One of my friends who lives in southern PA has invited me up to his farm to shoot some and possibly take care of the groundhog problem at his farm. He doesn't shoot and doesn't own guns (just moved to PA from the UK) and doesn't know the laws. Are there any applicable laws on private land? Minimum acreage required or backstop or something like that? Obviously I'm not going to do anything unsafe, but I just want to know if there are also any laws to consider in addition to safety concerns. Any restrictions on caliber or semi vs. bolt? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Call the local town/city/borough building and find out if there are any ordinances against the discharge of weapons within the town/city/borough.

However, since your friend has a farm I would assume hunting is probably allowed.

Can't use a semi to hunt groundhogs. And yes, you must purchase a license to hunt them.

IIRC, a farmer can shoot animals that are destructive to livestock or agriculture regardless of season etc.

If the farm is in Special Regs area, you can't use a centerfire rifle. You must also wear a blaze orange hat of 100 sq. inches on your head. There is a 150 yd safety zone near an occupied building unless you have written permission from the occupant.

For more info, go to    

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/

yeah, you need to be at least 150 yards from any public access roads, and residental dwellings,  so that really limits where you can and can't shoot on private land.

-Sly

Check with Pa. Game Commission. Last time I looked it was 25 yards from the road to shoot game.