The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is asking the state to change the existing laws and provide better protection against lawsuits filed as the result of hunting accidents. What brought this back up is the result of a victim winning a lawsuit filed because she was shot by a hunter. The woman was on one piece of property and the hunter was on a farmer’s land. The farmer was deemed liable because of the wording of an existing law.

Because the victim was not on the farm property, a four-decade-old state law that provides legal protection for recreational use of land and waterways did not apply. The woman won a verdict against the farmer and hunter, and obtained a confidential financial settlement earlier this year.

“Farmers are now concerned whether we will be held responsible for the actions of others we allow on our land,” Carl Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said at a news conference in the Capitol on Tuesday.

The group believes that the legislature can amend that law to provide better protection to those who open their lands to hunting. I agree and so do some other Pennsylvania lawmakers.

“Landowners who allow persons to hunt on their property should not be legally responsible for unlawful or negligent actions committed by individuals engaged in hunting,” said Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery.

Tom Remington

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