When Is It Legal to Shoot Across Water?

March 13, 2014

When is it legal to shoot across water?
Question: In one of your Cal Outdoors answers you laid out the parameters of hunting from a boat. How can this be legal if you are not allowed to shoot across water? (Keith and Julie B.)

Answer: While it is illegal to shoot across a roadway, it is not illegal to shoot across water as long as the shooter is able to clearly see their target and can do so safely. Shooting from any “platform” which is not stable is unsafe, and discharging a rifle across a body of water is extremely dangerous due to the likelihood of the bullet ricocheting in an unintended direction. Shot shells do not present this danger to the same degree.

I was wondering about this...after an nckaer's kayak was pelted with buckshot by a duck hunter in the Salinas river a month ago (from about 60ft away). We were 99% sure the hunter did it on purpose and trying to intimidate the kayak anglers. DFG warden was dispatched and he presumably approached the hunter...not sure what the end result was though.