Expert: Robert P. Firriolo - 10/5/2009

Question
i am 17 and am on probation for a class D felony. when i went to court i pleaded guilty as a youthful offender and was sentenced to probation which i will have for the next two years. can i hunt with my dads rifle if i have a hunting license and follow the rules and regulations?

Answer
Anybody on probation should check with his or her probation officer with questions like this since one person's terms of probation are likely to be different from another's.

Next, I assume that you read the instructions and that your question applies to a plea in a New York State court. If a juvenile charged with a crime was given youthful offender status by the court, the conviction must be deemed vacated and replaced by a youthful offender finding. [NYS Criminal Procedure Law sec. 720.20 (3)]. A youthful offender adjudication is not a judgment of conviction for a crime or any other offense, and does not operate as a disqualification of any person so adjudged to hold public office or public employment or to receive any license granted by public authority. [NYS Criminal Procedure Law sec. 720.35 (1)]. Therefore, a youthful offender finding should not make one a prohibited person for purposes of firearm possession.

But that does not mean that somebody could not still have probation terms that prohibit firearms possession. That is, possessing firearm could be a probation violation if one of the offender's terms of probation is that he not possess a firearm.

There are no New York State hunting restrictions specifically related to people on probation, to the best of my knowledge. The state Department of Environmental Conservation can definitively answer that aspect of your question.