{"id":64498,"date":"2026-07-25T23:47:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T04:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=64498"},"modified":"2026-07-26T06:56:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:56:02","slug":"pa-private-hunting-lands-were-not-open-fields-under-state-constutition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=64498","title":{"rendered":"PA: Private hunting lands were not open fields under state constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Pennsylvania Constitution\u2019s search and seizure provision extends to \u201cpossessions,\u201d something broader than \u201ceffects\u201d under the Fourth Amendment. The Pennsylvania court concludes that private hunting lands were not blanket open fields where wildlife officers could just enter. The court also looked to other states who also similarly limited the open fields doctrine. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacourts.us\/assets\/opinions\/Supreme\/out\/J-20-2025mo%20-%20106858481366912037.pdf?cb=1\">Punxsutawney Hunting Club, Inc. v. Pa. Game Comm&#8217;n<\/a>, 2026 Pa. LEXIS 1275 (July 21, 2026), overruling Commonwealth v. Russo, 594 Pa. 119, 934 A.2d 1199 (2007).<br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe District Court correctly concluded that the warrant affidavit, as reconstructed, still establishes probable cause to search the entirety of 308 Walnut Avenue. To correct the warrant affidavit, we replace the words \u2018New Jersey Department of Taxation\u2019 with \u2018NJParcels.com.\u2019 We also add that: the owner does not live at the address; there are two utility meters, two mailboxes, and different-colored doors; and a female is registered to vote there. These additional facts may raise questions about the reliability of the affiant&#8217;s characterization of the property. But they do not impact the probable cause analysis, particularly when the affidavit included information that both doors of the property were used in connection with drug transactions.\u201d Underwood v. Camden, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 21549 (3d Cir. July 21, 2026).*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pennsylvania Constitution\u2019s search and seizure provision extends to \u201cpossessions,\u201d something broader than \u201ceffects\u201d under the Fourth Amendment. The Pennsylvania court concludes that private hunting lands were not blanket open fields where wildlife officers could just enter. The court also &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=64498\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,77,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-franks-doctrine","category-open-fields","category-state-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64498"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64503,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64498\/revisions\/64503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}