Shooting Distances

[Ely Lake Expert]

Farley,

Don't quote me on this, but I have been told 500 yards in the past by a guy who seems to know his stuff.

Ryan

[Farley]

Thanks, maybee I'll have to call the DNR to make sure.

[Seabass77]

I think it's 50 yards from the road. I also know you can't shoot over the road. Let us know.

[duckbill]

In the regs book it says a hunter shall not take game under a distance of 500 feet from an occupied residence or livestock.

Doesn't say how far from a road. I would bet it would differ on what type of road you are talking about too. A gravel road in the country I wouldn't worry about it just don't be shooting over the road.

[This message has been edited by duckbill (edited 09-27-2004).]

[Guest]

This is a funny law.

For waterfowl, one can shoot from a road or right of way. Unless this has changed in the last year.

The 500 ft rule comes into effect when talking about an occupied dwelling or livestock.

[Swamprat72]

The way I have always understood it is for small game you can shoot from the roadway/ditch, but for big game you must be past the white triangular "right of way" signs.

[weekendjunkie]

the way i have been told is this: you have to be beyond the right-of-way of the roadway. this will differ depending on the road. 88ft from the centerline of a county road 110 ft from a state hiway so on and so forth. hope this helps ya

[zackj91]

i think its like 100 yards from the road im not real sure

[Mark Christianson]

zack
I can assure you it is NOT 100 yds from a road.
I don't know the exact language, but it is for sure not 100 yds.
PS - Zack, I saw you posted something about shooting hours ending at 4pm only on opening day on another topic. That is NOT correct either.

Call the DNR for EXACT answers.
651-296-6157 and ask for enforcement.

[Farley]

How far away from a road do have to be to legaly shoot? I looked through the regs but it didnt say anything that I could see.

[Finlander]

You are resticted from hunting from road "right of ways" which means "ditches" when hunting waterfowl and small game only in the metro goose zone and the established goose refuges around the state.
Check our the waterfowl regs as all hunters should know all the restrictions before going hunting. It does'nt take that much time!

[jlm]

You have to be beyond what is still considered the right of way. In most cases that is on the other side of the ditch. You can NOT shoot from the ditch, you must be beyond it (for big game). All roads are different however...that makes it complicated. You can NEVER shoot across a road. Hope that helps!

[decoy]

A land owner can give permission to shoot near an occupied building. Pg 10,

Nothing about distance from right of way.

• On another person’s private land or a public right-of-way, a person may not take a wild animal with a firearm within 500 feet of a building occupied by humans or livestock without written permission. • Aperson may not take a wild animal with a firearm within 500 feet of a corral containing livestock without permission.

decoy

[Guest]

This thread just shows how confusing some game laws are.

I was told once you could and have been told you cannot. Last year I found it in the regs where it said you may shoot from a road right of way while hunting waterfowl, but I went through the entire reg book this year and cant find anything on it at all as far as saying if you can or cannot.

I did find where it said you cannot for big game though.

[Farley]

Still no answer from the DNR, I've emailed and called only to be forwarded back and fourth 3 times. When they finally forwarded me to a field officer, I got his voice mail stating he will be out of his "office" untill the 8th.

[Longline]

How I understand it is that you need to be in the bottom of the ditch, that is where the land owner's and the governing bodies land comes together.

[paceman]

The right of way is usually beyond the ditch. Most of the time it is quite a ways behind it. Like others stated it varies from road to road. Some State highways it is as far as 200 ft and some townships it is as little as 33 ft. Also keep in mind that the distance is measured fromt he center of the road. The green and white markers are out there but the farmers are tough on them.

[bigbucks]

I know paceman's a road man so he's got to be right on this one. As far as the landowner's land, technically & legally the landowner's land goes right to the center of the road & they pay taxes on that, it's just that they don't control that portion of it.

[Roosterslayer05]

I have hunted in road right of ways many times, they are the only places to hunt in some areas but a couple years ago I was down in southern MN near a refuge where people hunt in the ditch and I saw portions of ditches that had sighns that read "No Hunting or Trespassing in ditch" I Know its legal to hunt in a road ditch so was this just a case of a farmer posting the ditch even though it wasent tresspassing?? I saw this in a few places around the refuge. I think it might have been farmers posting there ditches to stay out even though you could still hunt there. Anyone else ever see this.

[gundoglily]

The landowner owns to the center of the road and also has control of the land in the ditch area. Normally the township has an easement to maintain a road. We had problems with "road hunters" in past years and were advised by our CO that trespassing could be charged against these individuals.
Why not take the high road and ask the landowner for permission to be on their property. They are the ones that make the ******** payments, pay taxes on the property. It is the 1 bad apple that ruins it for everyone else.

[Nitebiter]

Ive been around and around this debate with friends for as long as i can remember.. i asked the game warden 2 years ago and he said i can stand on the middle of the road and pass shoot geese and ducks or jump shoot or whatever as long as im not impeding traffic. Same for all small game in minnesota as long as your 500 feet from houses and enclosed livestock pastures or whatever.. You can walk the ditches for pheasants as well, the landowner DOES NOT own to the middle of the road, it is not trespassing until you go outside the right of way into the field.

Big game is the only thing that you cant hunt from the right of way in MN..

Fact is that road ditch hunting is SLOB hunting, too many opportunities to take shots that are too long,too many cripples. Buy decoys and talk to some farmers and get on land or hunt public land..

[This message has been edited by Nitebiter (edited 10-01-2004).]

[BarTender]

"can stand on the middle of the road and pass shoot geese and ducks or jump shoot or whatever as long as im not impeding traffic. Same for all small game in minnesota as long as your 500 feet from houses and enclosed livestock pastures or whatever.. You can walk the ditches for pheasants as well, the landowner DOES NOT own to the middle of the road, it is not trespassing until you go outside the right of way into the field."

Finally a post that is correct. It amaizes me on how uneducated most hunters are. this is 100% correct. Big game is the only thing that you have to be away foom the road, and cant fire across it.

the only small game restriction there is is that grouse hunters have to be 20 yards away from your vehicle and it has to be shut off.

[gundoglily]

Not to be a thorn in anyones side, but felt I had to respond to some of the posts. In a township, the landowner DOES own to the center of the road. The township has an easement to have a road for travel. Technically, if you got out of your vehicle to shoot at ducks, geese, pheasant it could be considered trespassing and the person could be ticketed. If a person is pass shooting from the road, they better hope that the bird lands on the road, if it falls in the field, again without permission, they could not retrieve the game, and it would be considered trespassing.

[duckbill]

Gundoglily,
I am not wanting to start a war here but I know for a fact that if I shoot a bird and it lands on private land that I am legally allowed to go pick that bird up. If you check out the DNR hunting regulations it is under the EXCEPTIONS TO TRESPASING:
That law has always been in place and is a good one. Sometimes you wing a bird and it travels a lot farther than you had planned but it is your right to chase a bird that went down.

[jlm]

Gundog, I have to respectfully disagree with
you. If that is true, ever Tom, Dick, and Harry that decides to walk, run, or drive their lawn mower on the shoulder of the road would be trespassing. All roads are considered public property due to the easement agreement (there are some exceptions). You may take small game and wterfowl from the right of way. You may not do so hunting big game. Additionally, as far as I know, the easement is removed from the land owners tax base.

[ChuckN]

I don't know about owning to the middle of a road, I've never heard of it (and I live in a township).

The key word is "not posted" in the law below.

Exceptions (to trespassing)
• A person on foot may, without permission, enter land that is not
posted to retrieve a wounded animal that was lawfully shot, but
may not remain on the land after being told to leave.
• A person on foot may, without permission, enter private land
without a firearm to retrieve a hunting dog. After retrieving the
dog, the person must immediately leave the premises. This exception
does not authorize the taking of the wild animal.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/trespass.pdf

[Guest]

I live along a road that is under construction.We do NOT "own" that land. The county, State, township can do whatever they want whenever they want, snomobiles, ATV's can drive ON OUR LAWN as long as they are within the right of way and there is NOTHING we can do to stop them. It IS NOT tresspassing to hunt a ditch for pheasants, geese, ducks or whetever in Minnesota. Some landowners are dead wrong that they own to the centerline and control it. They DO NOT. You can access lakes, rivers sloughs as long as the water or aquatic vegitation is within the right of way and there is NOTHING that a landowner can do to stop you.

I knew you could hunt from a roadway for waterfowl, but could not find it in this years regs. It was there last year.

[This message has been edited by Tom Herman (edited 10-01-2004).]

[FOOT]

Nitebiter & BarTender are correct in their statements about hunting ditches and right-of-way. I know it sounds goofy that you can shoot waterfowl from a road but its true.
The only thing I disagree with is Nitebiter's statement about hunting ditches being "slob hunting" If you've ever hunted SE or SW MN you would realize that sometimes that is the only place you can hunt. It ain't perfect and you need to be VERY VERY careful.

[Nitebiter]

How can hunting a ditch be your only option?? Theres plenty of public land and theres lots of people that are more than happy to let you hunt on their land.. all you gotta do is ask.. people say its soo hard to get on land, but ive never had a problem ANYWHERE ive gone, worst thing they can do is turn ya down so just keep asking.. and dont tell me its hard to get on land around the metro too.. i was in chaska for 2 days in the early season this year and picked up just over 800 acres of prime goose fields and that was for GUIDING which is 10x harder to get on land as soon as you mention that unless you wanna start tossin around some major cash, i dont even know how many acres i can hunt around home here, its more than i can even count..Ive never paid a dime to hunt and i never will..
decoy hunting is the only way to do it boys, put em in your face FEET DOWN, shoot em in the lips!!!

[This message has been edited by Nitebiter (edited 10-02-2004).]

[Farley]

Here is the question I sent to the DNR:

I was wondering what the laws are for shooting close to roads for
waterfowl.
We want to build a blind on a pond that is fairly close to U.S. Highway
12.
In this instance, how far away from the hwy do we need to be? Also are
the
laws different for different roads like for exapmple gravel roads
compared
to U.S. highways.

Thanks,
Eric Johnson

Here is the reply from Tim Hage:

You have to be off of the road right of way on a federal hwys and state
hwys. county roads you can be in the road right of way as long as the
county does not have any restrictions.