Shooting close to a road, but on to my own property.

[Berger.Fan222]

Here is the response I received from the MN DNR. It may make a difference that it is your property.

Is there a law or rule stating the minimum distance for shooting near occupied buildings, livestock, etc?

Good morning,

Thank you for contacting the Minnesota DNR.

The law for shooting is 500 feet from any dwelling or building that houses livestock. This information can be found in our 2016 Hunting and Trapping regulations.

Good Luck!

Staci Hutchinson

CSS Principal/Information Center/Office of Communication and Outreach

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

More accurately, the law says:
• On another person’s private land or a public right-of-way, a person may not discharge a firearm within 500 feet of a building occupied by humans or livestock without written permission of the owner, occupant or lessee of the building.
• A person may hunt from the water or from public land that is within 500 feet of a building occupied by humans or livestock.
• A person may not discharge a firearm within 500 feet of a corral confining livestock for the purpose of normal livestock holding or sorting operations without permission. This does not apply to persons hunting during an established season on state or local government-owned land that is not road right-of-way.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

2. To reduce noise, use a muffler. I don't mean a suppressor you screw onto your rifle, but something that's freestanding that you put the muzzle of your rifle into. This was discussed some years back on this website: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/suppressor-box-backyard-shooting.370106/

Buddies and I have used muffler boxes of various designs to great effect shooting surprisingly close to others without alarming them.

We've used a couple of designs based on available materials. Lots of good ideas in the above thread. A hole saw, an old 120 qt ice chest, and an old blanket can have you in business in 20 minutes.

 

[Mn Fats]

Just to be clear, are we talking about target shooting or hunting?

Target shooting.

 

[Mn Fats]

Buddies and I have used muffler boxes of various designs to great effect shooting surprisingly close to others without alarming them.

Does this work even in the middle of an open field?? What about breaking the sound barrier?

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Does this work even in the middle of an open field?? What about the breaking the sound barrier?

A supersonic bullet will still have an audible crack. But the overall sound and the distance away people will be disturbed from the gunshot are both greatly reduced.

So, on a still summer evening, someone on a porch a few hundred yards away will know someone fired a gun. But the neighbors inside their homes won't all hear it, and people miles away won't know someone nearby just fired a shot.

Muffler boxes are usually about reducing the disturbance to neighbors, not completely hiding that a firearm was discharged.

If you want to completely hide a firearm discharge, more care is needed.

 

[Mn Fats]

Understood. I was considering a suppressor but one of these muffler boxes sounds like its worth a try. Thanks for the help all.

 

[JTHunter]

The law for shooting is 500 feet from any dwelling or building that houses livestock. This information can be found in our 2016 Hunting and Trapping regulations.

In Illinois, you are required to be at least 300' from an "inhabited dwelling" with a shotgun. However, in using a rifle, you are supposed to be 3X that distance - 900 feet.

 

[Ramone]

In my youth, we used a range that had frame that held 8 old tires in front of the shooting bench ( I think it was eight, might have been 6 ). With the muzzle of a .30-'06 just past the first tire, the retort was amazingly muffled.