Shooting on Private Property in Illinois

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Shooting on Private Property in Illinois

Posted: 10/30/2011 1:54:55 PM EDT

Hey guys,
I was shooting on my inlaws land in and around the Galena area over the weekend.
I was target shooting with my ARs and AK and clearly had multiple targets up with punched holes matching my shots. I was in my in-laws' woods, roughly 1000 feet away from any houses and I was shooting at a downward angle towards a creek berm. I could see where all the bullets were going as it was "tilling" the soil behind the target.

Anyways, the next door neighbor, who is about 1000 yards away from where I was shooing (and in a different direction) came over threatening that the DNR was going to come out here due to all the shooting. I advised him that I was within the limits of the law and shooting between the hours of 11am and 3pm.
His argument was that I was shooting rifles during deer season. Shooting deer with rifle rounds is not allowed in Illinois, apparently.

He is also a hunter and avidly shoots off the back deck of his house.

Is there anywhere that puts this in writing?

Posted: 10/30/2011 2:36:44 PM EDT

[#1]

Illinois Hunters and Trapping Digest

pg 10-

It is unlawful to -
possess any rifle in the field during the gun
deer season (Nov. 18-20 and Dec. 1-4,
2011) except muzzleloading rifles used by
deer hunters only. NOTE: The lawful possession
of rifles to take furbearing mammals
and game mammals other than deer
shall not be prohibited during the Youth
Deer Season (Oct. 8-9, 2011), muzzleloader
rifle-only deer season (Dec. 9-11,
2011) and the Late-winter Antlerless Only
Deer Season, Dec. 29, 2011 - Jan. 1, 2012
and Jan. 13-15, 2012.

Posted: 10/30/2011 2:43:26 PM EDT

[#2]

What if I'm CLEARY shooting targets on private property?

Posted: 10/30/2011 2:55:24 PM EDT

[#3]

as long as your not out shooting during any firearm deer hunting dates you are fine, now as far as your county,city ordinances that is another story....

it is illegal to take a deer with a rifle (centerfire and rimfire) anytime in Illinois..

Posted: 10/30/2011 2:56:39 PM EDT

[#4]

I would think that would depend on the discretion of the individual officer and the circumstances pertaining to your situation.

Posted: 10/30/2011 5:38:31 PM EDT

[#5]

I think that hunting laws really only cover those that are hunting. If you are out target shooting, you are not hunting.

Posted: 10/30/2011 6:25:46 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I think that hunting laws really only cover those that are hunting. If you are out target shooting, you are not hunting.

You would hope the state or LEO would use that logic.

Posted: 10/30/2011 6:37:02 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think that hunting laws really only cover those that are hunting. If you are out target shooting, you are not hunting.

You would hope the state or LEO would use that logic.

I've heard the repeated horror story of the brother, cousin or neighbor of a buddy, a co-worker or some other distant acquaintance being busted by an overly zealous Johnny Law for driving down the street and having a firearm that wasn't contained within a container meeting the DNR definition of a "case".

Not going to hunt, not going from field A to field B, not coming back from hunting, but outside of hunting season just rolling down the street/highway.

I've asked for a name, docket number or case citation but nobody's been able to actually prove that such a conviction has ever taken place.

Posted: 10/30/2011 7:35:24 PM EDT

[#8]

If the law pertained to any private property for any reason during deer season then shooting ranges would have to be closed to rifles during deer season.

I have had DNR called on me for shooting on private property by a neighbor that wanted to cause trouble. The DNR came out, checked our FOID cards, saw that we had a bunch of shot to hell soda cans in the back of the truck, told us to have a nice day and left.

Posted: 10/31/2011 4:19:14 AM EDT

[#9]

This is the statute that your inlaw's neighbor referred to when he complained.

(520 ILCS 5/2.33) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33)
Sec. 2.33. Prohibitions.
(ee) It is unlawful to possess any rifle while in the field
during gun deer season except as provided in Section 2.26 and
administrative rules.

I would be more concerned about this statute if I were shooting toward a creek.
(520 ILCS 5/2.33) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33)
Sec. 2.33. Prohibitions.
(q) It is unlawful to fire a rifle, pistol, revolver or
airgun on, over or into any waters of this State, including
frozen waters.

I have to agree with Tango7 on wanting specific information on arrests/convictions. If anyone can provide the name of someone who has been arrested for either of these statutes or the transportation statute, members in the county of arrest can make a Freedom of Information request after the case is adjudicated and find out if there was a conviction entered or charges were dropped. This is how I researched the Michael Diggins case in Peoria County.

Posted: 10/31/2011 6:45:53 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think that hunting laws really only cover those that are hunting. If you are out target shooting, you are not hunting.

You would hope the state or LEO would use that logic.

I've heard the repeated horror story of the brother, cousin or neighbor of a buddy, a co-worker or some other distant acquaintance being busted by an overly zealous Johnny Law for driving down the street and having a firearm that wasn't contained within a container meeting the DNR definition of a "case".
pretty sure the DNR definition of case(like a zippered pistol/rifle case) only applies if your on state property i.e. state parks, if your not in a state park the case can be a glovebox or center console even just a holster am I right?

Not going to hunt, not going from field A to field B, not coming back from hunting, but outside of hunting season just rolling down the street/highway.

I've asked for a name, docket number or case citation but nobody's been able to actually prove that such a conviction has ever taken place.

only citations I have heard for this areound here is the dumbasses that come out of the woods and just throw their shotgun or bow in the truck to go to another spot..instead of putting them back in the case...

Posted: 10/31/2011 8:24:51 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
This is the statute that your inlaw's neighbor referred to when he complained.

(520 ILCS 5/2.33) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33)
Sec. 2.33. Prohibitions.
(ee) It is unlawful to possess any rifle while in the field
during gun deer season except as provided in Section 2.26 and
administrative rules.

I would be more concerned about this statute if I were shooting toward a creek.
(520 ILCS 5/2.33) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33)
Sec. 2.33. Prohibitions.
(q) It is unlawful to fire a rifle, pistol, revolver or
airgun on, over or into any waters of this State, including
frozen waters.

I have to agree with Tango7 on wanting specific information on arrests/convictions. If anyone can provide the name of someone who has been arrested for either of these statutes or the transportation statute, members in the county of arrest can make a Freedom of Information request after the case is adjudicated and find out if there was a conviction entered or charges were dropped. This is how I researched the Michael Diggins case in Peoria County.

The carrying issue I'm not concerned with. I'm on the property the whole time. The creek is really a dried out crick bed with no water in it. It's Galena so there's a million different hills on his property I could use. I feel like calling the DNR and asking them. I would rather have had something in writing to show the Fudd next door.

Any other help is appreciated. Thanks, Guys!

Posted: 10/31/2011 11:46:19 AM EDT

[#12]

Unless there is a local or county ordinance against it, or you are too close to housing or shooting in an unsafe direction, I would think in that part of the state, you would be good to go. You could ask local police, or if it was outside town limits, the county, whether you are ok shooting where you are.
I would not be suprised if the neighbor, who complained, will hunt this season on or near his own land, and doesn't want you making noise, scaring off deer, or didn't want to hear the noise from your rifle right then, but isn't concerned about the noise his gun will create, when he uses his back yard for target practice.

I've had people stop me, in Wisconsin, for shooting at a small range during bow season. The reason; their relative, was BEHIND THE RANGE hunting! Just remember, this is the time of year that all of the FUDDs come out to play, according to their own "rules".

Posted: 11/1/2011 5:29:46 AM EDT

[#13]

Today I am going to Xline Sportsmans Club just outside of Kankakee. I will be shooting my Marlin 982VS .22WMR rifle and assorted handguns hunting season or not.
I can't imaging hunting season superseeding everything else on the planet.

VonBarky

Posted: 11/2/2011 7:15:51 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Hey guys,
I was shooting on my inlaws land in and around the Galena area over the weekend.
I was target shooting with my ARs and AK and clearly had multiple targets up with punched holes matching my shots. I was in my in-laws' woods, roughly 1000 feet away from any houses and I was shooting at a downward angle towards a creek berm. I could see where all the bullets were going as it was "tilling" the soil behind the target.

Anyways, the next door neighbor, who is about 1000 yards away from where I was shooing (and in a different direction) came over threatening that the DNR was going to come out here due to all the shooting. I advised him that I was within the limits of the law and shooting between the hours of 11am and 3pm.
His argument was that I was shooting rifles during deer season. Shooting deer with rifle rounds is not allowed in Illinois, apparently.

He is also a hunter and avidly shoots off the back deck of his house.

Is there anywhere that puts this in writing?

ask him what you call coyote hunting?

Posted: 11/2/2011 3:24:46 PM EDT

[#15]

You cannot hunt coyote with a rifle during any firearm deer season.
You can still use a shotgun but no rifles....it sucks!
This is why i keep a copy of the IDNR's current years hunting info book in the truck.

Posted: 11/3/2011 5:03:47 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
What if I'm CLEARY shooting targets on private property?

On a target range you are fine.

If you are shooting at random acorns in the forest, you aren't. It's the "in the field" part you need to heed.

Posted: 11/3/2011 2:45:31 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

I would not be suprised if the neighbor, who complained, will hunt this season on or near his own land, and doesn't want you making noise, scaring off deer, or didn't want to hear the noise from your rifle right then, but isn't concerned about the noise his gun will create, when he uses his back yard for target practice.

I second this motion. How dare you shoot in his neck o' the woods.

Posted: 11/3/2011 2:55:09 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

Quoted:
What if I'm CLEARY shooting targets on private property?

On a target range you are fine.

If you are shooting at random acorns in the forest, you aren't. It's the "in the field" part you need to heed.

Does IL law define what "in the field" means?

Honest question that I don't know how to find an answer to.

Posted: 11/3/2011 3:57:13 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Quoted:
What if I'm CLEARY shooting targets on private property?

On a target range you are fine.

If you are shooting at random acorns in the forest, you aren't. It's the "in the field" part you need to heed.

Does IL law define what "in the field" means?

Honest question that I don't know how to find an answer to.

No berm or targets are being shot at. My cousins and I were catching shit for shooting on his land because a cop decided to start making up his own laws to get us to stop shooting because 1 person didn't like it. There is a huge difference in ordinances when it comes to hunting and target shooting. Just gotta make sure you're not in a grey line and not act like a dick.

Treat a cop with respect and let him know whats up, more than likely he won't care, check FOIDs and go on his way.

Oh, a new harassment cops have been doing is running all serials of guns on the property to waste time and get people to not want to shoot lol.

Posted: 11/3/2011 4:28:43 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Oh, a new harassment cops have been doing is running all serials of guns on the property to waste time and get people to not want to shoot lol.

Nothing new about that. Cops have been running serial numbers on anything they can ever since computerized records of reported lost/stolen items have been available. Not to say that it will happen, but it's definitely not anything "new."

Posted: 11/3/2011 5:52:07 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Does IL law define what "in the field" means?

Honest question that I don't know how to find an answer to.

I looked and "in the field" is NOT a defined term in the Wildlife Code. Seems pretty clear to me that it means engaged in hunting, or at least that it does not mean out target shooting, but I would hate to be the one to have to argue that in court because a LEO had a different interpretation.

Posted: 11/3/2011 6:25:06 PM EDT

[#22]

I think that since there's no statutory definition of the term "in the field" it would then fall back to what a reasonable person would believe the term to mean, in the context of hunting. Kind of the if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, its a duck... so if you're out hunting with a rifle, you're probably looking for a citation for it. If you're plinking in the back yard or other makeshift range, you're probably safe. I say probably because it is going to rely on the totality of the circumstances at hand, as well as an officer's point of view.

I'm not a lawyer, but if I were the officer dealing with the situation, and you could articulate to me that you weren't hunting, but target shooting, I wouldn't have any issue with it at all. And I probably wouldn't run your rifles' serial numbers unless I got the impression you were hiding something, or were acting irrationally nervous.

Or, if you weren't hitting the 10 ring enough.

Posted: 11/3/2011 6:51:48 PM EDT

[#23]

I would think shooting at your range, backyard, etc. is perfectly fine. I think in the field is anyplace you would expect to hunt. Common sense applies. I would hate to be in my stand, which is in an sparsely-wooded area with mostly open fields around it for about 1/4-1/2 mile each direction have a guy decide to zero his .300 Win Mag across his property from where I'm at. Theoretically, it could happen. Actually likely since not all of us just common sense.

If I lived in Missouri, where you commonly hear of accidental shootings during deer season (where they use rifles). It still happens here with shotguns, but not as frequently. Not trying to turn this into a shotguns are safer as opposed to rifles, but a guy shooting a shotgun at the other end of a field doesn't concern me as much as a rifle with far superior ballistics. They just tend to go a little further, flatter, and are a tad more accurate.

Posted: 11/4/2011 4:22:28 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
I think that since there's no statutory definition of the term "in the field" it would then fall back to what a reasonable person would believe the term to mean, in the context of hunting. Kind of the if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, its a duck... so if you're out hunting with a rifle, you're probably looking for a citation for it. If you're plinking in the back yard or other makeshift range, you're probably safe. I say probably because it is going to rely on the totality of the circumstances at hand, as well as an officer's point of view.

I'm not a lawyer, but if I were the officer dealing with the situation, and you could articulate to me that you weren't hunting, but target shooting, I wouldn't have any issue with it at all. And I probably wouldn't run your rifles' serial numbers unless I got the impression you were hiding something, or were acting irrationally nervous.

Or, if you weren't hitting the 10 ring enough.

At the L.E. level, I completely agree with you, in court, I don't see how this would hold up.

Posted: 11/4/2011 4:24:12 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
I would think shooting at your range, backyard, etc. is perfectly fine. I think in the field is anyplace you would expect to hunt. Common sense applies. I would hate to be in my stand, which is in an sparsely-wooded area with mostly open fields around it for about 1/4-1/2 mile each direction have a guy decide to zero his .300 Win Mag across his property from where I'm at. Theoretically, it could happen. Actually likely since not all of us just common sense.

If I lived in Missouri, where you commonly hear of accidental shootings during deer season (where they use rifles). It still happens here with shotguns, but not as frequently. Not trying to turn this into a shotguns are safer as opposed to rifles, but a guy shooting a shotgun at the other end of a field doesn't concern me as much as a rifle with far superior ballistics. They just tend to go a little further, flatter, and are a tad more accurate.

I hate the shotgun rule. I have quit gun hunting deer because of it. Pistol caliber carbines are just as safe, there is no reason for this restriction to continue.

Posted: 11/4/2011 4:28:20 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
What if I'm CLEARY shooting targets on private property?

Then I think you are good to go.

Posted: 11/4/2011 9:05:10 AM EDT

[#27]

Some of you guys are over-thinking this a bit and are splitting hairs that don't need to be split.

If someone is CLEARLY target shooting on his/her own property during firearm deer season you're good to go. However, if he/she is simply walking around the timber shooting at acorns with a rifle then they're not. Common sense rules most of the time. I asked a CPO about this same thing a few years ago and his response was that there wasn't a problem. Actually, if I remember correctly, he acted like I just asked him the dumbest question of the week.

Hell, I've been known to go kill a deer in the morning and then target shoot with centerfire rifles in the afternoon. No problems yet and I don't expect any.

And, before anyone says it, the use of centerfire rifles during deer season in the Shawnee National Forest is NOT allowed. I realize that’s off-topic but thought I’d throw that out there before this thread drifted that way.

Posted: 11/4/2011 9:54:15 AM EDT

[#28]

But if you look at the ballistics of the modern sabot slugs put out by almost all of the manufacturers the ballistics compare with some of the rifle calibers.

You have sabots that are close to the range and speed of a 45 / 70 round, 1900 fps out of the muzzle and 1200 ft lbs at impact at 100 yards.

You might as well allow rifles for better accuracy and cleaner kills.

Posted: 11/4/2011 12:09:30 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
You might as well allow rifles for better accuracy and cleaner kills.

I couldn't agree more. The problem is the political climate in this state. It'll never get done unless firearm deer hunters demand it and have the backing to get it done.

Posted: 11/6/2011 9:22:36 AM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
You cannot hunt coyote with a rifle during any firearm deer season.
You can still use a shotgun but no rifles....it sucks!
This is why i keep a copy of the IDNR's current years hunting info book in the truck.

yes but the op say it was over the weekend the post date was 10/30/11 there is no firearm season then.

Posted: 11/7/2011 4:57:40 PM EDT

[#31]

He was just upset that you were scaring away his deer. Allot of hunters manage their property with multiple tree stands and pick the hunting spot based on the direction of the wind. Someone shooting targets down the road will change the deer's pattern and potentially ruin a weekend or two of hunting. This might seem petty to a non-hunter but allot of the hunters I know spend all year watching deer, planting food plots, and waiting for the season to start. I can understand getting frustrated at someone shooting targets in these circumstances.

Posted: 11/8/2011 7:03:48 PM EDT

[#32]

I don't want to piss on anyone. Do you think waiting until Spring and stopping Mid-summer would mess anything up?

Posted: 11/11/2011 2:35:38 PM EDT

[#33]

It's Jo Daviess County, don't worry about it. I wouldn't worry about scaring off the deer either. I shoot on my 40 acres in Stephenson County all the time and have had deer no more than 20 yards from me grazing while I am shooting. Hell, they have even been down range while I've been shooting, not a care in the world. They get used to it and the douche neighbor should realize it...

Posted: 11/13/2011 4:46:29 AM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
If the law pertained to any private property for any reason during deer season then shooting ranges would have to be closed to rifles during deer season.

I have had DNR called on me for shooting on private property by a neighbor that wanted to cause trouble. The DNR came out, checked our FOID cards, saw that we had a bunch of shot to hell soda cans in the back of the truck, told us to have a nice day and left.

THAT ABOVE!

I know for a fact (wink wink, FBI calls that a clue) that you can shoot rifles on your own private property, gun club, or public range during deer season. People call pissed off all the time about their neighbors shooting guns no matter what season it is. As long as the shooting is done safely, there is nothing that can be done.

Also, the fanny pack thing is fine. There have been training and such with LEO's and the larger police departments are fully aware of the fanny pack/not needing a container (i.e glovebox, center console) is fine).

Posted: 12/20/2011 11:49:57 AM EDT

[#35]

Sorry for the late reply.

You are completely in your right to target shoot on private property (During any season) as long as it does not violate any state, county or local laws.

Posted: 12/21/2011 1:06:45 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
Sorry for the late reply.

You are completely in your right to target shoot on private property (During any season) as long as it does not violate any state, county or local laws.

It's legal to do as long as it's not illegal? Ok got it!!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Shooting on Private Property in Illinois

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