Hunting a WMA Near a House

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Yellowdawg

New member
There are a few WMA's I'd like to hunt that have houses that are cleary closer than 500 feet from them. Can a person hunt the areas that are close to the house? The WMA's are clearly marked with signs that you can hunt them. Its seems that the "open to public hunting" signs posted 50-75 yards from a house sends a confusing message.
 
Yes you can. The 500 foot rule does not apply on public land or when on water. However, have common courtesy. There's a WMA I hunted over the years that had allot of pheasants 80-100 yards from someone's house. I passed up allot of shots because the birds flew towards the house or the house was in the general direction of the birds. Try to position yourself so the birds flush away from the house.
 
Armchairbiologist is correct on the rules of the law. Under normal circumstances, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling is illegal. But there are exceptions and they are very clear. Page 9 of the regulations outlines it.

Use some common sense here. Obviously shooting towards the house or shed or other buildings is not a good idea. If you were the owner of that property and someone was firing a 12 gauge nearby, how would you feel?
 
I would love to see a state statue that prohibits building of any residence within 1/2 mile of an existing WMA.

I have seen people put up 10 acres hobby farms along WMAs and WPAs in both MN and ND. Not sure if they are fools or simply believe it adds to their acreage.
 
BRITTMAN said:
I would love to see a state statue that prohibits building of any residence within 1/2 mile of an existing WMA.

I have seen people put up 10 acres hobby farms along WMAs and WPAs in both MN and ND. Not sure if they are fools or simply believe it adds to their acreage.
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I get what you are saying but I'm going to take the other side of this. Because that would also prohibit land from becoming a WMA that goes up for sale within 1/2 mile of a house, and I don't want to limit on what can become public land. I want more of it, not less.
 
DNR often sells WMA and other land holdings that have conflicts with encroachment. Even if the land is donated, I say move on to land that is not encroached unless it can become a SNA.

Maybe 1/2 mile is a stretch, but 440 yards (quarter mile) is manageable.
 
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