[RugerHunter]

I recently noticed that Safety Zones signs have appeared around some windmills where I occasionally hunt. A couple of questions have come to mind. Does the standard safety zone of 150yds for gun and 50yds for bow apply or do the safety zone signs affect the area covered? Do windmills fall into the category necessary for a safety zone to be established? Please bear in mind that I am just curious as to the law. I have no intention of trying to skirt the laws. But the idea of areas with a 300yd diameter around each windmill isn't a very appealing one (There are dozens of them and more coming!). If there is any question to what is right and wrong (legally speaking), I would like to properly address it before the hunting seasons are upon us.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Woods walker]

It doesn't apply unless they are occupied buildings.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

It doesn't apply unless they are occupied buildings.

John,
We have talked about this on here before...

so, would windmills be an Occupied building if a worker goes to it and enters it maybe 1 time a month or when a computer says there is trouble that needs addressed....or is it there is a set time that has to have people in it?

I seem to remember you saying a Shed in a back yard would be covered under a safety zone for no one knows when someone would be in that said shed looking for a lawn mower, snowblower or some other tools!


Some Hunting Camps only have people in them for 2 weeks each year....so, during the time there is no people around, these places would not be safety zones??


I think I'm getting what the OP is meaning in his post...sure would be a slap in the face if these windmill compainies set up windmills and then post safety zone signs all around them and there is no people living in them nor visiting them for a long period of time!

A good way for the brainless wonders of PETA and HSUS to start getting us fined!
Construct a small building out in the middle of nowhere at different places, place safety zone signs and NEVER go back to that buidling again, unless to make sure the safety zone signs are still up and not torn down!

 

[4cslabs]

John? does that also mean IF they COULD be occupied?
Like a detached garage at a house next to a farm?

 

[Woods walker]

The definition of safety zones is below. While lawn sheds and out buildings are considered occupied because someone could be in them at any time, just like a camp or summer home, however I can not see where even stretching the definition till it pops that a windmill fits the definition.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), the area within 150 yards around and that area which is below the highest point of any occupied dwelling house, residence, or other building or camp occupied by human beings, or any barn, stable, or other building used in connection therewith or any attached or detached playground of any school, nursery school or day-care center.

(2) When applied to properly licensed persons hunting with bow and arrow or crossbow, the area within 50 yards around and that area which is below the highest point of any occupied dwelling house, residence or other building or camp occupied by human beings or any barn, stable or other building used in connection therewith and the area within 150 yards around and that area which is below the highest point of any attached or detached playground of any school, nursery

 

[Beartrppr]

That's like saying a cell tower is a safety zone!

 

[ICAREDOYOU]

I thought it was stated a while back that any building could be a safety zone. Remember when it was posted about someone placing a shed along property that was hunted, it was concidered a SAFETY ZONE???????

 

[casts_by_fly]

I think fundamentally, a windmill isn't a building, it is a structure. Safety zones apply to buildings, not structures.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[casey]

They do not meet the definition of an occupied dwelling. Are these signs posted 150 yards around the entire unit or are they just posted underneath them would be my next question.

 

[Woods walker]

It is not unusual for people to use safety zone signs in place of no trespassing signs despite the fact they mean two different things.

 

[RugerHunter]

First off, thanks for all the replies and help trying to sort this out! I haven't had the time to see if the signs are posted all around the windmills. The signs I saw were near the access roads to the windmills. They seem to be well outside the 150 yard distance. This brought up my inquiry as to the dimensions of a safety zone being 150 yds or established by the placement of the signs.

 

[Woods walker]

The signs do not dictate the sfety zone, the distance from an occupied building or residence does.

 

[Guest]

Can we use them as treestands? LOL

 

[Big Ken]

The signs do not dictate the sfety zone, the distance from an occupied building or residence does.

I remember some years ago, it was small game season and I took a drive out the road to one of the neighbors, and there were some game protectors running a measuring tape off of his home...Seems this group of hunters sent some BB's rattling off of his brooder shed and he called the PGC.. The measurement came out to 148 yards.....Busted !

 

[ICAREDOYOU]

The signs do not dictate the sfety zone, the distance from an occupied building or residence does.

Then a shed is not concidered a safety zone structure??

 

[bob1961]

my friend who had 18 acre's that bordered his neigbors horse farm but was no where near the closest horse pasture and was along side a road on the other side of his 18 acre property....well his non-hunting anti neigbor built a 4'x4' empty shed 5 feet inside his proprty line and posted "safety zone" signs the whole length of his property line up againest his....these people would be sneaking through there woods next to his property with full camo on with camera's takeing pictures of us hunting on my friends land during gun season

....i don't know if my friend ever contacted the PGC bout them doing that to show them how bad those people were or what....from the top of the 18 acre plot to the road down through the woods to the road were only 200 yards at the widest spot, so that fake safety zone took away 80% of his land to hunt on....that just isn't fair, i don't think they were ever smart enough to bait his land or there's though..........bob

....

 

[gentleben]

Dutch, only if you attach yourself to one of the blades, and you are only allowed to shoot when the blade is at it's lowest point in the rotation.

 

[Woods walker]

A shed is considered an occupied building.

 

[Woods walker]

I gotta say, I never wrote a citation for 148 yards on a safety zone violation. However you can be in violation for shooting into or through a safety from a much longer distance that 150 yards depending on the angle of the shot and shot size with a shotgun.

 

[Big Ken]

I think that what clinched the arrest was the fact that the one hunter was a Washington DC cop with a Pa. resident license, and he was argumentative.