Pigeon Hunting Now Allowed Within Phoenix City Limits. Yee-Ha

With some 1.4 million people, Phoenix is the sixth biggest city in the country -- so it only makes (gulp) sense that hunting pigeons within city limits is totally legal.The Arizona Game and Fish Department recently released its 2011-12 Arizona Dove and Band-tailed Pigeon regulations, and has opened up about...

By James King

July 29, 2011

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With some 1.4 million people, Phoenix is the sixth biggest city in the country -- so it only makes (gulp) sense that hunting pigeons within city limits is totally legal.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department recently released its 2011-12 Arizona Dove and Band-tailed Pigeon regulations, and has opened up about a million acres of land for hunting -- all in municipal areas around the state.

According to the new rules, hunters can bag up to 10 birds a day, and can now hunt until sunset statewide.

Don't expect to be walking near Phoenix City Hall and see hunters blasting away at pigeons -- AGFD has limited municipal pigeon hunting to mainly uninhabitable areas of the city. Click here for a map of where you can and can't hunt pigeons in Phoenix. And state laws regarding where you can discharge still apply, such as the following:

A.R.S. § 17-309 (a)(4) It is unlawful for a person to:

"Discharge a firearm while taking wildlife within one-fourth mile of an occupied farmhouse or other residence, cabin, lodge or building without permission of the owner or resident."
A.R.S. § 17-301(b):
"...No person may knowingly discharge any firearm or shoot any other device upon, from, across or into a road or railway."
A.R.S. § 17-304 provides provisions for private landowners ensuring:
A person may not trespass on private property for taking wildlife if that property is posted 'no hunting' or if a person is asked to leave by the owner.

For more info on Phoenix's new municipal pigeon hunting rules click here.

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