Looking for MT Law about shooting/hunting on your own private property

[Redside]

I live on 2 acres and my neighbor to the east is 20ac or so. The old owner would let people come out and shoot gophers. To the west are five 2 acre plots with houses including mine. There is a slight rise for a "backstop" One day there was a younger person with a scoped rifle out shooting. First I saw them shoot SW, with their horses in the background and houses behind that. At the shot the horses went running. I can hear the bullet ricochet and fly off. As I'm watching this person, they next line up with my property and directly in line with our kid's swing set. I ran out waving and hollering pissed off. Standing at my fence there is no backstop, I have a clear view of the kid peering down his rifle at me, not my brightest moment. It was in no way safe. The kid walked off back to the grown ups. I called the sheriff, they talked to them.

I won't be voting for the next anti-firearm option. In fact I have no issue with people shooting on their property. What I do have issue with is not being safe. You are responsible for every bullet and where it ends up.

I would talk to your sheriff, I would talk to your neighbor, and I would ask myself, can I shoot here and be safe. If so, go for it.

 

[Bambistew]

There is a small 20 ac parcel of BLM near my parents house, about a quarter mile away. It sees duck and deer hunters almost daily in the fall (mostly 6 plates) blasting away... seems like we should get hunting banned there. I don't like the noise and it's too close to the house for comfort and safety.

Will all you advocates for not shooting on private land help me get shooting/hunting banned there?

 

[Straight Arrow]

small 20 ac parcel of BLM

Just get the BLM to expand it into a "large 20 ac parcel"!

 

[MTGomer]

If you are shooting on your own property, and you have a good back stop with no chance to endanger others, I don’t see the problem.

If you are within the law, shooting on your own property is one of the rights within the “bundle of sticks” that comes with acquiring real property.

Perhaps you can determine a monetary value of that right, and lease it to your neighbor.
I bet for $1,000/month you would consider leasing the right to control the volume and frequency of gun shots that originate from your property. If it’s important to her, she’ll pay it.
6 month term. Prepaid. 10% escalation upon renewal. Send her the offer!

 

[Straight Arrow]

I don’t see the problem.

Therein lies the problem.

 

[JMG]

I would call your local Sheriff's office and explain the situation to them and see if they can recite an ordinance or law that would prevent you from hunting on your property. Regardless of the situation (shooting, hunting, etc.), you would get direction from the agency that is most likely to issue a ticket or warning. Then if you are in the "right", inform the Sheriff that your neighbor may be calling to complain that you are hunting on YOUR property.

 

[MTGomer]

Therein lies the problem.

I’m assuming this is some casual shooting,(occasional trap, sighting in hunting rifle, plinking a gopher) and not a few hundred semi auto rounds every afternoon into steel targets.

If that’s the case, it being a “problem” is her problem.
She has/had option here. She could have bought his property. She didn’t. She could have moved somewhere with no neighbors. She didn’t.
This lady has access to elected representation. She could work to get the law changed.

Until then, assuming that he is following the law and not being an absolute nuisance, his exercise of his property rights, on his property in rural Montana may be a problem, but it isn’t his problem.

 

[drifter52]

I’m assuming this is some casual shooting,(occasional trap, sighting in hunting rifle, plinking a gopher) and not a few hundred semi auto rounds every afternoon into steel targets.

If that’s the case, it being a “problem” is her problem.
She has/had option here. She could have bought his property. She didn’t. She could have moved somewhere with no neighbors. She didn’t.
This lady has access to elected representation. She could work to get the law changed.

Until then, assuming that he is following the law and not being an absolute nuisance, his exercise of his property rights, on his property in rural Montana may be a problem, but it isn’t his problem.

You normally do not put a tree stand up to occasionally shoot trap, sight in or pick off gophers you put a tree stand up to hunt
But i could be wrong
He also could have bought property with no neighbors works both ways

 

[MTGomer]

You normally do not put a tree stand up to occasionally shoot trap, sight in or pick off gophers you put a tree stand up to hunt
But i could be wrong

I glossed over the part about the tree stand.
If that’s all the concern is around, that would definitely be some very infrequent shooting.

A couple shots maximum, within a 5 week window at the same time every year. Assuming all the standard gun safety rules such as knowing what is beyond your target, it seems like a non- issue.

There’s a lot of people near where I live that have to listen to the all day long shooting of handguns and AR-15s on adjacent public lands in the desert. A couple November rifle shots in rural Montana seems insignificant.

 

[sacountry]

You normally do not put a tree stand up to occasionally shoot trap, sight in or pick off gophers you put a tree stand up to hunt
But i could be wrong
He also could have bought property with no neighbors works both ways

The tree stand was at my encouragement as dad to let him wrestle with framing/construction on a fun project. We do have an abundance of deer that move through the front yard so yes it was intended for hunting, thinking archery but I wasn't going to limit it to archery only if it was within the law. We've spoken to the neighbors about game retrieval to which we have the green light. I do intend to talk to the daughter of one neighbor about the same permission since it was her dad who afforded the permission and he just passed. At that point I would have gained a sense for tolerance which would seal the decision, again as long as it's within the law.

I do also hear the concerns about creating neighbor unrest and the risk of perpetuating anti-hunter sentiment. There is a bigger picture to discern and I do get that.

As for noise, one of the neighbors, whom I have not yet met, does do a far amount of plinking. I can't isolate where exactly it's coming from because of the canyon, but I definitely did hear a lot of it last summer. A sample of one doesn't translate to generally acceptable, but my guess is that if there was an issue with the noise nuisance of plinking it would have presented itself already.

I don't plan to turn my front yard into a plinking range. Like some have said, its enjoyable to see the turkey, deer, and occasional black bear pass through. That said, if both of my neighbors are good with game retrieval, a big black bear might get taken by a bullet someday. I'm anticipating more than one or two deer will get arrowed.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

The tree stand was at my encouragement as dad to let him wrestle with framing/construction on a fun project. We do have an abundance of deer that move through the front yard so yes it was intended for hunting, thinking archery but I wasn't going to limit it to archery only if it was within the law. We've spoken to the neighbors about game retrieval to which we have the green light. I do intend to talk to the daughter of one neighbor about the same permission since it was her dad who afforded the permission and he just passed. At that point I would have gained a sense for tolerance which would seal the decision, again as long as it's within the law.

I do also hear the concerns about creating neighbor unrest and the risk of perpetuating anti-hunter sentiment. There is a bigger picture to discern and I do get that.

As for noise, one of the neighbors, whom I have not yet met, does do a far amount of plinking. I can't isolate where exactly it's coming from because of the canyon, but I definitely did hear a lot of it last summer. A sample of one doesn't translate to generally acceptable, but my guess is that if there was an issue with the noise nuisance of plinking it would have presented itself already.

I don't plan to turn my front yard into a plinking range. Like some have said, its enjoyable to see the turkey, deer, and occasional black bear pass through. That said, if both of my neighbors are good with game retrieval, a big black bear might get taken by a bullet someday. I'm anticipating more than one or two deer will get arrowed.

Shotgun with slugs would be a great option for that setup.

 

[Gerald Martin]

When I had ten acres, my closest neighbor owned a 70 acre piece and practiced his cowboy action shooting on a multi- weekly basis. It was annoying, but I moved next to him and never talked to him about it.

My personal policy was that my family and I hunted and shot several bears and deer off of my property but any recreational shooting we did was at the range or in the National Forest where we knew it was safe to shoot and where we wouldn’t annoy neighbors.

I always figured that if I as a hunter got annoyed by constant shooting next door, non- hunters would probably really be annoyed.

If legal, I would absolutely hunt on my own property to whatever extent I desired without letting a neighbor’s attitude stop me from it.

 

[Straight Arrow]

his exercise of his property rights

Yep continue to fall on that sword as you convert more and more on-the-fence folks who don't have an opinion into anti-firearms voters.
Ill say it again case you missed it, responsibilities are inherently associated with rights. As is respectfulness.

 

[mtmuley]

If legal, I would absolutely hunt on my own property to whatever extent I desired without letting a neighbor’s attitude stop me from it.

Yep. mtmuley

 

[MTGomer]

Yep continue to fall on that sword as you convert more and more on-the-fence folks who don't have an opinion into anti-firearms voters.
Ill say it again case you missed it, responsibilities are inherently associated with rights. As is respectfulness.

I think your new Gallatin County neighbors from Irvine have been rubbing some of their “values” off on you.

A half a dozen rifle shots or less during the fall on a piece of rural property outside Eureka or Libby or wherever this is, is hardly irresponsible.


I don’t know if I really buy the line that the librtards gon take er guns unless sacountry appeases them by not shooting on his own property in some middle of nowhere place.

 

[Straight Arrow]

I don’t know if I really buy the line that the librtards gon take er guns unless sacountry appeases them by not shooting on his own property in some middle of nowhere place.

I don't either; nobody's taking yer guns or mine. But a five acre tract in an old subdivision with a HOA is NOT in the middle of nowhere. It's likely in a place with a bunch of neighbors, some of whom are "on-the-fence", so why piss them off? This is an old scenario and the classic issue about what one considers as property rights. Even in Montana the edge of your property is way too close to a nosy neighbor. There are so many places to shoot and hunt, again why be obnoxious to neighbors?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I don't either; nobody's taking yer guns or mine. But a five acre tract in an old subdivision with a HOA is NOT in the middle of nowhere. It's likely in a place with a bunch of neighbors, some of whom are "on-the-fence", so why piss them off? This is an old scenario and the classic issue about what one considers as property rights. Even in Montana the edge of your property is way too close to a nosy neighbor. There are so many places to shoot and hunt, again why be obnoxious to neighbors?

The kinda person that comes and heckles the new guy because his son built a tree stand definitely doesn’t think you should own guns or hunt….

Honestly you’re going to be repainting your house to the right shade of taupe and paying your fine for not having your garbage cans behind your fence before too long.

HOAs

 

[Straight Arrow]

The kinda person that comes and heckles the new guy because his son built a tree stand definitely doesn’t think you should own guns or hunt….

Honestly you’re going to be repainting your house to the right shade of taupe and paying your fine for not having your garbage cans behind your fence before too long.

HOAs

Over the top sarcastic hyperbole, not based on the real world of Montana. Certainly not germane to discussing reasonable respectfulness in responsible shooting and hunting to perpetuate a healthy, longstanding, and accepted legacy.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Over the top sarcastic hyperbole, not based on the real world of Montana. Certainly not germane to discussing reasonable respectfulness in responsible shooting and hunting to perpetuate a healthy, longstanding, and accepted legacy.

True.

But I also wonder what folks living in CA in the 70s would tell you.

Or CO in the 90s

It’s hyperbolic… but it’s grounded in an underlying truth.

 

[sacountry]

Thank you everyone for the input. There is a balance to being neighborly which is a two way street. Now that I feel more comfortable with the legality, I will contact a buddy that works for the sheriff's department and speak with him just to cover that base

Here's the balance as I see it. I will be respectful of my neighbors and I also expect them to be respectful of me. I don't intend to turn my yard into a shooting range, but I do intend to protect the innocence of my young teenager by allowing him to harvest animals within our property. I think most everyone here understands the challenges of our youth today and getting him outside in nature is of high importance to me and to the future of conservation. Know that he harvested a dandy 5x5 whitetail up the road last fall on National Forest. He did so while hunting with a buddy. I was quite proud to see that buck hanging in the garage when I got home from work and he was more than a little excited to show me.

So when I say I will respect my neighbors and expect them to do likewise, I hope they will understand that I'm trying to raise a kid with a certain set of values so anticipate the possibility of a shot or two but not that of shooting range.