Under New Hampshire law, hunters can enter unposted private property and mount game cameras without asking the landowner for permission.

This outrages some property owners and should be changed through pending legislation, state Fish and Game Col. Kevin Jordan says.

He supports Senate Bill 14, which would regulate such cameras. The bill passed the N.H. Senate on a voice vote in January and comes up for a vote in the House this coming Thursday.

The measure would require a person to get a landowner’s written permission before mounting one of these devices, which would also have to be labeled with its owner’s name and contact information. Hunters would have to wait a day between seeing wildlife on camera and shooting it. Violators could be fined.

Early this year, Jordan testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

He said the cameras, which can transmit real-time video and still images, are the number-one complaint he receives. Lawmakers introduced a similar bill last year, but it didn’t make it through the Legislature.

“People are appalled that these things can be allowed on their properties without anybody asking permission,” he said.

Jordan said the cameras have come down in cost, and more of them are being placed in the woods.

“I’ve got people posting cameras on top of cameras to see who is hunting in their specific area,” he said. “We’re all talking about land that none of these people own. It ends up irritating the landowner. He just doesn’t understand where those pictures are going.”

The House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee recommended passage of the bill, 10-9, this past Tuesday.

However, in a written statement, Rep. James Spillane, R-Deerfield, recommended against House passage of SB 14.

He said those in the House committee in opposition to the bill feel it goes too far, “infringing on the historical rights of hunters, hikers and nature watchers.

“This bill creates a far reaching policy change across the state that impacts thousands of people who participate in outdoor activities on unposted private land,” he said.

Spillane added that the bill runs counter to the philosophy behind open land-use policies under which some property owners get a property tax discount by keeping their land available to recreational users.

In general, state law allows people to go onto open land in New Hampshire as long as no signs are posted against it.

Rep. Cathryn Harvey, D-Spofford, a member of the House committee, supports the bill, saying that without it, more people might close their land to hunting entirely.

But she also said Friday that, in a general sense, cameras can violate ethical hunting principles.

“Is it a fair chase if you’re watching the habits of animals instead of tracking them?” she asked. “It’s a slippery slope. Now we have cameras, but what about drones? Is that the next step?”

John Caveney of Spofford, the N.H. Fish and Game commissioner for Cheshire County, said he’s spoken to a number of landowners in the Monadnock Region who fear game cameras could violate their privacy.

“One large landowner told me, ‘My children like to hike and picnic on my land. What if one of my kids needs to relieve himself a mile from my house and there’s a hidden camera? Somebody might think it’s funny to post a photograph, and I don’t want that.’ ”

Rick Green can be reached at rgreen@keenesentinel.com or 603-355-8567.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

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