Lower the legal shooting distance for bow????

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Great point Grow. I know of a few more that are right in the City up here. They difinitely are not outside the 500'

[G-Man]

senario 2 If your garage door is open your illegal, also many towns have no discharge of firearms laws on the books. to many a bow is considered a firearm,and an x bow defis by almost all. many in towns and villages pracitce in their basements and garages and are illegal in doing so. even though this is perfectly safe.though you might need a permit to do so legally. just saying 500' almost 167yards is a long long way for a bow,that is quiet and most hunters have an efective range of 30 yards. So if an average lung shot deer goes 40 yrds before expiring and i take a far shot of 30 yards. the deer at max only goes 210 feet! so if i was 100yards off my line the deer would never make it to the neighbors property and they never need to know i was there hunting. How many of you even shoot 167yards with a gun? let alone a bow? I am not advocating shooting toward buildings but over 160yards away is l long way to let game go because your neighbor says no hunting! 100yards or 300 ft' is very reasonable distance from a building to hunt with a bow...

Edited February 6, 2012 by G-Man

[Pistol Pete]

If the only place I had to hunt was in a housing development or somebodies back yard I'd take up fishing!!!!

[Red]

i live in the city in wny my neighbors house to my left is about 6 feet from my house i shoot from in between the 2 house i can shoot out as far as 40 yards im so happy to have great neighbors ive lived here for 5 years and shoot about 5 months out of the year and never had any neighbors complain some of them come out and watch me shoot ive even had cops go by while i was shooting and they wave and just keep going. its iligal but its not something the cps are gonna harrass me over unless some one made a complaint.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Red

[Jennifer]

There are some of you that I always agree with in this argument that have me shaking my head! It's really important to remember that your situation and your experiences are not the same as everyone else's.

[Doc]

Ok ...... let's try these out just to be a wise-guy .....lol.

Scenario #1: I am standing in my garage shooting my bow at a butt that is less than 500 feet (perhaps even within a few feet) from a neighbors house. Am I legal? I fired from inside my own building (which I guess we have determined is legal), but the arrow winds up within the illegal zone around my neighbors house.

Scenario #2: How about if my garage is within 500 feet of the neighbors house and I am practicing inside my garage. I have just shot my bow within 500' of the neighbors house but everything was contained within my own building. Did I break the law?

These are a couple of twists on the "shooting distance law" that kind of filtered into my twisted mind .... lol, but on a more practical note, I must say that I sincerely doubt that details in the written law that covers these scenarios exist. That means that we are open to the interpretations and attitudes of law enforcement officers, and judges who may interpret these things in any way that they feel like at the time. Not a real cool situation for someone practicing at home that may have some of these questionable situations or even others.

[SteveB]

Good luck on having every deer shot with a bow travel only 40 yards.

[G-Man]

i 've never had a double lung shot deer with bow go past 40 yrds.. anyone that does is not double lunged... nor have i ever had a head shot deer go futher than 1 yrd with gun!

[SteveB]

I've seen dbl lung go over 100 yds on a dead run - deer can cover a lot of distance in just a few seconds.

Recovered a high back dbl lung for a friend that made it almost 300 yds.

You have been fortunate to never needing more then 40 yds to recover one.

Most are not that lucky/good.

[liberty]

This is for all you anti 150 ft bowhunters. I live on 5 acres . My tree stand is presently 700 ft from my neighbors structures. On one side I have an anti hunter, the other I have a pro hunter.. I regularly hunt and shoot deer without any problems. Every deer I shoot is facing the pro hunting neighbors property which is the direction it runs and is where I recover it. My problem is my lot is only 220 ft wide. I have been told that my anti neighbor is going to locate a shed in the woods for the sole purpose to prevent me from hunting within 500 ft of it. That is why we need a 150 ft rule. The present day law allows the A-holes to ruin other peoples freedoms.

[Deerthug]

I have been told that my anti neighbor is going to locate a shed in the woods for the sole purpose to prevent me from hunting within 500 ft of it. That is why we need a 150 ft rule. The present day law allows the A-holes to ruin other peoples freedoms.

That really sucks man! I'm all for the 150' rule. It will make it much easier for those of us with less land to practice our bows legally.

[bubba]

senario 2 If your garage door is open your illegal, also many towns have no discharge of firearms laws on the books. to many a bow is considered a firearm,and an x bow defis by almost all. many in towns and villages pracitce in their basements and garages and are illegal in doing so. even though this is perfectly safe.though you might need a permit to do so legally. just saying 500' almost 167yards is a long long way for a bow,that is quiet and most hunters have an efective range of 30 yards. So if an average lung shot deer goes 40 yrds before expiring and i take a far shot of 30 yards. the deer at max only goes 210 feet! so if i was 100yards off my line the deer would never make it to the neighbors property and they never need to know i was there hunting. How many of you even shoot 167yards with a gun? let alone a bow? I am not advocating shooting toward buildings but over 160yards away is l long way to let game go because your neighbor says no hunting! 100yards or 300 ft' is very reasonable distance from a building to hunt with a bow...

in the eyes of the law a bow is considered a firearm. And if you are inside 500 feet of a neighbors dwelling you are illegal regardless if you are in your garage or your bedroom. The law also stipulates unless you have permission to do so. Go ask the neighbor for permission and get it in writing and all is good.

[SteveMcD]

^{I got to sit on the fence on this one. Is under 500 feet doable and safe - yes. But on the other end having a deer run out across a neighbor's lawn with an arrow sticking out of it, is not the hunting image I want the non-hunting public to see.}

[liberty]

^{I got to sit on the fence on this one. Is under 500 feet doable and safe - yes. But on the other end having a deer run out across a neighbor's lawn with an arrow sticking out of it, is not the hunting image I want the non-hunting public to see.}

In my 6 years hunting on my property I never had to recover a deer from my ANTI neighbors property. I only shoot deer when it is facing the good neighbors property, that is the direction they run. It will be unfortunate like I said in my earlier post that my neighbor can manipulate the law and put a shed in a loaction and claim I am within 500 ft of it. Even though it is a B.S. structure. That is why we need a 150 ft rule. We as hunters should not have to hide and worry or waiver in what we do. . It is our right and freedom.

[sits in trees]

lower it by just a little. some people on this site have made some very good points on a large reduction of the current and the dangers it can bring.

[nyantler]

I have never cared about the the distance rule since I never bowhunt close enough to where I could hit a house even if I wanted to... but i could undertsand the bad neighbor thing and the BS shed... still.. I'm pretty sure I could hunt from someones driveway or their front porch and never worry about hitting anyone or anything I wasn't aiming at... and I'm sure there are lots of guys here just as responsible... unfortunately, the rules are not created with the responsible guy in mind.. it's the irresponsible guy everyone is worried about.

[Doc]

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to look out your bedroom window and see some gomer grinning back at you at 50 yards from his tree stand ..... lol. It does conjure up a rather comical image, but I can also see how it might not be so comical to any non-hunter that this happens to. You think he might form some negative opinions about those damn, pushy bow hunters? Maybe not if he has just pushed the deer away from some of his expensive landscape plantings ..... or maybe he may just see this as a legalized intrusion that he might feel compelled to campaign against.

Frankly, I have absolutely no desire to hunt in somebody's back yard. I don't want to listen to their TV set, or arguments. I don't want to watch cars pull in and out of their driveway. I don't have any desire to attend their family get-togethers from 50' away in my treestand. That just isn't my idea of a nice afternoon of hunting ..... lol.

[nyantler]

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to look out your bedroom window and see some gomer grinning back at you at 50 yards from his tree stand ..... lol. It does conjure up a rather comical image, but I can also see how it might not be so comical to any non-hunter that this happens to. You think he might form some negative opinions about those damn, pushy bow hunters? Maybe not if he has just pushed the deer away from some of his expensive landscape plantings ..... or maybe he may just see this as a legalized intrusion that he might feel compelled to campaign against.

Frankly, I have absolutely no desire to hunt in somebody's back yard. I don't want to listen to their TV set, or arguments. I don't want to watch cars pull in and out of their driveway. I don't have any desire to attend their family get-togethers from 50' away in my treestand. That just isn't my idea of a nice afternoon of hunting ..... lol.

How about listening to the barking dog chained to the deck on the back of the house? That's always a real treat...lol

[Doc]

How about listening to the barking dog chained to the deck on the back of the house? That's always a real treat...lol

Seriously ...... Doesn't hunting usually get associated with wild things in wild environment? Urban hunting ..... doesn't that have a rather strange ring to it? Why are so many bowhunters concerned with being able to cozy up to other people's homes. Probably the last place I would ever want to hunt is next to someone's home. That would absolutely ruin the whole atmosphere of the hunt. I don't know, that's just the way I feel about it, so efforts to change that law will get no support from me. Those that get some kind of voyeuristic pleasures from that kind of hunting will have to fight that battle without me .....lol. 500' is about as much encroachment on people's privacy as I am willing to go for. I have no safety concerns when it comes to bowhunting closer than that, but it just seems right to me not to force my hunting into people's backyards.

[nyantler]

I agree... Doc... It shouldn't really be necessary to have a minimum distance at all in my eyes...But, these kind of laws are created to protect people from the irresponsible members of any group.

Edited February 26, 2012 by nyantler

[WNYBuckHunter]

Doc, hunting suburban areas isnt about voyurism, your suggestion of such is pretty ridiculous, IMO. I hunt some suburban areas where you dont see any houses, cars or anything like that. I also hunt some areas where you can see houses, and while they are definitely different hunting situations than the larger tracts of land i hunt, it has nothing to do with even being the least bit interested in what the neighbors are doing. It has to do with hunting productive areas.

[bubba]

In my 6 years hunting on my property I never had to recover a deer from my ANTI neighbors property. I only shoot deer when it is facing the good neighbors property, that is the direction they run. It will be unfortunate like I said in my earlier post that my neighbor can manipulate the law and put a shed in a loaction and claim I am within 500 ft of it. Even though it is a B.S. structure. That is why we need a 150 ft rule. We as hunters should not have to hide and worry or waiver in what we do. . It is our right and freedom.

you might want to check the rules on page 19 of the guide book. You can not discharge a bow or firearm within 50 feet of a factory church school or playground. Also 500 feet of a DWELLING, FARM BUILDING, OT STRUCTURE IN OCCUPATION. I would not think a shed would qualify as an occupied building.

[nyantler]

What about an outhouse/ shed????

[bubba]

by definition the term occupied means lived in. So I would think you would be ok. I would think it might scare the crap out of you if the gun went boom. But that ,may be a good thing.

[nyantler]

by definition the term occupied means lived in. So I would think you would be ok. I would think it might scare the crap out of you if the gun went boom. But that ,may be a good thing.

That it may!! lol