Hunting on MassWildlife lands

If you’re looking for a place to hunt, consider a MassWildlife property. There are various types of land open to hunting.

If you’re looking for a place to hunt that has easy-to-understand regulations, consider one of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's (MassWildlife) properties. Almost all of the more than 200,000 acres of MassWildlife lands are open to hunting, fishing, and trapping. Make sure you understand the differences between the types of MassWildlife properties and find out how to explore these lands.

MassWildlife lands that are open to hunting include:

  • Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) are owned by MassWildlife and are open to all for hunting, fishing, trapping, and other outdoor recreation. You can hunt on WMAs regardless of town firearm bylaws.
  • Wildlife Conservation Easements (WCE) are privately owned land where MassWildlife owns the development and recreation rights. These lands are open to all for hunting, fishing, trapping, and other outdoor recreation.

Note: MassWildlife lands are closed to all motorized vehicles. 

Explore your MassWildlife lands

Use the MassWildlife Lands Viewer to explore WMAs and WCEs. To start exploring:

  1. Use the drop-down menu in the upper left to search by town or property name.
  2. Zoom to a region on the map if you’d like to explore different areas of the state.
  3. WMAs and WCEs are represented by dark green and light green shapes on the map.
  4. You can learn more about the area once you’ve zoomed in. Click on the “P” to get parking information and directions. You can find fact sheets for most WMAs by clicking on the green WMA shapes.
  5. You can get more information about the property by switching the basemap. The satellite basemap shows details about the kind of habitat on a particular property. The topographic basemaps give more detail about elevation changes and some information about structures and roads. You can check and un-check layers to get a better look at features covered by the green shapes.
  6. Click on the Print button or use the Share button to generate a link to the map you’ve created.

Contact   for Hunting on MassWildlife lands

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