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Can you shoot in your back yard?

I keep looking at land for "the compound" in the future. I look, but I'm not nearly prepared to buy. My young 20-something kids would LOVE to have a compound with me. We shall see if they still think so in 3 or so years. I don't want to buy a ton of land now and find out no one wants to live on it. LOL

But part of that buy is going to be a decent area for a range. For sure. Make a backstop. Plus get to practice some clay-shooting.
 
We used to shoot in Sunderland behind the house we rented. Statees heard the gunfire from 116 a couple times and checked to make sure we had permission. Not an option now that I'm back east.
 
enbloc said:
Buy a house with a good piece of land behind it that is dry from ground water, buy 2 40' steel shipping containers and rent a backhoe.
Cut a basement entrance into your nice, new, never-crowded indoor shooting range/bomb shelter/panic-room/ammo bunker/etc...

iu
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That would work. Not sure on backstop material. I don't need Rick O'Shay.

pastera said:
Rural zoned Taunton is good to go if you have the land.

Police want 500' from houses, extra legal but it makes them happy (it's an easy read from the law when someone complains)

I just joined Taunton which is 5 miles from my house so fighting bugs or cold has me doubting a lot of backyard shooting now
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There's someone that shoots near Worcester St behind the various houses. There are days they are in there when I wouldn't go near it. Tick city or too damned cold or raining. ????? Dedicated shooters for sure.
 
My sons planned well ahead. Two each have 13 acres in NH and the other one has 80 acres in Alaska. Only problem is that it's becoming obvious that they're smarter than I am. On the plus side, I have the ranges handy. At least the two in NH. Jack.
 
A guy in Yarmouth has an outdoor range associated with a cranberry bog iirc. An anti gun lawyer from NY moved in to a property adjacent to the guy’s range and promptly soils himself when he hears a round being fired. He gets an article up before Town Meeting to prohibit the discharge of firearms in the town. Town Meeting members voted it down and told him to move back to NY!

So you can shoot in Yarmouth if you’ve got the right property.
 
appraiser said:
NH not so much where I am, due to restrictions on how far from a dwelling, how far from a road, etc etc etc
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New Hampshire has statewide preemption, it's legal on your own property, just comply with RSAs 207:3a,c & 644:13 and your neighbors/town can't say boo (but it wouldn't hurt to invest in a suppressor).
 
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Got an off grid very nice camp in western Maine hills on 14 acres. Asked some guys I met who live about half a mile away if anyone would complain about my shooting. They laughed and said, "Why would anyone around here care about that?" Been shooting all I want there. Here in hell I go to my club.
 
We used to shoot behind my buddies in west bridgwater. Right next to the tracks. Cops showed up one day and chatted us up, said it was ok because we were far away enough from neighbors and we made a berm
 
Living in the middle of 110 mostly wooded acres in rural Kentucky, you bet your ass I can shoot in my back yard, and front yard, and side yard. [thumbsup]
 
Kevin_NH said:
New Hampshire has statewide preemption, it's legal on your own property, just comply with RSAs 207:3a,c & 644:13 and your neighbors/town can't say boo (but it wouldn't hurt to invest in a suppressor).
Click to expand...

Dang, I was hoping you could read the first as only applying to hunting but I think that only qualifies the .22 air rifle words:

207:3-a Prohibition. – It is unlawful for a person to discharge a firearm or a .22 caliber or larger air rifle when used for hunting purposes or to shoot with a bow and arrow or crossbow and bolt within 300 feet of a permanently occupied dwelling without permission of the owner or the occupant of the dwelling or from the owner of the land on which the person discharging the firearm or air rifle or shooting the bow and arrow or crossbow and bolt is situated.

Also, no exception for indoor ranges like in MA? Could NH truly be worse than MA?
 
A quick story about shooting in the yard.

In the late 90’s there was an epidemic of rabies in the raccoon population in SE Mass. There was a rabid raccoon in my backyard in daylight acting, well like a rabid raccoon. Knowing that I’d probably be in deep do does for firing a gun on my property, I got out my new custom Martin bow. I figured I’d take that sucker out silently.

So, I line up the shot. The coon is about 15 feet away. I thought “ fish in a barrel”. Just as I get into the release, one os the biggest sneezes I have ever experienced erupts from my nose and the arrow goes “I know not where”.

This occurred during school bus drop off time in the neighborhood, and all I could think of was that I might have shot a kid. It was one of those life before your eyes experience. I left the coon in the backyard and drove around the neighborhood looking for wounded people or houses with an arrow sticking out of the siding. Fortunately no victims. Later I found the arrow imbedded in a tree on the edge of my property.

I have always taken this as a message from God and don’t shoot from my property. Although, recently, I gave my kid a set of throwing axes for his birthday so there may be a target in the backyard in the future.
 
I started shooting on my property and all my neighbors realized what I was doing was legal... so now everyone shoots in there back yard..... something stupid is going to happen and they’ll crack down on it.... I don’t want to judge but I question how safe people are being... it’s not my problem and they won’t be stopping me or bother other land owners with an appropriate place to shoot....

I’m in western MA, if your going to shoot in your back yard expect police interaction.... which isn’t really a big deal.
 
Dennis in MA said:
There's someone that shoots near Worcester St behind the various houses. There are days they are in there when I wouldn't go near it. Tick city or too damned cold or raining. ????? Dedicated shooters for sure.
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I'm not too far from there, over by Rehoboth.
I spray for ticks often during the summer but it is a losing battle - I just use deet.
Summer weekends sound like a shooting range.

Joined Taunton this winter which is 5 miles away so not a lot of incentive to keep the forest cleared.
 
LittleCalm said:
Dang, I was hoping you could read the first as only applying to hunting but I think that only qualifies the .22 air rifle words
Click to expand...
I had the same air rifle question, started a thread about it.

LittleCalm said:
Also, no exception for indoor ranges like in MA? Could NH truly be worse than MA?
Click to expand...
Well, RSA 207 has the same sort of language around "permission of the owner or the occupant of the dwelling or from the owner of the land", but 644:13 does appear to be stricter than MGL §12E.
 
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There are no setback laws in Massachusetts if you have a bonafide "target range " the 500 foot from a structure is for hunting only. Target range is not defined under MGL.

You could theoretically shoot from your deck and be fine as long as you can show range set up in your yard. I live in west Worcester county. I have 7.5 acres of land and have a range in the back corner of said parcel. I shoot steel plate back there. Its rather loud so I do it sparingly and never usually during early morning. I try to keep it during the week when most people are at work.
 
Koolmoose said:
A quick story about shooting in the yard.

In the late 90’s there was an epidemic of rabies in the raccoon population in SE Mass. There was a rabid raccoon in my backyard in daylight acting, well like a rabid raccoon. Knowing that I’d probably be in deep do does for firing a gun on my property, I got out my new custom Martin bow. I figured I’d take that sucker out silently.

So, I line up the shot. The coon is about 15 feet away. I thought “ fish in a barrel”. Just as I get into the release, one os the biggest sneezes I have ever experienced erupts from my nose and the arrow goes “I know not where”.

This occurred during school bus drop off time in the neighborhood, and all I could think of was that I might have shot a kid. It was one of those life before your eyes experience. I left the coon in the backyard and drove around the neighborhood looking for wounded people or houses with an arrow sticking out of the siding. Fortunately no victims. Later I found the arrow imbedded in a tree on the edge of my property.

I have always taken this as a message from God and don’t shoot from my property. Although, recently, I gave my kid a set of throwing axes for his birthday so there may be a target in the backyard in the future.
Click to expand...

That's not a "should not shoot in my backyard" problem. That's a "not knowing the backstop" problem. I went on a pig hunt about 15 or so years ago. (Wow. I can't believe it was that long ago.) Anyhow, we were hunting with hounds. There were 2 pigs cornered. About 4-6 dogs. The dogs were all over them. The guide/dog-guy kept saying, "Don't shoot the dogs! Don't shoot the dogs!" No S Sherlock! Took a good amount of time to get the pigs to STOP moving and the dogs to get OUT of the way. Once the shot was taken, the dogs just took off elsewhere to go do other stuff. LOL. It was like the only fun in chasing the pigs were teasing them. Once they were dead, it was no fun anymore. Hahahahaha.
 
pastera said:
Rural zoned Taunton is good to go if you have the land.

Police want 500' from houses, extra legal but it makes them happy (it's an easy read from the law when someone complains)

I just joined Taunton which is 5 miles from my house so fighting bugs or cold has me doubting a lot of backyard shooting now
Click to expand...
How do you like the club? Taunton is one of 3 I'm looking at.
 

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