How do you feel about shooting on your land.

So we are one of I think two home owners in our area that has more then a .3 acre lot. We are lucky enough to own 5 acres in a corner bordered on 3 sides by US national forrest.

The HOA rules on shooting only say you may not shoot towards your neighbors or HOA owned land. For just about everyone this makes shooting a gun against the rules. I checked with the HOA president at the time and an officer and they agreed the wording of the rules allows me to shoot on my land.

I usually go down to the shooting range to be a good neighbor, but this weekend it was raining and my police off8cer friend and firefighter friend were coming by for a shooting session. I checked in with all of my closest neighbors and let them know we would be shooting.

A little while into our session, a neighbor about 4 doors down comes by and yells at us from across the street that we can not be shooting there. I imagine the HOA set him straight because we continued and I have heard nothing else about it.

I am curious to hear all of your thoughts and opinions about this. Should I have checked in with more neighbors? Do you feel it is ok to shoot or hunt on your property? Should I feel bad? Beimg able to shoot from my porch is one of the primary reasons I bought acreage (beimg able to cut lots of trees is another).

Should I go find this neighbor, explain the situation to him and apologize for the disturbance? I prefer to be a good neighbor, but also want to be able to use the land I bought to enjoy my hobby from time to time.

 

One of our neighbors was poppin' off a bunch of rounds yesterday, and then some more, and then some more.........lasted a while.
We also have a range within a mile or so just north of us, and I can hear them from here.
Doesn't bother me.
Nearest HOA type of community is a few miles north of us (Canada Creek Ranch), and you couldn't pay me to live in one. More than likely, what may happen at some point is that there will be new rules restricting your shooting rights. You've upset the HOA world order, and there will be a price.
Probably more than one neighbor that didn't like what you did.
I wouldn't apologize, but be prepared for some changes.

 

Most of my neighbors shoot, I don't. It doesn't bother me.

I would find the gentleman, and talk with him. Don't let it go sour, don't get hacked off, be a good neighbor. Hear his concerns, maybe he has a legitimate one that you can work through with him. Maybe he sleeps in the day, of maybe he has kids that hang around in the forest land. Who knows? Nobody, until you ask.

A good neighbor is a good thing to have, and bad HOA is a very bad thing to have.

 

I am surrounded by Michigan National Guard property.... there are tanks, trailer mounted guns, fighter jets, helicopters, and even a10's. Shooting stuff...... my little shotguns bothers no one.

 

One of the requirements when I bought my house was to be able to shoot and hunt. We have 4.75 acres that back into a 600+ acre chunk of the state forest.

What's funny here is the town controls the firearms laws but state does hunting. So I can shoot a 30-06 off my deck at paper (within 500' of my neighbor) but can't shoot a deer with the same rifle because in CT you need 10acres of private land (no state land) to hunt with a rifle and be 500' from a dwelling.

 

Your intentions may be well put, but with someone that stopped by and yelled form the street, his intentions/agenda may be nothing short of confrontational.

If you are going to talk with him, give it a bit of time before you do.

 

I don't normally approach people shooting guns either. The "yelling" from the street is quite understandable.

 

If you are in an area with anHOA and most house are on .3 acres, I would not shoot there. Even 5 acres is not that much when bullets are traveling 1000 ft/sec. maybe ALOT more depending on what you are shooting .

 

I have a 200 yard range on my property. One of the concessions I made to help keep the neighbors from getting cranky was move the shooting bench as far as possible from them while still shooting in a safe direction with a safe backstop quarenteed to stop anything. Maybe shooting off your porch isn't the best locale.

Seeing as I mostly shoot benchrest rifles off a rest I also built a range muffler to shoot through. I used what was available. Two 35 gallon plastic barrels. Cut off the bottoms, wrapped two old sleeping blankets around concrete wire. Tied with string to keep them compressed, slipped one barrel inside the other and cut the strings to allow it to expand.
Was mostly an expieriement but it worked so well I never modified the prototype.

The same could theoretically be built using a horizontal stack of used tires hung by a 4x4 or something. Never tried it but I'm sure it would work well.
They're not silencers but they take some of the sting out of the muzzle blast and lessens the guilt.

 

Another thought, if your shooting some loud stuff perhaps start the session with something small like a .22. It's often that first startling shot that gets unaware neighbors blood pressure up. The louder it is the higher the blood pressure. Start low.

One of my closest neighbors who is also a gun advocate always told me my 204 Ruger sounds like the gates of hell slamming shut. little .20 cal pushing over 4000 fps really lets out a crack.

 

yeah up here our town.... in town bylaws .... says it will make no rules to limit guns or their use... we shoot on my land bunch of neighbors have shooting ranges.. went to talk to 1 as his range points towards one of my trails some 2500 feet from house.. snowmobile 4 wheeler trail on back corner... we walked it together.. he saw my concern and got an excavator and made his stops bigger for safety...


only time it gets excessive are when friends show up with AR 15s... or right before deer season when every body and their brother sights in their rifles.. just so the deer know the season is starting

 

The way I see it it's my land. I paid for it, pay taxes every year on it and it's a free country. I understand respect for other peoples safety and privacy but we would be better off if people quit worrying what someone is doing on thier own property. Luckily I live on over a hundred acres and am actually the small land owner of my neighbors. We all mind our own business and help each other out when needed works great for us. Usually every weekend that's nice someone is shooting around here and instead of complaining we get competitive. I would say you did more than I would've done by telling the neighbors you did.

 

Agree...I was having a little shooting GTG after work one night and a neighbor of mine came over and asked if we would stop shooting between 6 & 7 as he was having some school kids over to ride ponies and horses. He said I know you don't have to stop but it would be appreciated. Of course we honored his wishes, but if he came over yelling, biatching and demanding I would have continued shooting and maybe even broke out a couple of jars Tannerite!!

 

I can shoot right out back, in my area everyone does. Somedays you can hear several people shooting from all sides, Nobody pays it any mind. I've even shot woodchucks in the garden with a .22 from inside the kitchen, with the screen out of course. I'd never last in a HOA, they'd kick me out the first day with my piles of pallets all over the front dooryard. We don't have many of them in this state. "Live Free or Die" is our state motto, and it still means something up here. I only answer to Mrs. Mt. Man, and she only says, " you need to get rid of those boxes and pallets before the grass starts growing again."

 

come on guys, 5 acres is like 500'x 500' nowhere near safe to shoot on, maybe a bb gun. No I am not anti gun, I am a nationally ranked pistol shooter, sponsored at that, I lived on 5 acres no way I was discharging a firearm on that land.

 

I have more than 5 acres...But with the proper backstop why not??

 

All true, but remember the other side of "Don't tread on me" is "I won't tread on you."

 

based on the op's scenario, if you can see all your neighbors and the lots are .3 acres, there are way to many things that can go wrong. If I can throw a rock and hit the neighbors house who knows what a stray bullet can do.

Yes on my acres I could of built a backstop and shot safely it was not worth it to me. I was shooting in the range of 1000 rounds a weekend, reloading all week so it was not needed.

 

I don't, all my neighbors shoot as well. I'm not the guy to pizz others off. I'm very lucky that it is a non issue around here. Again, bang, bang, all the time around here. And then there are the chain saws......... what a great sound.