# Legal Hunting Distances from a Residence



## BrewMonkey

Does anyone know how far you need to be from a house or residence to legally hunt with a rifle? I know you have to be 50 ft from a paved road. I live in rural Cherokee county in a neighborhood, and all the houses are far apart.


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## BrewMonkey

Nevermind. Just spoke with the Cherokee County Marshal's office and there is no ordinance. The only restriction is to be 50 yards from a public road, which is in the CCGA (criminal code of Georgia).


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## biggabuck

I know here in Gwinnett we must be 500 ft from the road or home to hunt with a gun!!


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## robbie the deer hunter

you have to be 300ft if you are duck hunting on a lake such as sinclair or oconee.


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## whitworth

*"Just spoke with the Cherokee County Marshal's office and there is no ordinance."*

What about sub-division covenants?  Which are sometimes more restrictive than county ordinances.


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## oldman 45

Shoot the deer and run drag it to the house and then act like you dont have a clue.


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## jimbo4116

This is a question maybe one of the attorneys can answer.

The regulation guide states it is illegal to discharge a firearm within 50 yards of a public road.  This is contained in OCGA 16-11-103.

Do local ordinances overide this state regulation?


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## robbie the deer hunter

If you got questions on all this still then pm me. We have a dnr-gw on this forum and i will tell you how to pm him.


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## Wide Earp

robbie the deer hunter said:


> If you got questions on all this still then pm me. We have a dnr-gw on this forum and i will tell you how to pm him.



ya think he has been seeing these pics of deer in corn?


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## Jamie Brett Jr.

Better answer: Just bow hunt.


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## Wide Earp

Jamie Brett Jr. said:


> Better answer: Just bow hunt.



that avatar is HOTT!!!


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## JerryC

jimbo4116 said:


> This is a question maybe one of the attorneys can answer.
> 
> The regulation guide states it is illegal to discharge a firearm within 50 yards of a public road.  This is contained in OCGA 16-11-103.
> 
> Do local ordinances overide this state regulation?


I'm no attorney, but the more restrictive one is the one you need to abide by. For instance if OCGA says 50 yards minimum from the road and your city or county says 100 yards, then 100 yards it is. I seem to remember hearing from one LEO that Cherokee (or maybe it was just Canton) had restrictions on _when_ you could fire a rifle. Seems like it was 10 am - sunset or something like that, which is more restrictive than the legal hunting hours of 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after sunrise/sunset. -JerryC


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## Twenty five ought six

> Do local ordinances overide this state regulation?



That is an excellent question, and one to which there is no definitive answer at this time.

In a theoretical sense, probably not.

In a practical sense, you would have to  be willing to spend the money on attorney's fees to find out for sure.

I can offer these couple of anecdotes.

A few years ago Gwinnett County wanted to shut down an American Legion (or VFW ) turkey shoot, on the premise that it violated the county ordinance by being too near some newly installed housing.   The shoot sponsor made it clear that it would challenge any effort to do so.  The county attorney decided that the county ordinance was unenforceable in the light of state law.

Likewise over the last few years, there have been one government or another that has proposed regulating some aspect of hunting.  The state attorney general has headed off such efforts by sending the government a letter reminding them that hunting is regulated by the state.


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## jason8047

I was wondering how far you have to be from a house if you are hunting on public land?  I hunt a spot of NF land that is a great little spot but where I hunt is close to the line(about 20 yds).  I went in there today and there's a new house built just a few yrds on the other side of the line where I used to hunt.  I walked over about 100 more yds from where I usually sit because even though my back would be to the house I think it wouldnt be but about 40 yds from me n I just dont feel comfortable that close.


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## Jamie Brett Jr.

Wyat Earp said:


> that avatar is HOTT!!!



What you mean?


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## dawgfan25

im goin to start hunting my backyard in charokee county.

i hsve been seing a pretty nice 10 pointer


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## dawgfan25

what part of cherokee are you in


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## Jhunt

biggabuck said:


> I know here in Gwinnett we must be 500 ft from the road or home to hunt with a gun!!



You would be very wrong there.   In Gwinnett it is 50 yards from a public road.   The 500 ft ordinance was struck down by the State Supreme Court years ago as unconstitutional.


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## Jhunt

whitworth said:


> What about sub-division covenants?  Which are sometimes more restrictive than county ordinances.



Covenants are only enforceable by the Homeowner's Association.   Very few have the money to take you to court over such and those have very few deer hunters anyway.


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## Jhunt

jimbo4116 said:


> The regulation guide states it is illegal to discharge a firearm within 50 yards of a public road.  This is contained in OCGA 16-11-103.
> 
> Do local ordinances overide this state regulation?



Only the DNR is allowed to govern hunting regulations.   The answer is no in unincorporated areas.   Incorporated areas (cities) are different as they operate as corporations.


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## RuggedNetwork

This means if you have a two story house....No need for a ladder stand.


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## tv_racin_fan

I know a few people that have legally killed deer from their back deck. Not so bad to sit in the hot tub with the babe, she gets to drink the beer since you are hunting...


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## ga41

shot one out of my upstairs window back on 12.23.....DRT, should have shot the other one too


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## dpoole

Know some folks that were shooting doves last sat in a peanut field. There were houses close by. They called DNR. DNR came out and informed the hunters they must stay 500 ft from a residence.


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## Jhunt

dpoole said:


> Know some folks that were shooting doves last sat in a peanut field. There were houses close by. They called DNR. DNR came out and informed the hunters they must stay 500 ft from a residence.



And, most likely, since the hunters didn't know the rules, they did as the DNR said.   Unfortunately, a lot of DNR guys don't know the law either.


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## whitworth

*Word of Warning*

If they hear your rifle fire, they know where your favorite hunting spot is.  And then it no longer is your favorite hunting spot !!!

For years I hunted a small area, where I only used a bow.  Avoided having trespassers discover my good area.  Always entered the woods in an area distant from my treestand setup.


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## Laman

I was told by the DNR office in Albany last year that there is no state regulation concerning shooting distance from a occupied building.  He did say that county and city ordinances varied and could be enforced by sheriff offices and city police.


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## king killer delete

It is not legal unless you own or lease the home.


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## Ihunt

king killer delete said:


> It is not legal unless you own or lease the home.



Post is 10 years old. Bet they got it figured out by now.


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## king killer delete

Good


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