Unexpected visitor downrange

I've seen deer, wild turkeys, rabbits, and a fox out on the rifle lane before. Complacent critters...

My gun club is the same way. I see deer on the ranges most every trip.

There's local cows that wonder onto my club's range. Its always funny. Deer too..

Used to be a family of groundhogs that dug in the berm of my local range. Used to be. They, one by one, met untimely ends.

Well....that could make opening day easier for you!!

At Camp Pendleton I've heard of illegal aliens running out from behind targets when the shooting started.

I've seen deer and turkey walking on top of the backstop berm, from one side of the range to the other. And it's only 100 yards from the line to the berm.
The worst was when we watched 3 apparently clueless hunters who also walked on top of the backstop berm.....while the range was hot.

Several years ago we had a deer walk across our dove field during an active shoot. This was at a hunting club out in the boonies of Alabama so those deer were not at all tame. To this day I have no idea why that happened but there were 12-15 guys standing there watching her walk across a peanut field where we had been shooting for a couple of hours.

Twice this week I've been on the 300 yard range at my club...and had a pair of deer wander out to feed between me and the target!!!

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Just wait until opening day for firearms season. I swear deer can read hunting regulations.

My club range is on a game preserve so we see wildlife everywhere.

BSA1 said:

Just wait until opening day for firearms season. I swear deer can read hunting regulations.

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I 100% agree!!!

There is a cottontail on our rifle range. I hear there was a woodchuck!

There is a cowboy action match in Oklahoma that is held at Woolarock, the former home of Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum. The estate is home to a lot of game species, domestic and exotics. During the long range side match, shooting at 300 yard metal targets with buffalo guns, a herd of buffalo wandered among the targets. Gave some unexpected realism to the match for sure!! They continued to graze as the steel clanged around them.

Ft. Ord, Monterey CA in 1967 we had deer frequently wonder onto the firing range in basic, even while shooting M-14's.

Word from the range instructor Sgt. was, if a deer was injured, "you will be in a world of hurt".

Nothing new here animals become accustomed to their environment.

We sometimes have rabbits go onto the range and use the shade from the targets themselves small as they may be whIle people are shooting even at the 10 or 25 yrds line. At that point the range officer will go on the PA and announce"DO NOT SHOOT THE RABBIT". He says he doesn't want to clean up the guts and fill out the paperwork.

I was out shooting at our little 100 yard range in the woods. I just loaded a 1911 and fired one shot, hitting a steel target at maybe 15 yards. After the round struck the steel, a fawn walked right out next to the steel target, stopped, looked right at me for maybe 5 seconds, and slowly walked away...all while chewing it's lunch. You would think the sound of a gunshot and a bullet hitting a steel plate would scare it away, but it made it curious enough to walk out and see what was happening.

But yes, a lot of animals get used to their environment. I've been on wildlife preserves and other areas where hunting is not allowed...where the deer have no fear of people at all. If you're eating something they want, they will walk up to you and nudge you until you give them some and also eat right out of your hand. It just happens.

A deer decided to cut through a range while doing familiarization fire on the M2 at tank hulls in Indiana. There wasn't much left of the deer after that. They always say not to shoot at wildlife if it shows up, but its hard to miss with a crew served weapon.

About a year ago I was working up some .223 loads for an AR15 at my local range. A groundhog ventured out from under the backstop on the 100 yd. bunker.

The range rules are explicit in requiring that all targets be affixed to the fiberboard target backers that hang in front of the bunkers. I was alone on the range at the time. It took all the willpower at my disposal to not align the crosshairs on that critter.

He sat there unfazed as I launched a 5 shot group within 12" over his head.

Having not seen it since, my suspicions are that someone with less willpower than I might have been in a similar position shortly thereafter.

They always say not to shoot at wildlife if it shows up, but its hard to miss with a crew served weapon.

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A shooter here reported seeing a deer crossing the range in front of his outfit at Ft Benning.
In spite of the call to hold fire, everybody opened up on the deer.
After the fact they got chewed out twice.
Once for shooting at wildlife on a square range.
Again for missing.

I filled my RI turkey tag this spring right on our rifle range. I hooted just before sun up near the gate, he sounded off from his roost in the woods to the left of the range so I set up on the right side. He took a nice detour but I kept him interested and he circled right around to my decoy. This was a couple weeks into the season but I'd been hunting out of state until then.

At Camp Pendleton I've heard of illegal aliens running out from behind targets when the shooting started.

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[PCpolice] Shame on you for calling those unfortunate people "illegal aliens". The preferred nomenclature is "paperless reactive targets".[/PCpolice]

There is hardly a year the I have attended the black powder cartridge, vintage military and modern military matchs at the club when the range has not had to be called "cold" -- cease fire -- because deer or wild turkeys have decided to wander across the range between the 150 meter turkeys and the 200 meter rams sillhouettes.

Most of us seem to welcome the chance to take breather and watch the wildlife through our spotters. Shooting them would get you drummed out of the club.