So here’s a question…
What is allowable under Tx Law 62.0121

b) A person commits an offense if:
(1) the person, while hunting or engaging in recreational shooting, knowingly discharges a firearm; and
(2) the projectile from the firearm travels across a property line.

We hunt on a small property, roughly 60 acres. If I miss while hunting, there is a chance that the projectile from my rifle will cross a property line, possibly multiple. If I read this correctly I am breaking the law? Am I missing something?

Yes, If your shot crosses the line. You really should be elevated on that small of property..

Yes, you would be illegal in shooting across property lines without permission (see the rest of the law you didn't cite).

Also, if somebody is on the property when your bullet goes by, you may get charged with deadly conduct. If you happen to hit a person, you very well may be arrested. Plus, there will undoubtedly be a civil suit.

So the bigger issue isn't just that you are breaking the law, but that you could kill somebody even if you don't think they are there. I pressed charges against 3 idiots shooting across the property line onto my property. They claimed that they didn't think anybody was on my property, as if that made it okay.

Lots of grey area on this law. I had a situation where a guy had a feeder 30’ from our fence line and the guy was shooting towards our property. Game Warden said that “I’d have to prove their bullet was crossing the fence line”.

Be smart and shoot safely

Had a similar situation and the GW "convinced" them to move it.

That's not a grey area. The codified statute is very clear. Just because someone is shooting toward your property line doesn't mean the projectile will cross it. Bad idea to do it, but not probable cause.

Yes, you are breaking the law but I expect it happens regularly. I’ve killed deer and hogs that the bullet passed through and had to enter someone else’s property. I’ve also missed.

My land is long, about a mile, but, in places, not over 300 yards wide. While the odds of actually harming anybody are small, it could happen.

I built a range and the back stop is about 50 ft. from the property line. Nobody lives there and a Dallas investor owns it. He never comes there but the land is regularly poached.

The back stop is RR cross ties, over 6 ft. tall. Behind that is a dirt pile that’s a lot higher than the ties. While the odds of missing the whole thing is low, it could happen.

It's a stupid law passed by stupid and corrupt lawyers.

Just curious, did you happen to watch the video that DNS posted?

While I can't vouch for the disposition of the electorate, I am fairly certain most property owners enjoy the protection of it not being legal for others to shoot willy nilly into their properties.

My idiot neighbors allow guests to visit and point guns right at my property and cows. Their property is under 10 acres with houses around. They get upset when I say anything. I've heard several shots whizz overhead and once had bark from a tree shot scattered in my back yard. City slickers.

I think big moneyed land interests helped get this and trespassing upgrade if crossing fence new with loaded weapon. Not sure if I can understand the validity of anyone being posed to either.

I 100% disagree. As a landowner I don’t want stray bullets flying across my property as I am often outside doing things.

Any responsible shooter should know where their bullet stops - period. By that I don’t mean you need to know the exact location if it is stopping somewhere on your property and you know nothing is in harms way but to fire a bullet and have it go on to someone else’s property where you have no idea what might be in the path is just reckless and should be punished.

^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance.

Is there something new about an upgrade if a firearm is loaded?

I am already aware of the projectile across property line one, the new river law regarding firearms and hunting, the hunting over submerged land one, criminal trespassing where with a weapon which could include anything as simple as a pocket knife that upgrades it to a class A misdemeanor, and parks and wildlife code on the hunting without permission and poaching where killing a big game animal upgrades it to a felony. But I have not heard of anything new that specifies an upgrade triggered by whether a firearm was loaded or not? Or I don't remember it. That is like 5 Texas laws or regs already on the books that in some way relate to trespassing I just listed, so it can be confusing.

At its finest.

Soooo tell us what is corrupt about Texans not having free reign to fire bullets into their neighbors property without their consent?

Nothing new. Several years ago. I remember posts about this when hunters would complain about tracking a target that did not “comply” on the property it was shot on.

Aside from the legality, consider the moral aspect.

Soooo, you sound like a poacher.

If I was a poacher do you really think I would be concerned about legality and asking questions about the law??

My wife has told me I need to work on my brevity, so I apologize if the original post was lacking info. 90%of the time I archery hunt on my 60 acres. My son is now learning to bow hunt as well, but is not yet able to consistently and accurately group his shots so he shoots our rifle now during deer season. Neither one of our blinds or our feeder are on a fence line. We DO NOT, HAVE NOT, and WILL NOT shoot at deer or any other game animal that is on the other side of the fence line. My main concern with this law is the fear that, like many laws, its verbiage can be taken out of context and we as hunters can easily be prosecuted. If I or my son misses, yes it does happen, and/or the bullet ricochets off a rock, I am no longer aware nor am I in control of where the bullet goes. With the long range of modern rifles and ammo, there is always a chance that the projectile can cross a property line, especially when hunting smaller properties. The way I read this law, rifle hunting on properties less than hundreds of acres in size will be at risk even if a hunter does everything right. I was just asking for some clarification, thank you for most of your responses

There is no "out of context." If you, or your son shoots and the bullet hits a rock and goes off property, you or your son is still responsible for it. You aren't in control of it once it leaves the muzzle, but you are still responsible for it. There is no exemption from prosecution because your bullet hit a rock. You or your son still fired the bullet. As they say in self defense classes, "every bullet you fire has a lawyer attached to it" and it won't be yours.

So we should not rifle hunt on any property that is smaller than one mile in diameter based on the possibility a projectile could cross over a property line…..

That wasn’t what he was implying at all. Rather that there is a risk continuum anytime you fire a gun and you have to make the choice to accept or not accept those risks if you want to rifle hunt. A bullet crossing a property line is just one of many risks that go into that decision. For that example though, hunting on a larger property that risk is smaller, on a smaller property the risk is greater, manage your hunting experience to the amount of risk you are comfortable taking