In March 2026, Governor Healey indicated she will file language to allow Sunday hunting, along with other changes to hunting laws, in an upcoming supplemental budget.
MSPCA Position: Oppose
Sponsors: Representative Frost (H. 941); Representative Lombardo (H. 993); Representative Pease (H. 1016); Representative Sullivan-Almeida (H. 1057); Representative Vieira (H. 1065); Senator Durant (S. 576)
Status: Referred to Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Hearing held 10/21/2025. S. 576, H. 941, H. 993, H. 1016 sent to study.
For Massachusetts residents, Sundays are a day to enjoy activities such as hiking and climbing, bird watching, photography, horseback riding, trail running, mountain biking, foraging, and other outdoor pastimes — without concerns about conflict with hunting activity.
These bills would, in a variety of ways, lift Massachusetts’ more than 100-year old statewide ban on Sunday hunting. A 2022 survey found that Massachusetts voters support the Sunday hunting ban by a margin of 1.5 to 1. Although just 1% of Massachusetts adults are hunters, they already have access to six out of seven days each week—including half of the weekend—for hunting. Repealing the Sunday hunting ban would prioritize the demands of a small minority over the clear preferences of the majority. As the third most densely populated state, ending the ban would also introduce unnecessary safety risks to the public and their companion animals, as hunting accidents can and do happen. For example:
- In 2017, on two separate occasions errant shots from hunter firearms damaged vehicles in Tyngsboro.
- In 2015, a father and son were shot by another hunter in Gardner.
- In 2014, in Barnstable, a hunter mistook a man and his dog for a herd of deer, shooting him in the neck, back, and hand.
- In 2011, a woman was shot when her dogs were mistaken for deer in Norton.
- In 2010, a high school runner was shot in the leg in Mattapoisett.
- In 2008, a hunter accidentally shot a man with a shotgun on Nantucket [PDF].
Though arguments have been made that permitting Sunday hunting would address human-wildlife conflicts, available data calls these assertions in question. For example, MassWildlife data shows that 1,334 deer on average were killed on Saturdays during archery season from 2013 through 2018. This amounts to about 1% of the current deer population—not enough to control the deer population or mitigate conflicts.
In addition, and contrary to certain statements on this issue, deer hunting typically does not lower the incidence of Lyme disease or control tick populations. According to leading Lyme disease experts, including Dr. Richard Ostfeld, human risk of exposure to Lyme disease is correlated with the abundance of immature rodent hosts and their food resources rather than deer numbers. Human risk of exposure to Lyme disease is correlated more so with the abundance of immature rodent hosts and other factors, rather than deer numbers or densities. Some have cautioned that a dramatic reduction of a deer population could have unanticipated short- and long-term effects on the broader Lyme disease enzootic cycle–possibly increasing human risk of contracting the disease. Others have determined that even if deer were completely eliminated from a particular area, “alternative hosts could maintain a local population of blacklegged ticks and an enzootic cycle of the Lyme disease bacterium.” It is for this reason that, despite exploring a possible link, no major health or Lyme disease organization, such as the CDC, NIH, American Lyme Disease Foundation, or Lyme Disease Association, has identified hunting as an effective means of addressing Lyme disease, or advocated for deer culls.
In addition to non-consumptive outdoor users, some hunters themselves oppose lifting the Sunday hunting ban. One reason for this opposition is that because hunters can enter private property to hunt without landowner permission (unless signs are posted) if Sunday hunting is allowed, more private land may be posted “no hunting” in response.
From an economic perspective, as well, opening Sundays for hunting is not sound policy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data show that non-hunting nature lovers not only outnumber, but also outspend, hunting constituencies by fourteen times each year in the Commonwealth. Here in Massachusetts, they spend $1.28 billion on wildlife watching and other non-consumptive activities while hunting constituencies spend a fraction of that total — just 7%, or $87 million. A recent article focusing on expenditures in the broader New England region determined that in 2016, hunting accounted for less than 2% of the approximately $88 billion total consumer surplus value of wildlife-related activities. Its authors concluded that “[o]ne obvious reason for the smaller consumer surplus value for hunting is its smaller population.” And nationwide in 2022, 148.3 million persons 16 years and older (57 percent of that population group) participated in at least one type of wildlife-watching activity including observing, feeding, or photographing fish and other wildlife, while a much smaller number — 14.4 million — hunted. The wildlife watchers spent $250.2 billion on their non-consumptive activities, dwarfing the $45.2 billion spent by hunters. Removing Sunday hunting restrictions in Massachusetts would likely have a significant negative impact on non-consumptive activities and spending. The economic losses from the reduction in these activities—much larger economic drivers in Massachusetts than hunting activity — would not offset any economic gain generated from Sunday hunting opportunities.
Given the protection and relief that the Sunday hunting ban provides to the more than 99% of Massachusetts residents who do not hunt, we urge upholding the Sunday hunting ban. It is entirely reasonable for a state as densely populated as Massachusetts to uphold a law that allows non-consumptive nature users to enjoy our natural resources with their families, friends, and companion animals without risking conflicts with hunting activity.
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