I am looking at buying some land to hunt on. One property I'm looking at would have me setting up near the road and shooting into a hill toward the interior of the property. I've searched the rules and regulations, but have not been able to find anything. In Ohio, is there a minimum distance from either the road or a neighbor's house that you have to be in order to discharge a firearm? I've seen a lot of people on the internet stating from 50' to 500', but none of them ever provide a specific ORC reference.

This would not be a safety issue, but a noise issue. I'm strictly talking hunting, not target practice, so we are only talking about a couple of shots per day, a few times per year.

Where at in Ohio? And the only thing I’ve ever heard is as long as you don’t live in city limits you’re good so if you’re in a township it’s ok.

I get ORC 2923.162 in search hits. I can't get to many of the State of Ohio government websites at the moment.

So:

https://law.justia.com/codes/o...23/section-2923-162/

This Buckeye Firearms Association article summarized the law as of 2018 in the 7th paragraph. Their website has a link to 2923.162, but that Ohio.gov site is not responding at the moment.

Not everyone would even ask about such a thing. Good on you for trying to research it, to stay ahead of the game.

I'll overthink it and offer a few things to consider ...

I can't find any Ohio state laws concerning shooting on private property, so I'd contact game warden, state police, sheriff ... any and all law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over the prospective property, for discussion of your plans and clarification of any laws or ordinances governing. They would or should have the best knowledge of any local laws or ordinances as well.

Setting up near the road (as you mentioned) might be observable to drivers by ... sight or hearing. Because some people mind other peoples business, a driver might contact law enforcement with "concerns". Law enforcement would be required to respond, wasting their time and likely annoying you. Prior contact with local law enforcement agencies about your plans, as I previously mentioned, might help mitigate any possible confusion.

Be aware of other legal infractions you could encounter or become affected by that aren't or may not be necessarily covered by any laws or ordinances directly concerning shooting on your own property, such as ... disorderly conduct (noise), and endangering for example, as well as any other subjective observations a responding officer might make. Additionally, you would be responsible for any fired round that left your property under any and all conditions, situations and circumstance, so liability insurance should be given thought.

Be on good terms with any neighbors or adjunct land owners and let them know your plans and precautions. Maybe even go so far as to extend an offer to contact them when you intend to shoot. Could be they had a hunt planned on their property or work near the area of your range and would appreciate a heads up or consideration. If comfortable with it, consider inviting a neighbor or land owner to shoot with you on your property, just to show it's safe and you've taken precautions and care not to endanger them or their property.

You are permitted to shoot on your own property, just not across neighboring property or on/over a roadway. There is not any distance requirement.

2923.162 Discharge of firearm on or near prohibited premises.

(A) No person shall do any of the following:

(1) Without permission from the proper officials and subject to division (B)(1) of this section, discharge a firearm upon or over a cemetery or within one hundred yards of a cemetery;

(2) Subject to division (B)(2) of this section, discharge a firearm on a lawn, park, pleasure ground, orchard, or other ground appurtenant to a schoolhouse, church, or inhabited dwelling, the property of another, or a charitable institution;

(3) Discharge a firearm upon or over a public road or highway.

(B)

(1) Division (A)(1) of this section does not apply to a person who, while on the person's own land, discharges a firearm.

(2) Division (A)(2) of this section does not apply to a person who owns any type of property described in that division and who, while on the person's own enclosure, discharges a firearm.

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises. A violation of division (A)(1) or (2) of this section is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. A violation of division (A)(3) of this section shall be punished as follows:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(2), (3), or (4) of this section, a violation of division (A)(3) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(3) or (4) of this section, if the violation created a substantial risk of physical harm to any person or caused serious physical harm to property, a violation of division (A)(3) of this section is a felony of the third degree.

(3) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(4) of this section, if the violation caused physical harm to any person, a violation of division (A)(3) of this section is a felony of the second degree.

(4) If the violation caused serious physical harm to any person, a violation of division (A)(3) of this section is a felony of the first degree.



Effective Date: 03-23-2000; 06-01-2004.

Setting aside all the applicable laws, I personally would want to scope out the neighbor and see how they feel about you doing some 'target' practicing on occasion. Being on good terms with your neighbors is in my opinion just as important as being lawful.... if not more important.

Definitely meet the potential neighbor.

It could go from great friend(s) for the rest of your life

to the other extreme -

Hate, hostility and law enforcement involved any time they want to irritate you.

There may be local regulations that dictate what you can and can’t do. Noise restrictions. Hunting restrictions. Etc.

Talk with the local Police - doing it now may save you real headaches later on. They may already know your “neighbor” and could, casually give you some vital information. Either good or bad, it would be helpful.

Finally, a tip I read about when we were shopping for real estate “Meet the neighbors” was on the list of things to do before buying. Not only can you get a feel for them, but they might share some vital information about the property itself. Something I had heard on first meeting was along the lines of “Wasn’t that the old landfill?....”. Had it been so it would have been a real problem - we get our water through wells in this neighborhood. I could have bought into a piece of property that did not have any potential for sinking a well. Big bucks for something I couldn’t give away.

Have you considered contacting ODNR and meet with the game warden assigned that jurisdiction?

In NC rules change by county, many require the hunter to be six feet off the ground so that the shooter is aiming downward-in case a round passes thru or you miss an animal and it hits dirt. Many counties with low population density don’t have the requirement.

I would first talk with the adjoining property owner, then talk to the local wildlife officer. Specially ask about the roads and if you put a tree stand or box stand will it be off of the roadway easement. The “roadway” goes from property line to include ditches, median, shoulders etc...

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1501:3-6-01v1

This might be what you’re looking for. To be double safe I’d also look if the specific township has an ordinance. But I don’t think townships can make laws contrary to state law.
Hope this helps

quote:

Originally posted by Sigfest:
http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1501:3-6-01v1

This might be what you’re looking for. To be double safe I’d also look if the specific township has an ordinance. But I don’t think townships can make laws contrary to state law.
Hope this helps

I had found this one, too.

1501:3-6-01 Shooting from roads or within 400' of structures.

No person shall take, hunt, kill, pursue, or shoot any wildlife or wild animals by any means within 400 feet of any camping area, residence, barn, service building, shelter house, latrine, or other structure, or shoot on, from, or across any road or driveway within any state forest.

I think this one only apples to public lands in a state forest since it is grouped under the heading of Division of Forestry. Section 1501:3 is Division of Forestry and the sentence ends with, "within any state forest." It's hard to tell from the punctuation if "within any state forest" applies to the entire sentence, or only to shooting across roads. It seems unlikely that it applies only to shooting across roads, because that would then imply that you can shoot across roads as long as you are not in a state forest, which I know isn't right.

I appreciate everyone's help.

I do plan on talking to the neighbors, but neighbors do change, and I don't want to be in a situation where the law says one thing, but the current neighbor says, "Don't worry about it." Then he sells his property in 2 years and the new neighbor decides to have the law enforced.

I just talked to an ODNR officer. The 400' limit is only within state forests. No restrictions on hunting your own property as long as you have a safe backdrop. Theoretically, your neighbor's bedroom window could be 10 feet from your property line and you could setup right on the line, not that I would ever do that.

Keep it on your property and the state doesn’t care. Some counties do have additional rules, but mostly just the counties containing a big city. Most rural counties don’t have additional restrictions. Most shooting restrictions in Ohio are found at the local level. There are lots of cities and localities that have restrictions up to and including banning the discharge of firearms inside city limits. If you are in an unincorporated rural area, it is likely just the state rules.

- Bret