Assabet River NWR Final CCP - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Appendix C: Responses to Substantive Comments
whether hunting of an area of the refuge is consistent with or complements other hunted
areas in surrounding towns.
Hunting – Safety and Conflicts with Other Users
There were a large number of individuals that expressed concerns about safety and
hunting. Some individuals expressed concerns about safety while using the refuge
during hunting season and the assertion that the non-hunting public will not participate
in other wildlife dependent activities during the hunting seasons. Other people indicated
their concerns about the proximity to the refuge boundary of homes, schools, and
conservation areas. Additionally, individuals raised the possibility of hunters accessing
non-refuge lands or misguided arrows, shotgun slugs, or pellets injuring someone not on
the refuge.
There will be areas on the refuges where no hunting will be allowed. In some cases, these
are highly used areas, such as the Concord Impoundments at Great Meadows NWR. In
others, we have restricted hunting because of the mandated safety zones. We realize that
there may be people that will not visit the refuges during specific seasons. As mentioned
previously, we have a responsibility to facilitate all forms of wildlife-dependent public use
on the refuges, when possible, and there may be days when people engaged in hunting will
have preferential access to parts of the refuges. National policy encourages refuges to
follow state hunting regulations, but we do have the authority to set our own dates and
times if needed and we can limit the number of hunting permits issued. We will evaluate
these options in the development of the Hunt Management Plan for each refuge, but do
not anticipate a need to include such restrictions at this time.
We strive to achieve a balance between consumptive and non-consumptive uses on the
refuges. Because Massachusetts does not allow hunting on Sunday, at a minimum nonhunters
will be free to enjoy our nature trails with no concern about possible hunting
conflicts on those days during the hunting seasons. In addition, experience managing
hunts both at Oxbow Refuge and at other refuges within the system shows that many
areas can safely support both hunting and non-consumptive uses, such as wildlife
observation, at the same time. We are confident that we can develop a hunting program
that will safely provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent public use to a majority of our
refuge visitors.
We contacted the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to obtain hunting
accident statistics. We considered investigating such statistics in other states, but decided
that Massachusetts has a higher population density than the majority of other states with
readily available accident statistics such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Texas.
According to Massachusetts Law, any person involved in a hunting accident or any person
with knowledge of a hunting accident must file a report with the state or local police, who,
in turn, must file a report with the Division of Law Enforcement. The Massachusetts
Environmental Police, Hunter Education Program reports hunting accidents in the
Hunting Accident Report: 1995 – 2002. During the reporting period, there were 38
hunting accidents. None of the accidents were fatal and none involved any individuals who
were not hunting at the time of the accident. According to the 2001 National Survey of
Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, there were 1.58 million days of
Comprehencive Conservation Plan - 159 -