Hunting Clubs Ask Pennsylvania To End Warrantless Searches

Pennsylvania laws permit wildlife officers to search private lands without a warrant under a century-old U.S. Supreme Court decision. According to a study by the Institute for Justice, 90% of land in Pennsylvania is subject to warrantless searches, Windham told the Capital-Star. Seven states have rejected the Open Fields Doctrine, most recently with the Tennessee Supreme Court finding last summer that warrantless searches by wildlife officials violated that state’s constitution.

In Pennsylvania, the issue has been building for more than a decade. In the summer of 2013, a state wildlife officer confronted a member of the Pitch Pine Hunting Club, accusing him of feeding bears outside a house on the club’s property. Wildlife officer Mark Gritzer told club member Jon Mikesell that he had been watching Mikesell and his guests for several days, using binoculars and wearing camouflage to conceal himself in the club’s 1,100 acre swath of Clearfield County woods. Though Mikesell didn't get a ticket, he was ticked because no one had given Gritzer permission to enter the private club’s posted and gated property. Yet wildlife officers have gone onto club property at least 22 times, News From The States reports. The clubs sued the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Gritzer in Commonwealth Court, asking the court to find three state laws allowing the warrantless searches unconstitutional. The court ruled against them in 2023 and they appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which heard arguments on Wednesday.