There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how fortunate I am to be able to shoot bow, rifle or pistol in my backyard. That, and 300+ acres of my neighbor's fields and woods for my kids to roam. Don't know how I'd survive without it.

I can and have always been able to shoot at my house...  Most of us are going to whatever it takes to "sling a few" when we have that itch...

Wow guess I never thought about not being able to shoot at home.  Heck if I can see another human they are tresspassing and have been doing so for quite some time.  I can understand the dangers in a subdivision.  Just glad I have never had that problem and god willing never will.

I shoot in a school gym on Wednesday nights, but it's almost a 40 minute drive. Recently I've gotten permission to shoot up at my boss's hunt camp, about 15 minutes out of town. Where I used to live I belonged to a shooting club with 24 hr access to an indoor and outdoor range (pretty much the holy grail, as I could practice whenever I wanted) but I moved for another job and now I shoot where I can.

My house hunting will include a search for an area where I can shoot in the backyard. Having to drive out to where I shoot limits the number of times I can shoot in a week, especially in the winter when there's less daylight. If I could walk out back and shoot, I'd go every day!

I've shot in my yard "Forever" even though I am told it is against the law..

The only time I was ever hassled when I had a Hispanic co-worker over.. We hadn't been shooting for 10 minute before John law showed up and hassled us.

Dave felt bad and I was just plain pixxed

I have a 20 yard range in my basement not because I can't shoot in my back yard, but because if I pulled a shot and something tragic happened I would never forgive myself.  I once hit the seem in the bails of hay and the arrow went through the fence and into the neighbors yard.  

My wife wants to finish the basement and I dread the day I can't just go in the basement and shoot.  This is especially important during winter months when I get up when it is dark and get home in the dark.

George

QuoteOriginally posted by cacciatore:
In Europe we live stacked one next to the other,

Same here, I just don't have space, I'm lucky if I get to shoot once a week in the range    :(

I'm sure it against the regs to shoot where I'm at now (since I'm in town and in a development), but I just lucked out with a fenced, private, wooded yard.  

It's tough to find anything to match the privacy the way they stack homes together now.

Oh well, hope I find something before the boss gets tired of me vetoing everything and tells me to stick it in my ear     .

Don't move somewhere you can't shoot!  I've shot in apartment complex yards during college(despite complaints of neighbors..luckily the property manager was a bowhunter).  Shot down my driveway into the garage, off my roof in my small backyard in Phoenix, you name it I've done it to be able to shoot at home.  Last year I finally convinced my wife to move out to the country.  We live on about 5 acres now and she has no desire to move back to the city.  Now I have to convince her to move to CO or NM!  Move your wife out to the sticks and don't look back.

Not a problem at all. I just don't shoot. Sooner or later I make every one around me crazy, so they make me drive to the club for a day of shooting. I will go to the garage and shoot some but not much fun.

I shoot 5 yards in the basement hunched over due to low ceilings and also shoot down my driveway 15 yards into the garage.

It is  not against local ordinance to shoot here but it is against NYS DEC Law. (not being 500 feet from a house or road).  I do it anyways and haven't had  a complaint yet, of course I am mindful of who is out when I am shooting also as all neighborhoods have at least one crazy with a heavy finger on the Police speed dial.

I try to get to a range as much as possible though.

I feel for you fellows who are hindered by your living space. We are spoiled to live on 14 acres with lots of options right out the front door. Unfortunately, I am on the road with work more than I would like and can't enjoy it every day.

Mr. Magoo - To make you and the Mrs. happy, my thought would be to look for a house with a large basement or 2-3 car garage and set-up an indoor spot like many of the guys. My most productive practice is from up close working on form and shooting a vertical line (and visualization per Dr. Kidwell). If you get a wild hare and decide to move further south you are welcome at my place any time!

McDave is certainly correct about discharge ordinances. It is a problem for NASP schools in some areas (Albuquerque, Madison, etc.) until those who want it changed, change it.

Typically, these discharge ordinances are designed to prevent the shooting of guns. They often contain language that prohibits the shooting of bullets, BBs, pellets and other projectiles. Some are so vague that archery is also frowned upon or worse. I know of a town in N. KY that specifically added archery to the ban because a bozo "accidently" shot a neighbor's cat. However, in that town (90 miles from my home) a citizen and I worked with the local police chief to write an ordinance that allowed archery if the homeowner became NASP certified and built a range, complete with arrow curtain, according to NASP specificiations.  This was extreme and over-kill but the only way to get the exclusion. Now that neighbor runs a Home School association archery program in his yard.

My point is that ignorance and broad brush painting is usually behind these laws. They can and should be changed. It generally took only one or two people to get them in place. A little activism can get them overturned.

My tightest situation after college lasted 6 years. I lived in town with 1/4 acre lots and houses on all sides of my yard. I talked to all three neighboring homeowners (I was a renter). I explaned that I would be shooting at a target placed in front of and against my "mower shed". Any stray arrow would hit the shed. My shooting was limited to 20 yards. I didn't shoot when the neighbor who lived "behind" the shed was outside. I never had the first problem or complaint.

For work I need to live in the city, and no shooting in the sub divisions of the burbs.  So I have a 9 yard range in the basement for daily shooting.  I have to drive 30 minutes to get to my sportsmans club range to shoot further than that!  Its a pain but gotta work til my kids are through college (only 19 more years!    )

Many years ago I had to shoot from my driveway into my garage, 18 ids max. Holes in my cabinet and tool box.  Now I am a lucky man, I can shoot in my yard, up to 50 yds. As if I could hit the back stop bales, even at that distance.

When we were house hunting I was dead set on finding a house where I could shoot in my backyard. I found exactly what I needed after awhile. We are in a small suburb on the edge of a farm. The farm is adjacent to my back yard. I don't know how I would get along if I hadn't been so determined. Shooting my bow with peace of mind was too big a thing to let go.

City Ordinance that prohibits discharge of a weapon within the city limits.  Technically no bow shooting.  Arrangement with my neighbors; if they are out I don't shoot, if they come out I stop.  Good back stop and several block, 3-D animal targets.  I'm an outlaw.      

I shoot inside my apartment


I can get 12 yds

Get 12-14 yards in the basement, while I don't get to practice distance much, I do get to work on form, and that has been a great help for the time when I do get out!

I have to admit I got it made in this respect out to 80 yards if I want to. Only two problems for me are losing or breaking an arrow in the shub oak if I miss, and waiting for deer and elk to get away from my target. Seems they think my GlenDel buck is a friend of theirs. Unfortunately not all my neighbors would be ok with me sticking one of the beasts with an arrow, and those are the ones close enough for the critter to make it to before it dies. I don't want to sound like I'm gloating now but I'll say it anyway. My boss almost insists that we go out and get in a few rounds after lunch if you can believe that, nothing but dirt fields on two sides of the shop.