Last year the House rejected House Bill 1112, which sought to expand the no-shooting zone around occupied buildings, churches, schoolhouses, and livestock from 660 feet to 900 feet. That safety zone doesn’t ban hunting within that proximity to residents and livestock; it just requires that hunters ask the landowner for permission to shoot there.
Rep. Tom Pischke (R-25/Dell Rapids) led opposition to expanding the safety zone, telling the House that HB 1112 was just another attack on (the lazy and dangerous practice of) road-hunting. In further opposition to HB 1112, Rep. Tim Goodwin (R-30/Sheridan Lake) said he would gladly stand at the end of a football field and let people open fire with a shotgun at him from the opposite endzone. Prime sponsor Rep. Rocky Blare (R-21/Ideal) did not take Rep. Goodwin up on his William Tell offer; Blare simply insisted he wasn’t out to hurt road-hunting, but the final House vote killing HB 1112 was 27–40.
Representative Blare wants to try again. This time, he’s co-sponsoring a measure primed by his District 21 seatmate Rep. Caleb Finck (R-21/Tripp), House Bill 1072, to take another shot at expanding the no-fire zone to 900 feet. As with last year’s bill, HB 1072 still allows shooting at critters within the safety zone; hunters just have to get permission of the landowner first. District 21 Senator Erin Tobin (R-21/Winner) is also on board as a sponsor.
Landowners, outfitters, soybean growers, and the Farm Bureau testified for the expansion of the safety zone last year; the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and the Izaak Walton League testified against it.
Goodwin is 10X a fool and all of them different. A shotgun with slugs can easily kill a deer at twice that distance and a a 12 gauge with 3 or 3.5 inch magnum shells with Hevi-Shot pellets can kill out to 70 yards, so they are capable of splattering a human sized target at 100 yards. By all means, big boy, go for it!
Note: HB 1072 does not work in conjunction with HB 1066 to grant landowners authority to allow hunters to discharge firearms within 900 feet of their livestock or occupied buildings while drunk or stoned.
Mr. mike, I realize you are from Iowa. Here in South Dakota we do not shoot deer with slugs from shotguns. We use center fire rifles like civilized men, not like those heathen Minnesootians.
You shoot pheasants with center fire rifles, too, Grudzilla? It was yer pol who offered to act as a clay pigeon at 100 yards for a shotgunner, not Moi.
Well those Izaak Walton boys are pretty old. Road hunting is about it for them, they have to get the lead out of their pants somehow.
Well…at my age, road hunting is the best option. Doesn’t really matter to me if I get my birds or not, but to be able to load up my gun and the dog into the old Jeep on a nice fall day and scout out the roads is a great joy. I’ve scaled down from a 12 gauge to a 20. I could still block, but frankly the fellas I used to hunt with are in worse condition than I am. Hard to find a group to hunt with these days. It seems this legislation just pushes more hunters into pay to hunt situations and frankly, I have neither the time or energy for that. I can occasionally hunt with permission on private land owned by some old classmates but you hate to be a pest. Public shooting gets overhunted early in the season, though I check it out and will hunt the margins on foot if I have the energy. We definitely need more public hunting as habitat remains the biggest obstacle to having bonanza pheasant hunting and believe me, at my age, I need bonanza numbers of roosters.
grudz, A couple years ago my sister had a rifle slug come in through her bedroom window and lodge in her bedroom wall. fired by some nut road hunting deer – with a center fire rifle. Judging by the forensics of the incident performed by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office, it was estimated the shooter was approx. 4,000 feet away. Judging from the angle, the shooter probably could not have seen the house for the trees.
Civilized my ass. Ask BEFORE you shoot – from any distance.