Question for New Brunswickers

souwest_ghillie

souwest_ghillie

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After reading my hunting summary, I'm still not sure what the legal distance is for discharging a muzzleloader from a place of residence, school, etc. I see that it's 200m for a bow.....but muzzleloaders aren't mentioned in the 400m classification nor are they mentioned for 200m. Could someone please clear this up for me?
 
http://www.gnb.ca/0078/Firearms-e.asp
Legal distance

It is illegal to discharge any firearm or bow within 200 metres of a dwelling, school, playground, athletic field, solid waste disposal site or place of business.
It is illegal to discharge a rimfire rifle, a centre-fire rifle or shotgun loaded with ball or slug within 400 metres of a dwelling, school, playground, athletic field, solid waste disposal site or place of business.

Buckshot is not considered “ball” or “slug” and can be discharged at between 200 metres and 400 metres.
 
gallen270 said:
http://www.gnb.ca/0078/Firearms-e.asp
Legal distance

It is illegal to discharge any firearm or bow within 200 metres of a dwelling, school, playground, athletic field, solid waste disposal site or place of business.
It is illegal to discharge a rimfire rifle, a centre-fire rifle or shotgun loaded with ball or slug within 400 metres of a dwelling, school, playground, athletic field, solid waste disposal site or place of business.

Buckshot is not considered “ball” or “slug” and can be discharged at between 200 metres and 400 metres.
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I was unable to make the call yesterday...hopefully on Monday. The above quote, which is word for word from the summary, really doesn't clear things up...although I appreciate it having been posted...thank you, gallen270. Muzzleloaders are not specifically addressed in the quote which leads to speculation and one shouldn't have to guess at the intent of a law or regulation.

No one hunts with a ML in my area so I'm unable to call on anyone local for advice. I have three good deer stands which are between 200m and 400m from dwellings from which I bowhunt. I'm curious as to whether or not I could hunt with a muzzleloader from these same stands.
 
The right arrow can easily travel 150-200 yds, not accurately mind you but a razor sharp broadhead would be far more dnagerous than a few pellets of buckshot at that range
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give me break, how high above the horizon would you have to aim? BTW you can Bow hunt to your hearts content with'in 200M of my house and I wont worry.
 
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david doyle said:
give me break, how high above the horizon would you have to aim? BTW you can Bow hunt to your hearts content with'in 200M of my house and I wont worry.
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Very high, like 30 to 40 degree angle. Same as a rifle, if you have your average 30-30, 30-06 etc pointed at a deer on level ground or slightly higher than your target, a miss will only travel 400-500 yds before hitting the dirt I learned this when shooting my 7mm-08 at 600, man do you ever have to hold high!!!

If someone bow hunting has the bad habit (like my father) of pointing your arrow in the air to draw the bow, it is quite possible to release that arrow at a 40 degree angle and send it 200yds. Luckily when my father was doing it, he accidentally released his at half draw so it never went very far.

From a stand the arrow will never travel more than 10-15 yds past the target, nor will a bullet.

After a quick Googling:

World Record archer, Barry Groves, article on Flight Archery

...... Distances shot

The furthest distance shot with any bow is 2,047 yards (1,871.84m) . This was shot by the late Harry Drake in 1988 using a crossbow. The furthest with a hand-held — and pulled — bow is 1,336 yds 1' 3" (1,222.01m) , shot by Don Brown with an unlimited conventional Flight bow in 1987. My 40kg Compound World Record of 1,162 yards was made shooting a 30 kg bow — I can't pull 40 kg!

Distances achieved in Britain include:

Conventional Flight Bow (unlimited): Alan Webster — 916 yards
Compound Flight Bow (60 lbs): Barry Groves - 914 yards. That distance has since been beaten
 
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Don't get me wrong, I know arrows are slicey and very dangerous. However I am confident that 99.9% of hunters take not getting a manslaughter charge seriously enough to go to adequate lengths and cautions to guard against causing harm. Are there cases of totally random Arrow injury? 200 M measured as the crow flies is a lot of ground.

Do not fall victim to the mentality that just because Something CAN be dangerous we shold outlaw it. We trust people to Not take thier hands off the steering wheel at highway speed in rush hour and at 30 Km/hr in school zones so surely we can be trusted to not launch arrows at 40 degrees above the horizon at full draw on a calm day in an open space.

If we use the logic of "it can still be dangerous at X range" then where should the guys who have hot loaded 300 Win mags and 338s be allowed to hunt?
For that matter the sights on my rifle from the 1900s has sights calibrated to 1200 meters. Does that mean I should'nt be hunting with in 1.2 kms of a house? Apprently the .303 is still "dangerous" at that range.

BTW c-68 make a note to PM closer to next years bow season, if you are still making the trip to NB for Deer.
 
Yesterday morning I decided to e-mail DNR as per the link at the bottom of their home page. I received a reply in the afternoon stating that the legal distance for discharging a muzzleloader is no less than 200m. Looks as though I might be in the market for a new ML. Thank you to everyone who offered their opinions.
 
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