An Act To Protect Owners of Private Property against Trespass
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 0559
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: O'BRIEN, BERRY, BLODGETT, DILL, KUMIEGA, STEVENS, STUCKEY, WEBSTER, WELSH
Amends: 12 MRSA §11227, 12 MRSA §11228, 12 MRSA §11301, 12 MRSA §12001, 17-A MRSA §402

Legislative Document 
No. 559 
H.P.442 
House of Representatives, February 15,2011 
An Act To Protect Owners of Private Property against Trespass 
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative O'BRIEN of Lincolnville. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: BERRY of Bowdoinham, BLODGETT of Augusta, DILL of 
Old Town, KUMIEGA of Deer Isle, STEVENS of Bangor, STUCKEY of Portland, 
WEBSTER of Freeport, WELSH of Rockport. 
Printed on recycled pape! 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §11227, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 70, §1, is amended 
to read: 
2.  Placement of bait.  A person may not place bait without written permission of the 
landowner or the landowner's agent and unless the bait site is plainly labeled with a 2-
inch-by-4-inch tag identifying the name and address of the person establishing the bait 
site. 
A.  A person who violates this subsection commits a civil violation for which a fine 
of not less than $100 or more than $500 may be adjudged. 
B.  A person who violates this subsection after having been adjudicated as having 
committed 3 or more civil violations under this Part within the previous 5-year period 
commits a Class E crime. 
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §11228 is enacted to read: 
§11228.  Hunting with dogs 
1.  Written permission.  A person may not hunt with dogs in pursuit of bears, 
coyotes or bobcats on the land of another without written permission from the landowner 
or the landowner's agent. 
2.  Electronic device.  A person may not hunt with dogs in pursuit of bears, coyotes 
or bobcats unless the dogs are fitted with an electronic device to transmit the geographic 
position of the dogs. 
Sec. 3.  12 MRSA §11301, sub-§1, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. A, §2 
and affected by c. 614, §9, is amended to read: 
D.  The bait is placed more than 500 yards from an occupied dwelling, unless written 
Written permission is granted by the property owner or lessee; 
Sec. 4.  12 MRSA §12001, sub-§4 is enacted to read: 
4.  Landowner permission.  A person may not hunt coyotes at night on private 
property without possessing written permission from the landowner or landowner's agent. 
Sec. 5.  17-A MRSA §402, sub-§4, ¶B, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 529, §2, is 
amended to read: 
B.  Paint markings mean that access is prohibited without permission of the 
landowner or the landowner's agent.  Paint markings must consist of 2 painted 
horizontal lines per tree, post or other object if silver or aluminum in color or one 
vertical painted line per tree, post or other object if purple. 
(1)  Each line must be a minimum of 2 inches high and at least as long as the 
width of the object, but need not be more than 8 inches long if the line is silver or 
aluminum in color. 
(2)  Lines must be painted on the side of the tree, post or other object that is 
visible to a person approaching the restricted property and must be painted within 
an area 3 feet to 6 feet above ground level if the lines are silver or aluminum in 
color. 
(3)  The paint must be silver or aluminum colored or purple as described in this 
paragraph. 
(4)  Conspicuous purple paint marks may be placed on trees, posts or stones on 
the restricted property as long as the marks are vertical lines at least one inch in 
width and at least 8 inches in length placed so that the bottoms of the marks are 
not less than 3 feet from the ground or more than 5 feet from the ground at 
locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property and no 
more than 100 feet apart. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires that a hunter get written permission when baiting, night hunting 
coyotes and hunting bears, coyotes or bobcats with dogs.  It also provides another way to 
conspicuously mark land where permission is required for access.