PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 28, 2024
Virginia and Joel Parker of Readfield sued the commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in April 2022. They argued that the Sunday hunting ban runs afoul of the amendment now enshrined in the Maine Constitution that states “all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right” to harvest and consume the food of their own choosing, so long as they aren’t trespassing, stealing or violating other laws. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court disagreed. “We hold that the right to hunt for food created by the amendment does not extend to illegal hunting, and therefore Maine’s long-standing Sunday hunting ban does not conflict with the Maine Constitution,” the justices wrote.