Hunting and shooting in Indiana and Ohio

[El Chivo]

Well, I may go back home to be closer to family. They're all in Cincinnati, but Indiana would be close enough, and might have more employment opportunities for me.

About the latter, Evansville seemed to have a lot of places I could work, Indianapolis also. Northern Kentucky is also a possibility. I'm from Cincinnati but have a rooted bias to be elsewhere; however all these area are accessible for a weekend drive.

How hard is it to find a shooting range? Pesky rules? Hunting grounds? Stuff like that.

[AJMD429]

I have lived in both Indiana and Ohio, and Indiana is one of the BEST places in the U.S. for 'gun' stuff...

Both states have lots of whitetail and coyotes and rabbits and ducks. Both have lots of public shooting areas as far as I know.

Ohio left me with the impression that they still regarded gun ownership as a 'privilege' granted by the government, and the ownership of 'EBR' stuff was when I was there something no normal gun owner would consider (1970's). Pharmacists were forbidden to have firearms in their stores (one I knew gave a cop a stock bottle of Dilaudid after a robbery as 'evidence' just because that cop knew he kept a handgun in the store and threatened to turn him in). They have since then enacted CCW, but have a whole host of 'cannot carry' exceptions as I understand it. Ohio cops I have met uniformly felt that an ordinary citizen should NOT CCW, and that ordinary citizens should NOT have EBR stuff.

Indiana is mostly different, though in Indianapolis and Gary and Evansville and Bloomington, the official policy seems to be to treat CCW-holders or EBR-owners as 'suspicious' until proven otherwise. The rest of the state is more normal. Where I live (south-central) it is not unusual to hear full-auto or 3-shot burst firing out in rural areas if you're outside in the evening. Indiana was the state Florida modeled it's famous "shall issue" law after, and they got all the glory.

In Indiana I generally try to be discreet if carrying 'concealed', but don't worry about if the gun is 'spotted' by someone. In Ohio when I lived there, even working night-shifts and walking home through unlit ghetto streets, CCW was illegal. Nowdays from what I've heard you could carry, but you wouldn't want to attract the attention of anyone, lest you have an unfriendly encounter with some hot-shot cop who feels your CCW is an illegitimate intrusion on rights only cops should have.

If you move out this way, you won't be disappointed in the 'gun culture', even if there aren't any mountains...

[Indy]

I live in the Evansville area, and CCW is accepted. You can open carry or carry concealed. I avoid open carry, because if you have any confrontation with a person, and he phones law enforcement you pointed the firearm at him, the Leo will act on the side of caution. He will most likely arrest you and charge you with pointing a firearm at a person. Pointing a firearm is a felony in Indiana without just cause.
A handgun permit can be granted after entering information online, and then being fingerprinted at a law enforcement location. You can obtain a four year permit or for a little more money a lifetime permit. The process is taking from six to nine months.
If you decide to move to Indiana let me be one of the first to welcome you.
Indy

[Blaine]

I was stationed at Ft Ben Harrison twice.....superior hunting, and fishing....I'm not sure of the Jefferson Proving Grounds hunting availability these days, but, that was a DANG nice place to hunt whitetail....I can't actually say that you could wait on the deer you wanted, but, I always saw deer, and always took more than one a year depending on the season (archery, BP, Modern) Brown county, down around Columbus, and Camp Atterbery were superior spots for those big, juicy fox squill.....This was back in the 77-83 time frame, but, I would happily give up (dam) black tail deer (in WA) hunting for a squill season like they had in Indiana.....

[AJMD429]

I should add in defense of Ohio that the group [link] Ohioans for Concealed Carry is excellent and largely responsible for the improvements in Ohio law. Indiana has good enough laws that there has been no incentive to create such a group, so all our legislative fighting is impromptu groups forming if-and-when-needed; the problem is sometimes they don't form fast enough, but so far we've not lost much ground.

[J Miller]

OK, so here is a question.
You move to IN with your guns. You need the permits to carry or to take the guns to the range. Handguns anyway. So for the 6 to 9 months it takes the bs paper work to go through, what do you do with the guns? Hide 'em and hope to heaven nobody with a uniform and badge gets wind of them?
Not trying to be sarcastic, although it kind of sounds like it. I only ask cos my wife and I have considered moving to IN.

Joe

[bgmkithaca]

When I got my concealed carry permit in Indiana the time was supposed to be six weeks but mine came through in just under three weeks. That has been a while-don't know the current wait.