Where to legally shoot?

[Sharpy408]

I apologize if this has been asked to death or its in the wrong section. I live in upstate NY, and im wondering if I can legally shoot in the woods behind my friends house. He lives off a main road with lots of traffic but behind his house is about 15 miles of nothing. Do we have to be a certain distance from roads or homes or do we need a backstop? I haven't seen any posted sighs anywhere so I have no idea.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Bobson]

Best way to be certain is to check the law yourself. Many states have laws prohibiting the discharge of a firearm within X number of feet or yards from any type of structure, even outside major city limits.

In lieu of looking the laws up yourself, I'm sure someone from NY will chime in on this. Something like this though, you may want to check for yourself to be certain.

 

[fuzzyjon79]

Sharpy, I was using Google to try and find an answer for you and I found that there is a NY firearms forum. They may be able to help you. As a new member, not sure I can post URLs, but this is the site I found: nyfirearms.com/forums/ I figure since it's specific to NY, they may know best.

 

[brickeyee]

Who owns the land?

Any local discharge laws?

 

[Zoogster]

Will be specific to New York law, and maybe county and local ordinances as well.

 

[tyeo098]

New York just says 500ft from any dwelling.

City laws may differ.

 

[drsfmd]

There's not a single public range in NY, and there's no target shooting permitted on public land.

If you don't own the land or have permission to shoot on private land where both space and ordinances allow it, your best (only) legal option is to join a club.

"upstate" covers a lot of ground... where are you? I can probably recommend a place.

 

[Sharpy408]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I used to belong to a club called "Brunswick Sportsmen's Club" in Grafton, but my membership expired and you really have to go through a rigmarole to get a new one. It's also a lengthy trip aswell.

It just would be nice to go to my pals house and take a little hike in the woods to shoot. Ive heard quite a lot of shots back there in the past so I would assume its ok, but I definitely don't want to get in trouble.

Should I call the local State Trooper Barack and ask? would they know for sure?

 

[drsfmd]

http://www.dec.ny.gov/regs/4081.html
bb. No person shall possess breakable targets, including but not limited to clay pigeons, on State lands and no person shall target shoot at breakable targets, including but not limited to clay pigeons and glass containers, on State lands. Unless legally engaged in the act of hunting, no person shall discharge firearms on State lands posted or designated as closed to target shooting.

Try to get a list of parcels that aren't "posted or designated as closed to target shooting". It doesn't exist. There are a number of places that people DO go to shoot, but do so at your own risk.

 

[comus3]

Regardless of what the law says (I can't opine on that), I think very important you have a suitable backstop (hillside?) and not rely on distance from other houses as a buffer.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Some local idiot was using the woods for a backstop and glanced a bullet off a tree that whizzed right between me and a neighbor while I was talking with her in her yard.

No matter what the law is, USE A PROPER BACKSTOP. Every stray bullet carries a potential manslaughter charge with it. You have no idea who might be hiking in the woods.