Is it legal to target practice in my backyard

[faust1578]

Anyone know if it's legal to shot my bow in my backyard I recently had an incident the arrow passed thru my 3d target and hit the side of my neighbors house I am going to pay for the damage but the cops came to my house and now I am scared shitless!i am thinking they may be back. It was an accident no injuries minimal damage but my neighbor is being difficult no one was home at the time but I called him and told him what happened. He called the cops anyway. What would you guys do?

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[SteveB]

You hit his house with an arrow and he is being difficult?

 

 

[d-bone20917]

Can you shoot in a direction that isn't towards anyone's house but your own?  I'd keep shooting but in a safe direction.    

[loworange88]

bows are treated as "fire arms" with in city limits.  500 foot rule applies just as firing a gun, not sure what the cops will do, but if your neighbor presses charges then thats different.   I HAVE shot my bow in my back yard before, but I dont like to do it for this very reason.  Better to join a range, or go find some state land to practice.  I'm not too sure what you can do, maybe go talk to your neighbor face to face, and calmly tell him or her that your very sorry, you'll pay for it, and you wont shoot in your yard again.

[SteveB]

If you have a neighbor whose house/etc can be reached with an arrow, there is only ONE choice for target placement.

And that is tight against your own house - no other place.

If you aren't confident shooting it there, you shouldn't be shooting in any other direction.

[faust1578]

You hit his house with an arrow and he is being difficult?

you are right he has the right to be angry but the guy won't talk to me and I want to fix the hole I will no longer shoot in my yard that's for sure

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[Merlot]

There was a time when I shot in my back yard within the village lines. I shot early in the morning before going to work. One time an arrow got away from me and it ended up bouncing off a neighbors concrete garage. After that, never again. I'm satisfied with my 12 yd. shot in my own basement.

Never outside again and risk getting pinched for a violation.

[Five Seasons]

my understanding is that discharge limits apply to target and hunting. So you would need your neighbors permission to make it legal. I think most neighbors don't mind target shooting in safe directions, but until you have their permission I think they can legally blow you in.

[First-light]

I would never shoot in a residential area. If I ever caught one of my neighbors doing this it would be one nice talk then a call to the police. 

It just takes one time for an accident to happen. Ask yourself if you could live with your arrow killing your neighbors kid????

[Mustang51js]

Have to check if there's a no discharge ordinance in your town also. I shoot in my yard all the time but always put a sheet of plywood behind the target just in case. My van is on the other side of the fence.

[jjb4900]

it may be legal, but if you're shooting without an adequate backstop and your arrows are travelling into a neighbors yard and sticking into his house, you may have other laws to worry about other than discharge laws.......your arrow passed through a target and still had enough energy to stick in the side of his house?.......how far behind the target is the house, and why is the house in your line of fire?

Edited April 1, 2014 by jjb4900

[NFA-ADK]

If you live in a residential area don't do it. 

 

I use to think it was ok but after shooting 1,000's of arrows at Suffolk Archers I have seen how an arrow can ricochet. 

 

Plain and simple if you are going to do this at your house, do it inside at dots on your target.  Get the orange dots that are just larger than your arrow and practice precision.  The noise of a compound bow to the laymen can be disturbing and doing it closer to your neighbors yard to shoot at your house is not really a fix.  Get into a archery club they are relatively cheap and fun.  Good luck, hope everything works out ok. 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by NFA-ADK

[Lawdwaz]

Anyone know if it's legal to shot my bow in my backyard I recently had an incident the arrow passed thru my 3d target and hit the side of my neighbors house I am going to pay for the damage but the cops came to my house and now I am scared shitless!i am thinking they may be back. It was an accident no injuries minimal damage but my neighbor is being difficult no one was home at the time but I called him and told him what happened. He called the cops anyway. What would you guys do? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I'd say you could have a problem.  Please keep us informed, good or bad.

 

Best of luck.................

[ants]

Sounds like you need to find an archery range.

[skyhunter]

so you are shooting in the direction of a house which is not your own? the arrow passes through your target and hits his house. sounds like the house is right behind and fairly close to your target.

what made you think that was ok in the 1st place?

If I were your neighbor I would asking you to see a doctor and get your head examined.

Edited April 1, 2014 by skyhunter

[G-Man]

If you didn't have his permission you are in violation, even if the new 150' rule is in effect. The 500' rule is (its a circle of about 2.5 Acres).you prolly Don't have permission from the house across the street either so that's another violation, as well as neighbors on either side of your house (perhaps as far as 2or. 3 houses away (lots are 60' in a lot of subdivisions) basically no it is not legal to shoot in your yard and i would guess 70-90% of bow hunters are in violation of this law.if they shoot in their yard....

[apoallo]

Yikes.... Rather then bash you for a bad decision I would say you are making a good decision by not shooting in your yard again. Especially since it sounds like you neighbor is so close to you. I just had this discussion with my wife. We are closing on a house with 2 acres and a neighbor in the right and left woods in the back(with lots of deer hehe) I will be legal because of the 150' law once in place but with little kids next door I plan in letting the neighbors know what I am doing and make sure they know I am doing it in a safe direction with some sort of backstop

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[dbHunterNY]

definitely a problem.  shouldn't have been shooting in that situation.  also as said neighbors need to give you permission.  it's one of those things you can get away with but shouldn't continue to do.  tough but that's the answer.

[faust1578]

Yeah I am done shooting in my yard I got I little room in my basement I will use that then use the range when I can I am thankful no one was hurt. I can't believe how easily the passes thru my target. The police are not pursuing the matter they spoke to me today that is a relief. I just have to make this right with my neighbor and fix the hole. Thank you guys I know I messed up badly! But I hope nothing like this happens to anyone else.

[SteveB]

Glad it worked out for.

Posting this could be a good thing if some see it as a wake up call.

[G-Man]

concrete is always a good backstop.....

[ATbuckhunter]

I used to but i had the big block target and a bunch of targets behind it to make sure if it ever went through one then i wouldn't go through the other. I also kept it in the back of my garage so even if it went trough all the targets, its not going through concrete lol. 

[wooly]

Unbelievable is all I got to say!

Did you have ANY experience whatsoever shooting a bow, or any weapon for that matter before this?

Honest question.

 

Edit***- never mind, I see you have.

Edited April 3, 2014 by wooly

[d-bone20917]

I like to put my target right near my neighbors house, especially their windows.  It makes it so I concentrate more on not missing.  

[jrm]

I was getting pretty good with my bow and set up some targets in my driveway. Lot's of land to work with - about 400-500 yards clear behind the targets and then woods going up a steep hill (about 800ft elevation) to create a natural berm. Plenty of room side to side to allow for something going wrong.

Using several targets everything worked well. Then, the inevitable "miss" happened and an arrow flew past the targets.

Having planned for this, there was no potential for disaster. What did amaze me is how far that arrow ended up traveling and how with how much force. We were shooting at a slight downward angle, but the arrow skidded along for another hundred yards or so and almost completely buried itself in the ground.

It's never "just an arrow" or "just a .22" and something_ always goes off-plan. You can never have too much safety. Adequate backstopping is essential. All it takes is one shot to go off course and no one is 100% perfect.

Edited April 3, 2014 by jrm