Hunting Distance from public road

Rebel 3

Senior Member
What WTM 45 stated is correct. You can hunt on private land next to the road. You can not shoot from or across a public road. Only on WMAs does the 50 yard rule apply.
 

redwards

Senior Member
You are correct Randy. There is not a Game & Fish Law that specifies a distance. The law we use relating to the discharging within 50 yards of a public road is in Title 16 (criminal code). The DNR law only prohibits hunting from a road or shooting across it. So you can archery hunt right next to a public road as long as you don't shoot across it.
Just a question to any in law enforcement person, but could this statute.....
16-11-108.
(a) Any person who while hunting wildlife uses a firearm or archery tackle in a manner to endanger the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act or omission will cause harm to or endanger the safety of another person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, however, if such conduct results in serious bodily harm to another person, the person engaging in such conduct shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years, or both.....
be applied to a situation where someone was hunting closer than 50 yards to a public road, even if with a bow?
For instance, the Fort Gordon incident alluded to in an earlier post to this thread.
 
Of course the question could also boil down to one of negligence which I believe would be a civil matter as opposed to one of a criminal nature.
In court with a sympathetic jury, who’s to say that you coulda, shoulda, woulda known that an individual/car load of family members were lost and ended up on or near said road and your ‘obviously negligent action’ ie gunshot towards, near, in proximity, close by, or in the vicinity of said roadway, caused harm to said individuals!
Unless one of the catchall statutes showing gross or intentional negligence, you there would be no criminality, yet you’d could be still found liable.
(Above is my opinion, and not representative of any legal advice given, nor am I acting as or on behalf of any attorney, lawyer or legal council)
 
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dixiecutter

Eye Devour ReeB
Of course the question could also boil down to one of negligence which I believe would be a civil matter as opposed to one of a criminal nature.
In court with a sympathetic jury, who’s to say that you coulda, shoulda, woulda known that an individual/car load of family members were lost and ended up on or near said road and your ‘obviously negligent action’ ie gunshot towards, near, in proximity, close by, or in the vicinity of said roadway, caused harm to said individuals!
Unless one of the catchall statutes showing gross or intentional negligence, you there would be no criminality, yet you’d could be still found liable.
(Above is my opinion, and not representative of any legal advice given, nor am I acting as or on behalf of any attorney, lawyer or legal council) [ How about that for Covering Your *** ]!!!
Do huh?
 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
Of course the question could also boil down to one of negligence which I believe would be a civil matter as opposed to one of a criminal nature.
In court with a sympathetic jury, who’s to say that you coulda, shoulda, woulda known that an individual/car load of family members were lost and ended up on or near said road and your ‘obviously negligent action’ ie gunshot towards, near, in proximity, close by, or in the vicinity of said roadway, caused harm to said individuals!
Unless one of the catchall statutes showing gross or intentional negligence, you there would be no criminality, yet you’d could be still found liable.
(Above is my opinion, and not representative of any legal advice given, nor am I acting as or on behalf of any attorney, lawyer or legal council)
Nice bump
 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
This^^^^. & Open roads are not the same as gated ones. Discharging a firearm is the language I remember…….common sense sb the norm.
500 yards from any type of shoreline structure when hunting your local reservoir too
 

JustUs4All

Slow Mod
Staff member
Some shots would be safer than others but aside from areas very near the ocean, I can't think of a single spot in Georgia where a shot can be taken that is not in the direction of a public road.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
All it depends on is where the best tree is to put your climber or ladder stand on.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
One has to be careful when responding late at night!! Never saw the date! Oops! There was another thread somewhere on similar subject, so I was thinking I should chime in… note to self: look at date!!!

There's probably 50 threads covering the same topic. That shouldn't stop you though. On this message board the wheels on the bus go round and round like a perpetual motion machine, especially right after the end of deer season. :bounce:

Try digging up some "best caliber" threads. The "baiting" threads offer a wealth of useless information too. It still beats work. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
What WTM 45 stated is correct. You can hunt on private land next to the road. You can not shoot from or across a public road. Only on WMAs does the 50 yard rule apply.
However, OCGA 16-11-103 prohibits discharging of a firearm within 50 yards of a “public highway” which said code section defines as
2) "Public highway" means every public street, road, and highway in this state.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
However, OCGA 16-11-103 prohibits discharging of a firearm within 50 yards of a “public highway” which said code section defines as


What about dirt roads and roads in Rough Edge district? I'm pretty sure those are exempt. :bounce:
 
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