PHILLIPS, Maine — A Phillips man has been arrested after allegedly pointing a shotgun at a coyote hunter.
Police say a group of hunters with dogs were confronted by 60-year-old Mark Cosenza on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department says there was a verbal confrontation, after which Cosenza allegedly pointed a shotgun at one of the hunters and told them to stop. He then left the scene.
The hunters called 911 to report the incident.
Cosenza was arrested at his home later on a charge of criminal threatening with a firearm.
The incident took place in a heavily wooded area and the Maine Warden Service is looking into whether the hunters were on private property.
Has the whole world gone crazy?
yes… yes it has.
It looks like it, doesn’t it?
Crazy is putting it lightly. It’s insane.
Actually no…..All of us that post comments are perfectly sane.
Now that’s funny !
Well, yes, if the world ends at the NH border.
Hey, before you convene your trial-by-media in the Court of Public Opinion . . .
Would you feel differently about Mr. Cosenza’s actions if he were standing on his own property, if that land were lawfully posted with “No trespassing” signs, and if he simply asked the other party to leave his property? If the trespassers had responded to his lawful demand with verbal abuse and threats, and then, after having been effectively rebuffed by Mr. Cosenza, decided to call the cops as revenge and to put him in a bind, would you view Cosenza’s actions in a different light?
There are two sides to every coin, and so far all we have seen is one side of this one. Let’s wait until all the facts are stated.
Good point. It does not however excuse the fact that he may have admitted to the officers that he threatened them with a shotgun ! On the other hand , does he even own a shotgun ?
I do see Mr. Cosenza’s dilemma. I’ve had lost hunters in my backyard with loaded rifles in hand wondering how to get back to their trucks after walking thru about 500 yards of posted land. I would have done the same thing. I guess when you live in Bangor, Brewer or Hermon you have no idea the scale of hunters that are hunting on posted property.
BIG DEAL!!!
Posted land or not,and the article says private not posted, he has the right to tell them to leave, but does not have the right to point a weapon. One must never point a weapon at a person without being fully ready to use it. “Bluffing” in order to scare them is not proper handling of a gun.
i dont see what the problem was , everyone was armed ? seemed like a fair fight to me
The hunters may have had guns, which we don’t know if they were loaded or not, but only one person was threatening with one.
Ah, Maine. Becoming the Texas of the North.
Short story. About 15 years ago I was hunting on posted property and given a summons for trespassing by a Lewiston police officer who obviously didn’t know the law. I accepted the summons without telling him that I have a criminal justice degree and the right of trespass by foot per the Great Ponds Act. When it came time for my trial, the District Attorney refused to prosecute me because he didn’t want to look like a fool. I wanted to be tried and requested a hearing before a judge asking for a trial. Case dismissed. End of story.
You have a right to access and egress over unimproved land to a “great pond”. Doesn’t say anything about hunting along the way to that great pond or camping, cutting wood or any other activity. Those that took your original post as arrogant appear to be right. Your attitude will get access closed off by making improvements to the land or getting the law changed. By law one can travel on the waters of a great pond also. Does that mean you should anchor 4 feet off a property turn up the music and party while the owner and his kids are quitely trying to swim?
Yes, providing one does’t violate the “noise” statute. I can also walk on your beach between the high and low water mark since we the people own all of the land beneath that waters of a “great pond.”
What makes you landowners so possessive? I own land in both the settled area and on a pond in the unorganized territories and I have had 1000’s of people trespass on my land. I welcome them. I even left my camp unlocked that was 18 miles in the woods with a sign on the door inviting people to use it in case they were lost or had a problem.
Maybe it’s because of people who confuse what is legal and what is right. You found it no problem for someone to anchor a feet from others and party on a “great pond” with 100 of acres and plenty of locations where they could anchor and not bother anyone. Abuse the tresspass right even if legal will cause the person owning paying taxes and maintaining even unimproved land to because possessive. The courts have decided that there are limits to “occupying” public land and I believe those limts apply to egress also.
No, No, you have misread me. I did not address what is right, proper and reasonable. I only stated what the law allowed. The bottom line in most things is to do what is reasonable. But that does not cut the mustard as a legal argument in the Courtroom in the vast majority of cases.
I didn’t ask if it was legal. I stated it was legal in my post. I asked if it was right. If it is below the high water mark it is not my beach.
I should have mentioned that our laws as set up as “Prohibitive Acts.” Anything that is “not” prohibited is legal. I can walk across your property with a cane, a camera or a gun. Have you ever heard of the Constitutional right to bear arms? And the Maine law says that I am hunting if I possess a firearm in the fields, forest or waters if it is loaded. If my gun is not loaded or if I have a concealed weaposn permit, I can walk the lands of Maine with a gun 24-7.
Maine has a very unique law that I find most people, land owners or hunters and fishermen, are not aware of. When it was passed in 1975, it was called the Great Ponds Act. It allows for the “trespass by foot over unimproved property” for either access or egress to any great pond. It also provides for both a criminal and civil penalty for any “person” (landowner or law enforcement officer) who disallows the trespass. No Hunting or No Trespassing signs have no legal significance in Maine if a person is exercising his legal right to trespass under the Great Ponds Act. As a hunter, fisherman, and kayaker, I always carried a copy of the law with me to show landowners that I had a legal right to trespass by foot on their unimproved land and they who would go to the courthouse if they prevented my legal right of trespass. Game wardens are very aware of this law as I have exercised this legal right many times and have met wardens during my trespass. Bottom line is that if anyone in Augusta wished to walk to a great pond (a natural pond 10 acres or more) in Northern Maine, they have a legal right to do so – and without any restrictions other than I have described.
Sounds like you do this deliberately just to upset landowners. How arrogant of you, enjoy your time on the pond and try to prove that it was I who flattened your tires !
No, he is exercising his right to access to a great pond. I believe he made it very clear. Flatten my tires and I’ll hold you at gun point until law enforcement arrives. Do you understand?
And the law enforcement officer would arrest you for assault with a deadly weapon. The other person would get a summons for vandalism.
I agree with his right to access 100%. His comment just sounded a bit arrogant to me !
To access a pond maybe one thing but does it say one
can hunt on posted land or private property?
That issue has also been before the Maine Supreme Court and they ruled that the only “agency” that can prevent hunting is the State of Maine as the wildlife belongs to the people and not the landowners. The Court has even ruled against fencing off a peninsular after an arrogant landowner tried to make it his private hunting preserve. And as you may or may not know, there is a moritorium of 10 fenced in hunting preserves. I was the negotiator at the Legislature in this issue.
they have a simalar law in mass that was put on the books in the late 1600s
Yes, you are right. It is the colonial ordinances that I mentioned previously. But we put the ordinance in a Maine Statute and Mass has not done that since “access to ponds” is not a big deal like it is here in Maine with about 5000 lakes and ponds.
yes it makes much more sence for maine to have a updated law .. its all about recreational a enjoyment ……..mass folks dont duck hunt or fish much, and its a outdoors recreational wasteland
I don’t mind the occasional person crossing my land to get to a “great pond” Bill even if that “great pond” has two boat lauches. Most of the ones I have met are nice enough and respect the property. Those with an attitude or think that access include camping on the shoreline get my solution, keep abusing the property my land gets a strip of “farmland” surronding it so one had to cross “improved” land thus no longer covered by the Great Ponds Act.
I write a comment about Mr. Cosenza (alias Jed Clampett) not wanting to share his bubbling crude, and it get’s removed? AM I TOTALLY MISSING SOMETHING HERE?
Yes evidently in BDN s eyes you used Jed Clampetts name in vain ! LOL
I truly wish that everyone who has read or commented on this article could have attended the 10 public hearings about public access that I attended. The purpose of these hearings was to educate both the landowner and the general public regarding the right of trespass by citizens across private property. College professors and legal people were there to answer questions. The roots of our right to “trespass by foot” on “unimproved” property goes back to the 1640 colonial ordinances. The issue has been before the Maine Supreme Court who ruled in favor of the trespasser on what is called Moody Beach case. Stop and think if the citizens did NOT have the right to trespass by foot to access or egress a great pond knowing the greedy and possessive nature of private landowners. Going back to the 1640 colonial ordinances, the reason for the right of trespass except upon “corn or meadow” was to “fish and fowl.” I have spoken to many sportsmen’s groups about this legal and unique right we have in Maine to trespass on foot across private property that is “unimproved.” Contact the Millinocket Fin & Feather Club if you have any questions.
My last comment is this. I am absolutely blown away how little people know about the laws of trespass and associated issues. WOW, people. Time you all took to a trip to the Maine State Law Library.