New Jersey Legislature, Bill A3732

Introduced on May 2, 2022 by Assemblywoman Shama Haider, Bill A3732 represents a two-pronged attack on both hunting rights and private property rights in the state of New Jersey. 

First, it would require private property owners planning to hunt their own land to provide written notice to all adjacent landowners well in advance of any hunting activities. 

This means that New Jersey property owners, or anyone that a property owner has granted hunting permission to, would have to provide written notice of their hunting plans to anyone that owns bordering property, and any occupants of any dwellings on that bordering property.

Once this stipulation is met, the property owner, or anyone permitted to hunt the property owner’s land, would then have to wait for a written receipt of said notice from all adjacent landowners, and the occupants of any dwellings on adjacent land, before he or she could actually head out to hunt. 

This bill would severely restrict the rights of hunters in New Jersey by essentially forcing them to obtain written permission for their hunting activities from nearby landowners who don’t even own the land they intend to hunt. 

A3732 would also limit bowhunter rights by expanding the no hunt zone around “occupied buildings” from the current 150-foot perimeter to a perimeter of 450 feet or 150 yards. This means that a bowhunter planning to hunt a particular spot that happens to lie within 450 feet or 150 yards of an “occupied building” would no longer be permitted to do so—if that occupied building sits on an adjacent property owner’s land. 

“This was introduced once before and we were able to knock it down,” John Erndl, President of the United Bowhunters of New Jersey, told Howl. “It makes no sense. There has never been a hunting related bow and arrow accident involving a non-hunter in New Jersey. Any changes to current laws would severely hurt New Jersey farmers and close thousands of acres. We will do everything we can to defeat this once again.” 

Bill A3732 is bad for New Jersey’s hunting community and bad for private property owners in the state. Please voice your opposition to this thoroughly misguided attack on New Jersey’s property rights and its hunting heritage. 

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