Gun transport laws in the country

If you’re out in the boonies pheasant hunting on the way to a spot do you need to always case a shotgun? How about if you do a long walk and hitch a ride with a stranger back to your vehicle?

Yes. Yes.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/97b.045

“Subd. 3.Exceptions; hunting and shooting ranges.
(a) Notwithstanding provisions to the contrary under this chapter, a person may transport an unloaded, uncased firearm, excluding a pistol as defined in paragraph (b), in a motor vehicle while at a shooting range, as defined under section 87A.01, subdivision 3, where the person has received permission from the lawful owner or possessor to discharge firearms; lawfully hunting on private or public land; or traveling to or from a site the person intends to hunt lawfully that day or has hunted lawfully that day, unless… ”

So basically you must transport a firearm unloaded and cased, unless you’re lawfully hunting, then you can transport it unloaded and uncased.

Not necessarily if you know city boundaries and populations, best to just case it if you want to be sure. Personally I’ve never worried about getting a ride back to 2nd vehicle though.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/97b.045

Pretty sure it varies by state too, I believe SD, NE and MT (if not more) all have more lax restrictions.

Sharon wrote:

or traveling to or from a site the person intends to hunt lawfully that day or has hunted lawfully that day, unless… ”

So basically you must transport a firearm unloaded and cased, unless you’re lawfully hunting, then you can transport it unloaded and uncased.

This is the part I was wondering about! I realize the big city/high pop. counties are a no go. And I have always cased the shotguns. But I read this that if you live in the country and are driving to a hunting spot you could have the boom stick uncased and unloaded on the way. I forgot to mention in OP I was interested in MN.

I’ve always cased mine. It’s just routine habit. Plus I think it also prevents any potential damage from bouncing around or rattling while you’re driving too.

In Iowa we always unload and case(fully zipped shut) our guns, even if just driving one block on dirt roads. I’m gonna have to take a look at the regs again. Would be nice to not have to case it every single time.

I know in iowa if you have concealed carry you don’t need to case it. I don’t have that, and always case. The main reason I asked the question is sometimes when pheasant hunting I’m driving a short ways to another spot in the middle of the boonies and it’d be nice to not have to deal with the hassle of it. I usually see the game warden multiple times a year, so I’ll ask about it next time I bump into him. It is nice in SD where you don’t have to bother with it.

The way I understood it you can have it uncased until you are in towns of a certain population number. We road hunt grouse sometimes and keep the guns right next to us in the truck. Always safe about it.

entirely depends on what state you’re in. I’d look at the regs for whatever state you’re hunting in, its pretty easy to look up. Here are the MN regs

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   MNDNR-Hunting-Regs.png
   

If you get lost and need a ride you do what you have to do. In my case as a good faith gesture I broke down my shotgun so it couldn’t possibly be a threat to my rescuer. That was a looong time ago. I dont support the recent MN law about uncased guns in vehicle during hunting. I cant understand why they thought that law change was needed.

suzuki wrote:

I cant understand why they thought that law change was needed.

just remember, every law out there is the result of some idiot’s actions that ruined it for the rest of us.

When we bird hunted and we walked miles to the advanced parked vehicle, we always had another case in that vehicle… plus I carried one of those flour sack cases in my vest, just in case ! Pun intended.

I look daily at our local sheriffs in custody list and for the first time today they had a Hunting-illegal transportation of firearm in there. He has about a half dozen other charges but that’s the first firearm with hunting directly mention in it.

suzuki wrote:

I dont support the recent MN law about uncased guns in vehicle during hunting. I cant understand why they thought that law change was needed.

Just curious why.

crawdaddy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I dont support the recent MN law about uncased guns in vehicle during hunting. I cant understand why they thought that law change was needed.

Just curious why.

I just dont see any reason to change from having your guns cased while transporting. Theoretically as long as its unloaded it is the same thing but I am perplexed who thought that law needed to be changed. Just strange to me but I am not vehemently against it.

Got it, thanks. I have always cased. Now that I know this law I’ll just keep an empty gun in the truck if out in the country and spots are close to each other. I’ll leave it cased for long drives.