Firearm in bow stand in MN? Can you do that?

So I was speaking to my neighbor yesterday as his grown kids are all big bow hunters.

And he mentions to me, yeah last season his oldest son Joe wasn’t seeing anything from what had always been a good stand. Turns out coyotes had move into the area and a pack came through, so Joe pulled out the pistol he always carries while bow hunting and pounded a couple of them.

Ummm. I was always under the impression that in MN, carrying a firearm while bow hunting was a no-no.

Was I mistaken? I did a quick scan of the regs and didn’t see it either way.

Grouse

This was my understanding as well. That if you are bow hunting you cannot carry a firearm. Unless you have a Permit to Carry – which is what initially promoted Billy to get his.

That is true unless you have a permit to carry.
DT

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/2013/cite/97B.211#:~:text=(a)%20A%20person%20may%20not,in%20compliance%20with%20section%20624.714.

DT

You can have your carry pistol while bow hunting for deer if you have a cc permit.

So assuming you have a permit to carry, is it legal to actually USE the pistol from the deer stand for anything other than self-defense? Strange to think the only thing that would make shooting coyotes legal from the bow stand was having a concealed carry permit.

But don’t get me wrong, it would totally be worth blowing the evening’s sit to go rapid fire on a pack of coyotes.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

So assuming you have a permit to carry, is it legal to actually USE the pistol from the deer stand for anything other than self-defense? Strange to think the only thing that would make shooting coyotes legal from the bow stand was having a concealed carry permit.

But don’t get me wrong, it would totally be worth blowing the evening’s sit to go rapid fire on a pack of coyotes.

I don’t read any restriction on the actual usage of said firearm. I suppose squirrels(for example) would also be fair game provided the season is open for them .

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Curious why not just shoot coyotes with the bow.

I have shot a a fair amount of coyotes with my bow while deer hunting. Even shot a deer after shooting a coyote on the same hunt.

One year in Kansas a pair of coyotes came through after shooting a good buck one morning.
One left the area and the other didn’t make it.

Michael Best wrote:

Curious why not just shoot coyotes with the bow.

Maybe the cost of using a broadhead couldn’t be justified on a yote. Have to imagine that distance was not an issue if he was using a handgun. They probably were darn near right under his stand.

Michael Best wrote:

Curious why not just shoot coyotes with the bow.

Single coyote within bow range I’d probably take the bow shot, but as Grimruis mentions it’s a pricy pest control technique if you beat up a broadhead or break/lose the arrow. A handgun shot is a lot cheaper, but the bow shot would certainly be quieter so I’d take it if I could.

Pack of coyotes, or singles that don’t want to come into a conveniently close range, that was more of what I was thinking of by asking the question. Hate to admit it, but I’m just not that great of a bow shot on coyote-sized targets at 50+ yards. Ummm, or at 40+ yards…. So the neighbor’s comment got me thinking about handguns because it never occurred to me that you could even do that in MN at all.

a 40 yard shot with a carry gun which most only are a 2-4″ barrel is a pretty long shot and imo would just be a shoot and hope you wounded the animal at that distance

but i guess legally you could have a AR pistol in your stand with you and that would be a different story

Coletrain27 wrote:

40 yard shot with a carry gun which most only are a 2-4″ barrel is a pretty long shot…

I don’t have any carry-size, I’ve got full flavor stuff so I can get out there a little bit more, but yes there won’t be any 100 yard pokes. Hmmm, a red dot might be nice so there’s my excuse to add one of those…

If this was all a ruse to get me to attend BK’s CC class, mission accomplished!

I guess I never thought of a damaged broadhead on a coyote.

I shoot 3 blade COC heads.
Shoot the coyote, touch up the broadhead on a file and stone then back in the quiver it goes.

Years ago there was a video on social media of a guy shooting 3 coyotes with his bow while on stand.
If I remember right the video came from Wisconsin somewhere.