Shooting alone in the desert, woods, wherever.

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Cfish said:
A murder of two Florida hunters
Although the piney woods surrounding Alvin Warren's house are teeming with deer these days, he and many other hunters in this remote region near the Georgia border are staying away. Two hunters were found shot to death in the area last month, and the police believe that the same person is responsible for both killings.
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I wonder if they ever caught that fella (or fellas) that was hunting hunters back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was in a couple-three states in the middle of the country - more or less.

Todd.
 
Cfish said:
A murder of two Florida hunters--edited-----


"If anyone approached my stand, I used to let them come under and go on," Mr. Warren said. "Now I stop them at about a hundred yards. I tell them, 'Don't come no closer, I've got my cross hairs on you.' "
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This scares me more than a possible serial killer of hunters. Killer on the loose or not I would never put my rifle scope on somebody at 100 yards unless I saw them raising their rifle in my direction. A fellow hunter "still" hunting which is walking/stalking hunting, coming my way, I would make sure he/she knew of my position and ask them to steer clear and their intentions but aiming at someone is just not right. Especially at one hundred yards out when the victims were killed at close range with a shotgun.

But the gist of this thread is to be aware and yeah, be aware, very aware. And there is good reason.
 
The one thing that I agree on that's in the article, don't wear a safety vest when hunting. I would imagine that with the reflective tape on it, you're probably lit up very well.

With some psycho out there shooting hunters, why give them an extra advantage against you! Maybe when you're leaving but not walking in or while sitting up in a tree.

And using a shotgun, he had to see them some how. Just the fact that he got that close is bad enough. I'm sure the guys that got shot didn't want to shoot another hunter and let their guard down. Now hunters could be walking into a war zone with no one trusting each other.

Definitely be safe if you live in the area!
 
Most states require you wear the orange vest while gun hunting. In Ohio its against the law not to wear one. Other problem is while most folks don't like running into other hunters, you generally try to be friendly if passing by chance or on a trail. The victims could have thought it was just another hunter passing through and not even remotely had their guard up, start making small talk and end up shot.

This thread hits home pretty hard for me, because I work in similar conditions. There's a lot of times when I'm doing farm repairs that I'm alone, wearing hearing protection, and can't hear people approach. The welding helmet makes it even worse as I can't see anything either. I always carry but that only helps when you see them coming. I've been caught off guard twice and it scared me pretty good, but nothing bad happened so far.
 
A friend and I passed Cary Stayner on a remote trail in Bell Meadows above Sonora days before he was arrested and publicly identified. I took the paper to my buddies cabin and showed him the picture before he could read the headline (he turned pale). You never know, and yes he gave off a predator vibe, I was glad I was open carrying a Glock 22.
 
Like others I gain no pleasure from shooting alone.

My favorite is spending time with the grandkids or fellow club members discussing intricacies of target shooting or really anything. Shooting is a social sport. If you shoot alone, what do you really gain?
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
Like others I gain no pleasure from shooting alone.

My favorite is spending time with the grandkids or fellow club members discussing intricacies of target shooting or really anything. Shooting is a social sport. If you shoot alone, what do you really gain?
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It's a great turn of events for me that when we have our shootapaloozas in the desert, I spend more time with my older friends smoking cigars, drinking beer and eating sammiches while watching the youngers shoot - than I spend shooting myself.

Todd.
 
mmb617 said:
It's not a social sport to me. I shoot alone most of the time and really enjoy my time at the range. Same way I enjoy time spent reloading alone.

Maybe I'm just anti-social as there are lots of things I enjoy doing alone.
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That was my original point in starting the thread; that from time to time I need to pop out for professional reasons (rather than social) and end up alone due to scheduling issues with family and friends.

Not long to confirm performance of a particular range or even a quick cycle-check that I don't want to do indoors at the shop.

Todd.
 
What do I gain from shooting alone?? The most obvious is, I get to shoot. If I only shot when I had company, I wouldn't get to shoot much. One of my favorite shooting buddies has a pesky job that actually requires him to work, so he can't join me at the range. When I'm experimenting with load development and recording data, I prefer being alone to aid focus. I often take more than one rifle and it requires some degree of concentration, which I personally prefer doing alone. I enjoy it. I can stay at the range as long as I want. Sometimes, my working buddy does get to the range with me and we have a great time. He's better at some things than I am and we learn from each other. The family that I can shoot with are hours drive away or otherwise occupied. Not a realistic option. I have no children or grandchildren to teach.
And hunting alone? I would rarely get to hunt at all if I had to have companionship. And during these very disturbing times in our society, spending time alone in the woods helps me retain some of my sanity. I crave that time.
 
Sniper66 said:
What do I gain from shooting alone?? The most obvious is, I get to shoot. If I only shot when I had company, I wouldn't get to shoot much. One of my favorite shooting buddies has a pesky job that actually requires him to work, so he can't join me at the range. When I'm experimenting with load development and recording data, I prefer being alone to aid focus. I often take more than one rifle and it requires some degree of concentration, which I personally prefer doing alone. I enjoy it. I can stay at the range as long as I want. Sometimes, my working buddy does get to the range with me and we have a great time. He's better at some things than I am and we learn from each other. The family that I can shoot with are hours drive away or otherwise occupied. Not a realistic option. I have no children or grandchildren to teach.
And hunting alone? I would rarely get to hunt at all if I had to have companionship. And during these very disturbing times in our society, spending time alone in the woods helps me retain some of my sanity. I crave that time.
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I truly do enjoy shooting alone. It simply has become too dangerous around Maricopa county to do so anymore.

Todd.
 
I am a loner, I do not need company and often prefer not to have company. I am not going to let the possibility I might run into bad guys keep me from doing the things I do. But I will keep my head on a swivel and be prepared as much as possible for such a thing. But it will not stop me.
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
Like others I gain no pleasure from shooting alone.

My favorite is spending time with the grandkids or fellow club members discussing intricacies of target shooting or really anything. Shooting is a social sport. If you shoot alone, what do you really gain?
Click to expand...
I enjoy both. Shooting with my niece over the holidays was great and I really didn't shoot that much. But I also like to take my guns out and work on my own shooting or test a new accessory.
 
Shooting with family or friends can be a lot of fun. Most times it turns into some informal competition with a lot of formal crap-talking. If that's my goal for the day, then yeah...time with people I care about is mostly precious.
If I'm testing loads or gun function, then I approach it more like work. Alone, undistracted. Do what I need done and go home.
 
I also shoot alone. I move around a lot so making and keeping friends is kind of hard. I guess I have become used to doing things on my own. My wife isn't interested in shooting and other family members don't care to go out with me since I moved back to CA so I go alone or I go to a range where others are shooting.
When I lived in Oregon, Northern California and North Carolina I was on my own nearly every time I went shooting. I was always armed, kept alert and didn't dally when my shooting was done.
 
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Living in southern California, I've done a lot of shooting in the desert. Family and work has made that less accessible over the years, but I always enjoyed the solitude even though I get the social aspect of shooting being enjoyable too. Most all of it involved overnight camping though so if ambush was ever really a concern, the odds are it would've happened when I was most vulnerable, snoring away the night. Then again, everywhere I did this required a little more offroad driving than the average person would be willing to do -- at times depending on season, it required 4wd so that too adds a layer to security (maybe).

Honestly, the bigger danger out there has always been other shooters who either don't respect rule #4 or just don't care. I've nearly been zinged by idiots more than once; guys shooting up a canyon, assuming nobody is beyond where they stopped and such. Stuff like that is more dangerous than the rare chance encounter with someone trying to steal from or murder me. That and the drive to get there. It's all about odds.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
It's a great turn of events for me that when we have our shootapaloozas in the desert, I spend more time with my older friends smoking cigars, drinking beer and eating sammiches while watching the youngers shoot - than I spend shooting myself.

Todd.
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Usually when I'm with family shooting I'm too so don't shoot much either. Teaching others is very satisfying in and of itself. The first-time my 11 yo grandson went to the new range, 300 meters, he asked if I could shoot that far, I took 3 shots at a steep plate and hit all 3. Then when going out to change targets, had him walk the 300 meters to check the plate out. About half way there he asked how far a mile was.
 
Show him some of the videos of people shooting at 1000 yards and 1 mile! Bet his eyes will be wide open when he sees them hit the targets.
 
I can't seem to leave this subject alone. It is especially sad to read that people have given up walking in nature because of the danger of harm from other humans. Please rethink those decisions! Is it as dangerous as you fear? I'm sure you have thought this out, so cannot suggest otherwise. But, if it is that dangerous and arming yourself is not a viable option, do yourself a great favor and look around for another place to go. Look hard and be willing to drive some distance. Being out in nature has been a lifesaver for me and I hate to see people set that side to feel safe.
 
What I'm talking about is being way out, not in a place that's well traveled.

Hiking around mountain passes near cities is one thing but when you're out in the middle of nowhere... things are just different. Just like the people that live around these areas. Most of which don't care for strangers.
 
I frequently shoot alone on BLM land but try to park in such a way as to be shooting from the rear of the truck and I frequently change mags or reload while looking at the area between my favorite spot and the road. Situational awareness is so important.

A few years ago I was with a buddy, both of us with machine guns, and while loading mags a car drove up our road and parked very close to the front of my truck. Three guys got out and started just walking around, no guns visible. We didn't have a good feeling about these guys. My buddy look at me and said "Let's rock n roll." We both picked up our subguns and started shooting together, making quite a racket. We turned to look at the three guys and noted they were all getting into their car which pretty quickly headed out. Never saw them before or after.
 
Around these parts there are Hispanic desert scavengers that visit the public shooting areas looking for discarded things, brass, etc. They are generally very friendly and keep to themselves and its a little hobby unto itself for them I guess.

But I’ve heard and seen some “bad hombres” for sure who aren’t after peaceful scavenging and might just as well cut your head off and tape it to a tortoise (this is a real thing they do). It’s a shame it’s that way and you just never know.
 
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