populations could grow.

Now I would like to talk about the good laws that help protect animals such as the
examples I stated above. These laws can at some points be very ridiculous and I never thought
could be real. An example I would give before I jump in is one of my favorites, that is the
prohibition on using explosives or poisons, to hunt or fish. The image I get in my head when I
think of this is a seen I believe from the Simpsons movie when Homer goes fishing with Bart and
drops a bug zapper in the water and electrocutes all the fish. Now whether or not that would
work, it would be highly illegal, especially in Massachusetts.

A good example of the laws that help protect our natural resources is the restriction of
hunting moose whether it be cows (female moose) or bulls (male moose). The reason for this is

that the moose population is very scarce in Massachusetts. Most of the moose left the state back
in the 1700s and recently started to return in the 1970s due to farmers moving out of the area due
to the amounts of produce coming in from out of state. This let the moose populations to start
growing again and the need for laws to prohibit hunting of them till their populations can be selfsustaining. There population sat at about 850-950 back in 2007. ("Moose in Massachusetts|
MassWildlife." 2013). Another law in place to protect our wildlife is Possession of any
protected wildlife and/or wild plants, dead or alive, taken from the wild, except by permit.
("Hunting Prohibitions | Massachusetts Hunting & Fishing Seasons & Regulations 2016."
2016). This law protects much of the wildlife in Massachusetts one that comes to mind is the
Timber Rattlesnake. The Timber Rattlesnake is listed as Endangered under the Massachusetts
Endangered Species Act (MESA), Because of its rarity and declining population. ("Natural
Heritage & Endangered Species Program/Timber Rattlesnake." 2015). This next law is probably
one that makes the most sense to me. The prohibition of use of Machine guns, fully-automatic
firearms, any tracer or incendiary ammunition for hunting. (Hunting Prohibitions |
Massachusetts Hunting & Fishing Seasons & Regulations 2016/ 2016). There's a few reasons
why this laws in place, the first being fully automatic weapons are illegal in mass, but also that is
you were to have a full auto firearm with a 30-150 round mag that would be devastating to one
or even a group of deer or any animal. These are laws that help protect these animals but there's
one more I want to mention and how it helps to enforces these laws.

The last law I want to talk about is the requirement for hunting classes and the
requirement of needing a license to fish, hunt or trap. I just read a few rants from some friends
about how some things go without punishment but you'll be busted for not having a license to

hunt or fish. They were mad that you needed to pay for these licenses and how often that you can
get caught for not having them. Now there's several reasons for why we need to have these and
why you'd be caught so often for braking these fundamental laws. First we have the requirement
for hunting classes so you know the laws. Sure you could read the laws and take a test but that
doesn't insure that you know the laws. Just like taking drivers ed to give you a more in-depth
look at what the laws are. Now that youve been fully educated on the laws you can apply for
your hunting license, the reason for the fee is to keep agencies like MEP or MDFW funded so
they can help regulated the amount of animals being hunted. A good example of what I mean is
for Black bear. You'll need to acquire a special permit to hunt them. If 100 people get these
permits their limit per year is one bear. All hunted bears must be tagged and reported to MEP and
MDFW. This way they have some way to regulate and know how many bear have been killed.
Now the second part on why youd be caught so much for breaking the law of not having a
fishing or hunting license. In Massachusetts you have two Police departments with the authority
to arrest and or fine you for not having the required paperwork for these recreation. There sole
purpose well on regular patrol is to visit all inland fisheries and hunting grows to check if all
persons taking part are licensed and following protocol. I have firsthand experience with how
many people 1 officer checks with every day. On one of my ride along with MEP officer
Kaldwalf we stopped at 5 separate lakes and checked close to 30 fishermen to check if they were
updated with their licensing. Well on this patrol I observed 4 subjects walking on Pleasant street
on the Belmont Arlington line walking with what we determined later to be 5 Brown Bullhead
which are a part of the catfish family. Quickly getting stuck in traffic we turned around with help
from lights and sirens and found that the parties in question were fishing without licenses.
Finally, with some hand gestures and a white board being they did not speak any English one

man was able to pull up on his phone proof of paying for his license. We cited them for fishing
without licenses on their person and sent them on their way. Now it's impossible to get everyone
and sometimes it an honest mistake forgetting your license, but the reason for citing a person is
not to discipline them but to remind them next time have your license or make sure you actually
get one.

In conclusion it's important for us to follow the laws that are set by the state and the
agencies that enforces them. If we don't and we go out and blatantly start hunting for fun and
hunt to our heart's content it will dry up the natural resources of our great state and put a strain
on our sister states. These animals deserve our respect and we have an obligation to protect them
from ourselves and other humans who have no regard or understanding of what could happen if
we let animals population run dangerously low. That why I stand on the side of the need for
these laws so everyone can enjoy nature in their own way with keeping the balances of death and
life in the state of Massachusetts.

References
Dictionary.com. (2016). Overhunting | Define Overhunting at Dictionary.com. Retrieved
November 28, 2016, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/overhunting
Dylan McGuinness, D. (2016, July 13). As the Black Bear Population Continues to Grow,
Sightings Will, Too - The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/07/13/black-bear-population-continues-growsightings-will-too/YVicDSQvGbb2aJeFyFUnhI/story.html
Energy and Environmental Affairs. (2015). Deer Management | MassWildlife. Retrieved
December 9, 2016, from http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlifeplants/mammals/deer-management.html
ERegulations. (2016). Hunting Prohibitions | Massachusetts Hunting & Fishing Seasons
& Regulations 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016, from
http://www.eregulations.com/massachusetts/huntingandfishing/hunting-prohibitions/
Mass.gov. (2012). History of the Massachusetts Environmental Police. Retrieved
December 5, 2016, from http://www.mass.gov/eea/grants-and-techassistance/enforcement/environmental-police/history-of-the-environmental-police.html
Mass.gov. (2013, February 28). Moose in Massachusetts| MassWildlife. Retrieved
December 10, 2016, from http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlifeplants/mammals/moose-in-mass-generic.html
Mass.gov. (2016). Moving Wildlife | MassWildlife. Retrieved December 13, 2016, from
http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlife-plants/moving-wildlife.html
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. (2015). Natural Heritage & Endangered
Species Program/Timber Rattlesnake. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/nhesp/species-and-conservation/nhfacts/crotalus-horridus.pdf

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Randhawa, K. (2010). Hunting: Effects on the Environment. Retrieved November 23,

2016, from http://regulatehunting.blogspot.com/p/huntings-affect-on-world.html
Scientific America. (2016). Does Hunting Help or Hurt the Environment? - Scientific
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