Archery discharge distance now 150'

[ringwood]

As part of the budget package, discharge distance for archery will now be 150' from a dwelling/structure. This was included in the DEC package along with legalizing crossbows (250' discharge) for the firearm seasons, small game, and last two weeks of archery deer season. This just opened up thousands of additional acres for deer hunting, particularly in suburban areas of the state.

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[SteveB]

Good luck getting recovery permission from the neighbor who would not have allowed you to set up closer than 500 ft before this change.

[Sogaard]

If someone is going to let you recover a deer, I doubt this law is going to change their mind about it.  Just because the law says 150', doesn't mean you have to camp out at that distance. Being courteous goes a lot further than anything else.

[phade]

I am a huge fan of getting recovery rights. Huge.

 

But there are situations where this will help.

 

One parcel I hunted on last year was within 500' of a house on a postage stamp lot. Literally a small 1/3 acre lot. It killed a few high odds set locations if we weren't able to hunt it, but locally the owners were fine with us. I could see in that situation where if we didn't have permission to recover, but could now hunt it, I would.

 

A postage stamp house parcel can eliminate alot of huntable ground. Sure, the deer could run and die on that 1/4 or 1/3 acre, but I'd probably be willing to face those odds. Now, if there's even a sizeable parcel, recovery is critical.

[Arrow Flinger]

Its also good for just practicing in your yard. I own 2 acres but one neighbor is about 350- 400 feet from where I shoot my bow. He has never said anything about it but now if he does I can tell him to go pound salt.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Its also good for just practicing in your yard. I own 2 acres but one neighbor is about 350- 400 feet from where I shoot my bow. He has never said anything about it but now if he does I can tell him to go pound salt.

 Interesting...

[jjb4900]

Its also good for just practicing in your yard. I own 2 acres but one neighbor is about 350- 400 feet from where I shoot my bow. He has never said anything about it but now if he does I can tell him to go pound salt.

do you not get along with him? if you do, how about explaining to him that you're not breaking any laws and also let him know that you're also taking the precautions to ensure everyone's safety? 

[Mustang51js]

We have this in nj for a year or so now and haven't heard of any issues with it.

[A Sportsman]

I know we had a 16,000 page thread on this recently so sorry if we covered this and I forgot. But doesn't each town have the right to enforce a more strict set back distance. In other words, state says 150 is closest you can be. But town x can opt to maintain a larger setback distance. For argument sake, keep it at 500.

[Arrow Flinger]

do you not get along with him? if you do, how about explaining to him that you're not breaking any laws and also let him know that you're also taking the precautions to ensure everyone's safety?

 

OK, thanks for the tip. I swear everyone on here likes to start crap! My neighbor and I get along fine but you never know when some A-Hole might move in next door. Be just my luck one of you tools on this site would move in.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Arrow Flinger

[G-Man]

Its great for suburban sprall areas where 2-5 acre lots are common. And for the postage lot size camps that are being bought by anti hunters against state land for recreation , as well as the back yard shooter whose neighbor is 400 foot away.... it was intelligent decision for a change coming out of Albany...ny

[Doc]

There is no way that I ever could have imagined that someone would change the law such that a home owner could open his door and be staring at some camo-clad guy squatting in the bushes 50 yards away grinning back at him. I also find it hard to imagine that a homeowner could be forced to look next door and be looking at the business end of a drawn arrow and having no legal right to put an end to either situation. Every day, I am thankful for the decision to buy enough property to eliminate the need for putting up with such legally sanctioned nonsense.

 

I keep trying to imagine why anyone would want the right to invade other people's space in that fashion. What would the quality of hunt really be when you sit there listening to another family's dinner conversation, arguments, kids screaming and playing, TV blaring, or perhaps have the family dog sitting at the base of your tree barking at you? I would feel absolutely foolish sitting 50 yards from someone's house, pretending I was hunting. People must have a lot different views on what hunting should look like than I do ..... lol.

[mike rossi]

I know we had a 16,000 page thread on this recently so sorry if we covered this and I forgot. But doesn't each town have the right to enforce a more strict set back distance. In other words, state says 150 is closest you can be. But town x can opt to maintain a larger setback distance. For argument sake, keep it at 500.

 

And we also said that this is likely to cause local municipalities to pass ordinances with greater setbacks than the state law, perhaps even greater than the current 500 feet.

There is no way that I ever could have imagined that someone would change the law such that a home owner could open his door and be staring at some camo-clad guy squatting in the bushes 50 yards away grinning back at him. I also find it hard to imagine that a homeowner could be forced to look next door and be looking at the business end of a drawn arrow and having no legal right to put an end to either situation. Every day, I am thankful for the decision to buy enough property to eliminate the need for putting up with such legally sanctioned nonsense.

 

I keep trying to imagine why anyone would want the right to invade other people's space in that fashion. What would the quality of hunt really be when you sit there listening to another family's dinner conversation, arguments, kids screaming and playing, TV blaring, or perhaps have the family dog sitting at the base of your tree barking at you? I would feel absolutely foolish sitting 50 yards from someone's house, pretending I was hunting. People must have a lot different views on what hunting should look like than I do ..... lol.

 

Doc, I agree.

 

Edited April 2, 2014 by mike rossi

[Doc]

It is possible that many towns will be banning bow discharge completely within their boundaries. Then, what will have been accomplished in terms of opening more areas to hunting? You can only push people so far and when these kinds of invasions on their personal space and perceived safety get to be too much, they will push back.

[Hock3y24]

I still will not use this as my boundary, in my opinion 300 feet is good not shooting toward houses

[mike rossi]

It is possible that many towns will be banning bow discharge completely within their boundaries. Then, what will have been accomplished in terms of opening more areas to hunting? You can only push people so far and when these kinds of invasions on their personal space and perceived safety get to be too much, they will push back.

Doc,

 

Maybe they are looking at it as a municipal version of "state's rights" or feel it will play out in a Darwinian fashion.

[Doc]

It may really come down to how wishy-washy the public is and how this intimate closeness of hunting becomes. Some may just simply sit there and stew about it, perhaps seething and becoming new bowhunting enemies where they did not exist before. Others may take a more aggressive reaction and start passing around petitions to set up a town vote to eliminate all hunting within their borders. Neither result is great news for any of us. And all for what? So we can hunt in voyeuristic proximity to landowners and their families? Or perhaps so we can create perceived or even real safety issues with our neighbors?

[A Sportsman]

While I agree that 50 yds is too close to a house, I think 100 yds isn't too bad. And that is likely where I will draw the line, all things equal. I highly doubt that these towns, with their documented deer and lyme issues will turn around and make the setback LONGER than 500 feet. That simply doesn't pass the laugh test to me.

Hopefully hunters excersise respect and courtesy with the new rule. Hopefully...

For now, I am a little excited for 3 reasons. This will make it easier to bury my wind in houses. This will open up some spots that were always a little too small to be legal but have plenty of deer. And hopefully this will spread out LI hunters so the spots in general are not as crowded as they have become.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have 2 stand locations that I was pushed out of by an obstinate neighbor. I cant wait to put them back up.

[Doc]

While I agree that 50 yds is too close to a house, I think 100 yds isn't too bad. And that is likely where I will draw the line, all things equal. I highly doubt that these towns, with their documented deer and lyme issues will turn around and make the setback LONGER than 500 feet. That simply doesn't pass the laugh test to me.

Hopefully hunters excersise respect and courtesy with the new rule. Hopefully...

For now, I am a little excited for 3 reasons. This will make it easier to bury my wind in houses. This will open up some spots that were always a little too small to be legal but have plenty of deer. And hopefully this will spread out LI hunters so the spots in general are not as crowded as they have become.

You know that most hunters will show proper respect and courtesy. You also know that not all will. Do all people in these kinds of tight situations take the time and effort to gather recovery permissions from all possible neighbors whose properties may have to be available for the track and recovery part of a typical bowhunt? Those that don't .... what is their strategy to recover deer that don't drop in their tracks? Are they out there shooting deer until one falls in a location where they can recover? Do they simply count on trespassing to do whatever they must to get the deer?

[JFB]

I have 2 stand locations that I was pushed out of by an obstinate neighbor. I cant wait to put them back up.

 

What was the situation and what will you do? 

[Doc]

What was the situation and what will you do? 

Actually, as long as the neighbor doesn't own the property, there is nothing he can do about someone sitting in a stand even at 10' away from his house, and even if it overlooks the guy's bedroom. No law is broken unless an arrow or gun is fired. You certainly have to wonder about the mentality of someone that would do that ..... lol. But legally he always could do that with or without the new law.

[WNYBuckHunter]

One stand was actually just a practice stand, the guy posted signs about how it was within 500 feet of his house. All shooting was in the opposite direction of his property. If he would have come talk to me, id react differently. Now ill hunt there.

The other one was a stand i wanted to put up and it was 5 feet under the 500 foot rule. Same neighbor. Same deal.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Actually, as long as the neighbor doesn't own the property, there is nothing he can do about someone sitting in a stand even at 10' away from his house, and even if it overlooks the guy's bedroom. No law is broken unless an arrow or gun is fired. You certainly have to wonder about the mentality of someone that would do that ..... lol. But legally he always could do that with or without the new law.

Man, youre on a roll with your extreme type statements the last few days, arent you?

[Doc]

Man, youre on a roll with your extreme type statements the last few days, arent you?

Good ol' Johnny one-note .... lol. Whenever you're stumped for a response, you keep trotting out the same old word. But actually, what I said was absolutely true and as far as I know is a perfectly legal scenario. I'm simply illustrating that proximity doesn't effect legality until you fire a weapon. Why do you care anyway? You aren't one of those that would actually do that are you?....You aren't, are you?....lol