Karen Wood died hanging laundry in her backyard in November 1988. Megan Ripley died walking with her brother behind her family’s home in December 2006. Karen Wrentzel died digging for gemstones on her property in October 2017.

Each woman died without knowing a hunter was on her land because he never needed to ask to be there.

Each woman died because that hunter thought he saw a deer and shot her instead.

Karen Wrentzel

Maine has long allowed hunters to use private property without permission unless posted signs explicitly tell them to stay away. The deaths of the three women are flares in the simmering debate about whether that tradition needs to change. The issue came up again…