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Maine bow hunters are you aware of new law?

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#2 ·
seems inconsiderate hunters caused this problem- now everyone has to deal with it. Compounds can create problems near someones house because of long arrow flight potential, crossbows are essentially rifles that fire long bullets. But shooting animals in front or or right near someones house without permission is dumb and irresponsible....hence the new rule.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
woof156 said:
seems inconsiderate hunters caused this problem- now everyone has to deal with it. Compounds can create problems near someones house because of long arrow flight potential, crossbows are essentially rifles that fire long bullets. But shooting animals in front or or right near someones house without permission is dumb and irresponsible....hence the new rule.
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Yea seems pretty crazy. If it dies in their yard do they gut it and leave the remains.
 
#6 ·
At first I thought this law was going to be dumb, but after reading the article and realizing that Maine is one of those dumb States where anybody can walk up on your land and shoot a deer, I realize this law may not be as bad as I originally thought. What would be an even better law is protecting private landowners land, and not allowing the general population to wander around on it shooting things. I'm in Texas and while leasing land is crazy expensive and public land is unfortunately not readily available, I still prefer it just letting people wander around and hunting on other people's land. And I'm not even a landowner, but I do respect other people's property enough to stay the hell off of it
 
#7 ·
TangoGorilla said:
Every state i have hunted in that would be illegal.

It may have not been a bad hunter, it may just be a Karen in the legislator that was looking for a bill to write.
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“Numerous instances of bowhunters killing animals close to residences prompted the change in the law.”


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#8 ·
RossRagan said:
“Numerous instances of bowhunters killing animals close to residences prompted the change in the law.”


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I did read that, but that does not mean anything coming from a politician. Numerous can mean 1 or 5000.

Just like how a recent bill in ca got past for the epidemic of stealthing. It was such a wide spread problem that no one I know even knew what it was.
 
#9 ·
I think the law that this is trying to address is this (bold mine);

"Under Maine law, permission is not required for rifle and crossbow hunters on private, unposted land who are more than 100 yards from a dwelling or building and who do not allow a projectile to pass within 100 yards of those structures."

In Michigan, its still technically legal to hunt on unposted private land, but if the owners raise a stink about it you have to leave and there's no legal recourse for it. In Maine, it sounds like up to this point you could walk into someone's front yard and shoot a deer out of their garden and there's nothing they could do about it.
 
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#10 ·
This restriction of obtaining permission to archery hunt within 100 yards of an inhabited building, when you are on public or private land, has been in effect in Illinois for years (300 yards with a firearm). I also hunt in a County Conservation program where they do not allow you to hunt within 130 yards of an inhabited building.
 
#11 ·
New England private land laws are very different than rest of the country, in many states there, if it's not posted, it's open unless the owner asks you to leave. F&G RECOMMENDS you get permission.

As for this law, NH has been like that forever, you can't be within 100 yards of a dwelling on private land without permission, simple as that. It's a safety buffer, it's common sense. Sad they had to make it a law.
 
#13 ·
Bob H in NH said:
New England private land laws are very different than rest of the country, in many states there, if it's not posted, it's open unless the owner asks you to leave. F&G RECOMMENDS you get permission.

As for this law, NH has been like that forever, you can't be within 100 yards of a dwelling on private land without permission, simple as that. It's a safety buffer, it's common sense. Sad they had to make it a law.
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As a NH resident I’m not aware of any law that prohibits you from being within 300’ of a dwelling. There is indeed a law prohibiting you from discharging a bow or gun within 300’ if that’s what you meant.
 
#15 ·
I hunted in Maine my whole life and always thought the 100 yard rule was across the board for all hunting weapons.
 
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#18 ·
You would need to understand the historical basis of these laws, as well as the modern practicality of them. When most of the New England states were founded, they adopted this open land tradition so anyone could hunt to feed their family, as opposed to back in Old England where you could be executed for shooting the “King’s deer.” In current times, it’s necessary in order for the states to manage the deer herds. We just don’t have the public land in the populated areas and the deer population would get out of control. It’s important to note that anybody is free to post their property no trespassing and hunters must abide by that.
 
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