Can you test your guns on public hunting lands?

[Darth-Vang]

Never thought about it till now. Can you say set up paper targets on public hunting lands and shoot all day?

 

[Johnm1]

It depends on the land and your state. In general federally owned land, yes. But even on federal land there can be local restrictions. When I lived in Longmont Colorado I had a heck of a time finding federal land that wasn't limited. The further away from cities the less restrictions.

Here in Arizona only the areas close to the cities are limited and are well signed. The areas adjacent to Phoenix are posted 'No Target Shooting ' but those are areas that have high public use and it makes sense.

Arizona has 'Public Trust Land' owned by the state that is open to hunting and other uses but strictly prohibits target shooting.

So the real answer is a"It Depends'. When I lived outside of Tucson Arizona I called the local National Forest office and asked and they gave me directions to a place they preferred.

 

[denton]

In our state, if you target shoot in an area where a hunt is in progress, you are carrying a firearm in the field and are presumed to be hunting. There is an exception for concealed carry permit holders. Without that, you'd better be sure that it isn't pheasant or small game or deer season.

 

[Ranger99]

Best to check with the game warden
for the area in question since that's
who'll be writing the ticket and/or
making the arrest for any infraction

 

[243winxb]

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/wma/shooting-ranges

Oklahoma. - "On all Department owned or managed lands, the discharge of firearms for purposes other than while hunting is restricted to the specific target or shooting ranges provided for public use."

 

[12Bravo20]

Yes definitely check your state laws. Each state will have specific laws on this. And when on federal land you need to know both state and federal regulations for that area.

 

[DoubleMag]

IMHO the thread title is different then the opening post?

So, I would say YES to the title. This is very normal at deer camp, guys wanting to shoot the rifle 2-3 X verify zero, foul the bore, etc.

Which is different then the body of the 1st post, setting targets for a large volume of shooting e.g. target shooting. All day.

I would think therefore, it would be a lot harder to find public access which allows shooting all day. As others have indicated. Gots to get to the boonies, somewhere N of Egypt haha

 

[dobedo]

Not in Maryland either state, federal or county land.

 

[film495]

this sounds like a reason to call local fish and game and ask. they may even tell you where to go.

 

[AK Hunter]

Not in Indiana, you can only target shoot in designated shooting ranges. Or on your own property if it is outside city limits.

 

[Thomasss]

In Wisconsin, 50 years ago, the answer was yes as long as a public range was not available.
Now the answer is check with the local warden. In fact, all questions not specified in the hunter's "hunting guide"
is "Ask a warden." Wisconsin has a 800 number to call as well as district numbers to use when a questionable
regulation needs to be answered.

 

[CapnMac]

From memory (only) out in the Nations, it's down to the Nation in question, and whether that land is under WMA management.

There's not a nady bit of US Code or CFR I can find (in an extremely cursory search) that addresses this nationally; so, State Law will obtain.
Which was excellently addressed by @243winxb above.

 

[Gordon]

In Oregon you can IF FIRE CONDITIONS PERMIT . This is a big IF these days and like everywhere else : off private property and during hunting seasons if you are going armed without a CCW or with CCW and a long guns most if not every state can assume you are hunting so better have a license for that game with you.

 

[.308 Norma]

Never thought about it till now. Can you say set up paper targets on public hunting lands and shoot all day?

Of course I can here in Idaho.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Depends on the state.

Also, testing is not shooting all day and turning an area into a range.

 

[wis bang]

PA says only at established ranges but my camp is in a township where shooting is not restricted and the nearby houses shoot into the state forest all the time so I have a steel that sits on a T post and will add to the noise with a couple magazines when I visit.

 

[Choctaw]

I'm from Texas. What is public hunting land?

 

[.308 Norma]

I'm from Texas. What is public hunting land?

I'm sure this isn't what you meant, Choctaw, but I'm from Idaho where almost 2/3s of the state is public land. That's "public land" though - NOT "public hunting land." And in most cases, if non-hunting members of the public want to want to "set up paper targets" and "shoot all day" (as the OP said) on most of Idaho's public land, they are free to do so as long as they meet all of the other legal requirements for shooting firearms. Furthermore, I'm an avid hunter, have been my whole life, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[CapnMac]

I'm from Texas. What is public hunting land?

Well, technically, there are small areas, typically under Corps of Engineers authority that permit hunting & fishing (with State licenses).
Lake Somerville has some land like that, but, you have trek in to it (and you have to be mindful of the "rough camping" campsites also allowed).

Libingston used to, but it was all down by the dam face. Caddo has a small amount, as does Texoma. It's largely lake areas under CoE jurisdiction.

This get complicated, so, Sam Rayburn Lake looks like it ought to have such property, but, it's in the Angelina National Forrest (and partially in a State Forrest as well, from memory)--so those rules apply before the CoE rules do.

Now, as a guess, @Choctaw may be making a quip about how 95% of the land area of Texas is privately owned. And 5% sounds a pawlty amount; but, that's 5% of 260,000 square miles, a measly 13,000 square miles, around 780,000 acres.

 

[JohnKSa]

It's scattered around and usually pretty small parcels but there's almost always some close. Tends to get really busy in hunting season and there can be very specific restrictions for some of it. The areas I drive past on the way to work are shotgun only and no slugs.

 

[Ranger99]

From my limited interactions with
the game wardens, written rules
sometimes get blurry, so if it were
me, I'd ask the man in charge of
enforcement for the area

 

[James K2020]

The Bureau Of Land Management provides maps by state of areas they control. Most are open to recreational shooting depending on local and state laws. Good place to start.

Maps | Bureau of Land Management

www.blm.gov

 

[bearcreek]

IMHO the thread title is different then the opening post?

So, I would say YES to the title. This is very normal at deer camp, guys wanting to shoot the rifle 2-3 X verify zero, foul the bore, etc.

Which is different then the body of the 1st post, setting targets for a large volume of shooting e.g. target shooting. All day.

I would think therefore, it would be a lot harder to find public access which allows shooting all day. As others have indicated. Gots to get to the boonies, somewhere N of Egypt haha

Curious what public land you're using where this is the case? I've never seen anywhere that differentiates based on volume of fire. It's either target shooting outside of an official range is allowed, or it isn't. Never seen anything said about how many rounds can be fired.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Here in Washington state there is a lot of public land for target shooting.
They closed a lot of it down because of trash left by shooting slobs.
I have been organizing shooting pit clean up for several years now on DNRland. The last shooting pit clean up we picked up 5,350 pounds of trash from one pit in July.
The pit before this pit was cleaned up a year ago and we picked up over a ton of trash.
At the 5,350 pound clean up pit we cleaned it up two years ago and we hauled out over twelve tons of trash.

This is why they make it illegal to shoot on public lands.

I go back to Upstate New York for a month every year to go deer hunt. Up on the Skyline State Forest slobs have been target shooting there at the tee on the end of the road. There is a lot of trash and no proper back stop.
If you do target practice anywhere TAKE YOUR TRASH AND HAVE A PROPER BACK STOP.

 

[Choctaw]

Speaking of which, I see TPWD has released the maps for 2023-2024 public hunting.

It's scattered around and usually pretty small parcels but there's almost always some close. Tends to get really busy in hunting season and there can be very specific restrictions for some of it. The areas I drive past on the way to work are shotgun only and no slugs.