An Oregon homeowner said duck season had turned into a yearly problem because hunters near the river were firing in a direction that left shotgun pellets raining onto the house.
According to the Reddit post, the homeowner lived on a hill near a section of river with several houses nearby. The poster said the home had been sprayed with pellets more than once, and they believed other homes in the same area had probably been hit too.
The homeowner was careful to explain that they were not against hunting. Their problem was with the direction of the shooting and the fact that pellets were reaching a home where two toddlers lived.
They described the issue in a Reddit thread and asked how they could get that section of river posted as no hunting: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/5hkksd/duck_hunters_are_spraying_my_house_with_shotgun/
The problem had been going on for years
This was not presented as a one-time bad shot.
The poster said the situation had happened on three separate occasions over three years. They believed the hunters were either farmers on the opposite side of the river or friends of those farmers.
The homeowner had already called police in the past, but said the same issue seemed to come back every season. That made the post feel less like a single complaint and more like a neighborhood safety concern that nobody had permanently fixed.
The poster later added that when the game warden had gone out there before, the problem mostly stopped for a while. That detail shaped a lot of the advice. Commenters saw the warden as one of the few people who might actually get the hunters’ attention.
The homeowner said the pellets were hitting at low velocity
The poster did not claim the house was being blasted with a direct shotgun load at close range.
They said the pellets were hitting the house at low velocity and that they had not seen obvious damage. Still, they were not comfortable with the idea of pellets landing around the home.
Their biggest concern was the children.
The homeowner said they had two toddlers who liked to play outside. Even if the pellets were falling with less force, the poster was not willing to gamble on what could happen if one hit a child in the eye.
That concern was one of the most relatable parts of the thread. The argument was not that every pellet was deadly. It was that responsible hunters should not be firing in a way that sends shot toward someone’s home.
Commenters argued over how dangerous the pellets were
Some commenters tried to reassure the homeowner that birdshot loses energy quickly and may not be dangerous by the time it falls back down.
Others pushed back hard on that. They said the danger level was not the only issue. Even if the shot was not likely to seriously injure someone, pellets hitting a house still showed that somebody was shooting in a careless direction.
One commenter said that if someone is firing close enough to hit the house, the homeowner should call emergency services every time. Another said it was still enough to chip paint or glass, and that an eye injury was a real concern.
That split made the thread interesting. Some people focused on ballistics. Others focused on the basic rule that you should know where your shot is going before you pull the trigger.
The road and river made the legal question messier
The layout mattered.
The poster said the river was across a state highway and wetland, with the waterline roughly a few hundred yards away at first, though they later clarified it may have been closer to 300 feet.
That led commenters to dig into possible Oregon hunting rules.
One commenter pointed to Oregon game bird regulations and said a person cannot shoot from or across a public road, posted safety zone, or railroad right-of-way. The poster replied that they had suspected the highway might matter because it was a busy road.
Other commenters brought up the possibility of local rules about firing near dwellings. The details depended on location, zoning, and exactly where the hunters were standing, but most people agreed the homeowner needed someone local and official to look at the situation.
The game warden kept coming up
A lot of commenters told the homeowner to contact the game warden or Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
That advice made sense because this was not just a neighbor being annoyed by hunting noise. The complaint involved hunting activity, shot reaching a residence, a possible public-road issue, and repeated seasonal behavior.
The homeowner said the game warden had helped before. That made the next step pretty obvious: call again, and keep calling whenever the problem comes back.
Several commenters also suggested taking pictures, gathering evidence, and getting neighbors involved. One person said a single homeowner complaining might not get far, but several neighbors documenting the same issue could carry more weight.
Documentation became part of the strategy
Commenters told the homeowner to take photos of any damage and collect evidence if possible.
That could include pellets found around the house, marks on siding, chipped windows, or anything else showing the shot was actually reaching the property. Some suggested cameras if the neighbors were willing to help.
The reason was simple. “Hunters are shooting near my house” can sound vague. “Here are photos of pellets or damage, and this has happened on these dates” is much harder to brush off.
For a problem that had already repeated across multiple seasons, documentation would also show a pattern. That matters when authorities are deciding whether this is an isolated mistake or a recurring safety issue.
The homeowner wanted the area closed to hunting
The poster’s larger goal was to get the section of river facing the homes closed to hunting.
That is a bigger ask than telling one careless hunter to move. It would likely involve local government, wildlife officials, or whatever agency controls that section of river and its hunting access.
Commenters did not treat that as impossible, but they did suggest it would probably require more than a Reddit post and one phone call.
The homeowner would need to show why that particular section was unsafe, especially if hunting was otherwise legal there. Evidence from multiple homes, repeated reports, and prior game warden involvement could all help.
Some commenters warned about hunter harassment laws
One commenter raised a point that landowners and neighbors sometimes miss: many states have hunter harassment laws.
That does not mean a homeowner has to sit quietly while pellets hit the house. It does mean the homeowner should be careful about trying to scare off legal hunters without going through proper channels.
That warning was not the main theme of the thread, but it was useful. The safer path was not to go yell at people across the river or try to ruin their hunt personally. It was to report the issue through police, Fish and Wildlife, the game warden, or local government.
That protects the homeowner too. If the hunters are violating the law, authorities can handle it. If they are technically legal but creating a safety problem, the record still helps make the case for a local change.
The thread was not anti-hunting
The homeowner repeatedly made clear that they were not against hunting. They said they had done their share of duck hunting before.
That mattered because the complaint was not about hearing gunshots in the country or disliking hunters. It was about pellets reaching a home with small children inside.
Most hunters would understand that line. You do not shoot toward houses. You do not shrug off shot landing near kids. And if a game warden has to come out more than once, the setup probably needs to change.
For this homeowner, the issue was not duck hunting itself. It was bad judgment in a place where the homes, river, road, and shooting direction were all too close for comfort.
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