Sunday, September 8, 2013

Hunting in Laveen?

How in the world did I miss this?! When I looked up the applicable laws back in 2009-2010, I was surprised to find that there was almost no easily accessible hunting/shooting area nearby (unless you know someone with a large property on a county island). Then this happened and I wasn't paying attention:
Hunters rejoice, you now have access to approximately 1 million acres of public and state trust lands within municipal boundaries this hunting season, but there are regulation changes that relate to these new opportunities and public safety that hunters need to know.
--from http://azgfd.net/artman/publish/NewsMedia/Arizona-s-hunting-regulations-amended-to-incorporate-expanded-hunting-areas.shtml

Imagine my surprise when Laveener Bryan Blake shared this information in the Laveen FB group, in response to a discussion about all the dove hunting going on now. Those shotguns you hear out there (between sunrise and sunset) may very well be from law-abiding hunters in the designated area south of the I-10 and west of 51st Avenue. Here's a map, with further information about our various hunting seasons in Unit 25M. What are your thoughts about this recent change?

Please read the entire article from AZ Game and Fish, as well as all applicable laws if this is of interest to you. For instance, it's still illegal to fire pistols and rifles within city limits, you must have an appropriate license and tags to hunt in AZ, and no shooting within 1/4-mile of any structure without the express permission of the property owner. It looks like this is primarily for dove/pigeon hunting and certain archery hunts only -- also not applicable to "target shooting" if I understand it correctly.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I plan on looking into this further, as I don't fully understand the laws, so please DO NOT construe this as legal advice, but do feel free to discuss anything that I might have missed here so that we can be better informed. And always err on the side of caution -- guns are dangerous and safety precautions are paramount, some of which are codified into our state's hunting regulations, so maybe a class or two would be in order before you run out and join the action. Capisce? 

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