Owen Sparks
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I visited a state park that borders a hunting club. There was a big sign in front of the nature trail warning people not to walk there during deer season.
Shooting in the woods accidents
- Thread starter 7.62mm.ak47
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pockets
Member
Which reminds me of the absolute most idiotic thing I have personally seen a hunter do.
A couple years ago during deer season, I was at the local state park shooting range. It is quite a decent size range, well marked, has separate areas all well defined; a shotgun area, a rifle range, and a pistol range.
I had just arrived and was saying howdy to the full-time Range Officer. Then the shooters on the firing line start yelling downrange. We all looked at the backstop/berm. There were two hunters just meandering across the top of the backstop at 100 yards, from one side of the rifle range to the other....just as stupid as stupid can be......
I mean there were people shooting downrange when these two Einsteins decided to stroll across the range....as if deer were hiding out behind the backstop?
I am not sure what they were thinking or not thinking.
Luckily for them, the rest of us were looking out for their welfare that day. Morons.
.
Daveboone
Member
I remember well being taught in hunter safety class (35 years ago) a rifle is never to be discharged over open water...frozen included. Open refering to any lake, river, pond, etc. There is no telling how far a round will richochet. A friend and I were shooting his .45 carbine on private land, backstopped. a week later we returned hunting. When we returned to our vehicle a local LEO was waiting for us. It turns out the previous week a richochet from our shooting hit a house 3/4 of a mile away. Luckily for us (and everyone else) no one was hurt, we denied shooting there, and didnt have the weapon with us..end of story EXCEPT- never again will I target shoot unless at a range. There is too much bad publicity from trash shooters, and no real call for it.
Usually a club membership can be found very inexpenssively (starts around 35.00 a year around here), and much more productive range time can be spent.
Usually a club membership can be found very inexpenssively (starts around 35.00 a year around here), and much more productive range time can be spent.
Our local range at Tremont, IL caught some flak not so long ago from an escaped round.
Despite it being marked EVERYWHERE that there is no shooting of anything except paper targets in front of a backstop, some idiots kept bringing stuff and setting on the ground well in front of the backstop (the worst of these was a bowling ball, that person was subsequently and very permanently banned from the range).
Anywho, on the other side of our rifle range backstop is some big fields, and the Mackinaw river. One of the local fishermen leaves a plastic white seat out there all the time (he must like that spot).
Comes out one day to find a bullet hole square in the middle of the back of the seat. Rifle round. 30 cal.
Someone overshot the backstop, or skipped a round off the ground, up and over.
If he'd been sitting there, he'd be dead. The hole was right where his heart would be if he were fishing.
So, yeah. Backstops matter when target shooting. So does rule #4.
Despite it being marked EVERYWHERE that there is no shooting of anything except paper targets in front of a backstop, some idiots kept bringing stuff and setting on the ground well in front of the backstop (the worst of these was a bowling ball, that person was subsequently and very permanently banned from the range).
Anywho, on the other side of our rifle range backstop is some big fields, and the Mackinaw river. One of the local fishermen leaves a plastic white seat out there all the time (he must like that spot).
Comes out one day to find a bullet hole square in the middle of the back of the seat. Rifle round. 30 cal.
Someone overshot the backstop, or skipped a round off the ground, up and over.
If he'd been sitting there, he'd be dead. The hole was right where his heart would be if he were fishing.
So, yeah. Backstops matter when target shooting. So does rule #4.
Shooting at any target (paper, tin can or animal) without being sure of what exists behind it within the range of that firearm is asking for heartache, sooner or later. Target shooting on state land during hunting season anywhere is not wise, is it ?
xfyrfiter
Member
I have been shot at while in camp while deer hunting, I no longer hunt big game because of this type of idiot.
12gaugeTim
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I've had my fair share of #8/7.5 shot. Usually raining on me but all too often stinging on my back and chest bit luckily never my eye. This cannot compare to a rifle at all. A child once dropped dead at a water park near me from a stray .22 to the head.
I was hit in the leg with a burning tracer round that I fired out of an SKS. Happened about ten years ago. I was shooting 150 grain .308" tracers (reloads). They were a bit heavy and small for the barrel size/twist I was shooting them out of, so they didn't stabilize well, but since they weren't loaded to be match target ammo I didn't think anything of it. I mostly just used them to shoot just to see the tracer effect. Well one day I was at a friend's range and we were firing into wet phone books from 50 yards away to compare the power of various calibers and I wanted to see what a spent tracer bullet looked like. When I fired the bullet "keyholed" into the phone book stack and blew up out of the top of it and flew straight up in the air. A few seconds later, while I was still crouched down, it landed right on top of my leg. All it did was leave a welt, but talk about weird and unexpected. The bullet DID set the leaves on fire that were next to me. I pulled the bullets from the rest of that ammo and I don't mess with .308" in a .310" barrel anymore.
So it goes to show, you have to expect the unexpected and consider everything when it comes to knowing where that bullet will end up when you fire it.
So it goes to show, you have to expect the unexpected and consider everything when it comes to knowing where that bullet will end up when you fire it.
shiftyer1
Member
My last home was backed by a field and the property line was the only tree line around. The doves just loved this but the dove hunters didn't pay much attention to the direction they were shooting which resulted in my kids and I getting "rained on" pretty often until I had enough. There was also a child shot off of a trampoline nearby a few years ago. The neighbor across the field was plinking with his 22. Sadly the child didn't make it.
The odds of anything happening is probably pretty low BUT it does happen and i'd hate for it to be me firing the shot. I've been considering getting a truckload of sand for a backstop at home.
The bullet spinning on ice sounds far fetched to me, i'd have to see it to believe it.
The odds of anything happening is probably pretty low BUT it does happen and i'd hate for it to be me firing the shot. I've been considering getting a truckload of sand for a backstop at home.
The bullet spinning on ice sounds far fetched to me, i'd have to see it to believe it.
gathert
Member
Here ya go. its the video that started the whole bullet spinning thing. Not the safest or brightest guys it seems, but they prove their point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZlciP6gUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZlciP6gUQ
shiftyer1
Member
Thats pretty cool I stand corrected.
I stand corrected.jmstevens2
Member
Sept 24 to Feb 5 actually for bow in Ohio. Deer season for gun is shorter, but there are several kinds at different times during that period.
If you are in the woods without Orange during amateur week you would be very foolish.
A friend and I were shooting 9mm into an old fiberglass basketball goal in the woods. He had a ricochet that went straight up and came down onto his left shoulder. It resulted in what he described as someone thumping him with a fingertip. No damage but both of us left with a healthy respect for ricochets.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
No doubt the burden of assured safety is on the person who potentially may be shot, but usually the liability is on the shooter and the shooters don't always take safety to heart. Every year, there are a couple hundred people who get shot by hunters, sometimes themselves, sometimes other hunters, and sometimes other people who aren't hunting and occasionally it is people who are even on their own property or even inside their own homes. It can be hard to defend against idiots.
A few years back, there was the lady killed (mistaken for a bear) on the Sauk Mountain hiking trail. She was killed by a hunter who was hiking the exact same trail ahead of her. The trail is a popular and well travelled trail and she was shot close to the trail's starting point. http://www.wta.org/trail-news/signpost/hiker-killed-by-hunter-on-sauk-mountain
This Marine Reservist was killed this year while hiking with a buddy. He too was thought to have been a bear. The hunter has been indicted. http://www.kval.com/news/local/133927573.html
While it may not be prudent for hikers to be out during hiking season, ironically there are hunters who hunt hiking trails where people and horse riders are known to be.
http://www.northernnews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2169991&archive=true
This guy got off because his rights were violated when he was arrested.
Some of the mistaken shots are pretty outlandish...
This guy mistook a white horse with a 12 year old rider on it for a deer. He got probation and a fine for shooting the horse. http://brainerddispatch.com/stories/112202/sne_1122020004.shtml
Another horse shot, across property lines...
http://www.wfxg.com/story/16150190/rider-devastated-after-beloved-horse-shot-by-hunter
Pet donkey on own property shot and killed as a buck...
http://spencerangeltvedt.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/pet-donkey-killed-by-hunter/
Karen Wood was shot in her own back yard and locals blamed her for getting shot.
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2008-01/interact/10things/karenwood/all
The hunter was indicted, but found not guilty of manslaughter. He had fired 2 shots, one supposedly at a deer and thinking he missed, fired a second shot at the flash of the deer's tail that turned out to be Wood's white gloved hands. http://bangordailynews.com/2008/11/...hots-rang-out-forever-alteringlives-and-laws/
But heck, it isn't even being out hiking or outside on your own property where folks aren't safe from idiot hunters. Some aren't even safe inside their own homes.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2276018/posts
This guy didn't hurt anyone, but shoot a home across a highway while deer hunter.
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/police-say-hunter-shot-warsaw-home
You do bring up an interesting conundrum. If it isn't prudent to hike where people are known to hunt, how do you hike to your hunting spot to hunt?
EmbarkChief
Member
In my experience there are a siginificant number of people out there who have no idea about ricochet's and how bullets react after hitting a hard object. Case in point:
My best friends wife wanted to shoot my AR-15, so we went down to the river (private property) for some target practice. This location has a high bank on the opposite side (30' at least) which provides a good backstop. I throw a few sticks out there for targets and she gets to work. Well, she keeps shooting way below the target and I keep telling her to shoot higher but she says "I can see the bullets hitting the bank on the other side so I must be too high". That's when I explain the rounds are bouncing off the water and hitting the bank. She doesn't believe me so to prove my point I loaded up a couple of tracers and shot the water. That cleared things up real quick. She had no idea that rounds could bounce and change direction like that... BTW, she was a police officer in a major city at the time.
My best friends wife wanted to shoot my AR-15, so we went down to the river (private property) for some target practice. This location has a high bank on the opposite side (30' at least) which provides a good backstop. I throw a few sticks out there for targets and she gets to work. Well, she keeps shooting way below the target and I keep telling her to shoot higher but she says "I can see the bullets hitting the bank on the other side so I must be too high". That's when I explain the rounds are bouncing off the water and hitting the bank. She doesn't believe me so to prove my point I loaded up a couple of tracers and shot the water. That cleared things up real quick. She had no idea that rounds could bounce and change direction like that... BTW, she was a police officer in a major city at the time.
mgmorden
Member
Ricochets vary in potential harm. Its not much of a problem with a pistol. Dirt stops them pretty good, and most stuff that will bounce them back (ie, steel plates) fragments them and they lose velocity fast. I've been struck plenty of times from splatter/ricochets off steel plates from 20-30 yards away, and it doesn't feel like more than a gentle thump (excellent proof on why you should wear eye protection though).
Shotguns also lose energy fast if you're talking pellets. If you've ever hunted a crowded river during duck season you've almost certainly had some steel shot rain back down on you. Doesn't even hurt.
The problem comes in from bigger stuff like rifles, and moreso glancing hits that merely deflect the bullet a bit rather than a true ricochet. I know one person who was hit by a 00 buckshot from nearly over 100 yards away as it skipped off of a highway. It did penetrate the skin and he had to be hospitalized, but that was mostly just to pull it back out - it was just a flesh wound.
Shotguns also lose energy fast if you're talking pellets. If you've ever hunted a crowded river during duck season you've almost certainly had some steel shot rain back down on you. Doesn't even hurt.
The problem comes in from bigger stuff like rifles, and moreso glancing hits that merely deflect the bullet a bit rather than a true ricochet. I know one person who was hit by a 00 buckshot from nearly over 100 yards away as it skipped off of a highway. It did penetrate the skin and he had to be hospitalized, but that was mostly just to pull it back out - it was just a flesh wound.
I had a vacation in Colorado this summer. In the vacation house was a guide to climbing all the peaks. In the writeup for one mountain, it said flatly, don't hike this mountain during hunting season because in the past there had been as many as 200 hunters on it at one time.
JustinJ
Member
My aunt got peppered while dove hunting. Some pellets actually penetrated the skin of her leg resulting in a horrid infection that required a powerful antibiotic to knock out.
My father's best friend got nailed in the kidney with bird shot from about 15 yards away. He was starflighted out and was in hospital for a while with organ damage but is luckily okay now. The idiot who shot him was walking back to his car and accidentally managed to pull the trigger as he swept my father's friend.
My father's best friend got nailed in the kidney with bird shot from about 15 yards away. He was starflighted out and was in hospital for a while with organ damage but is luckily okay now. The idiot who shot him was walking back to his car and accidentally managed to pull the trigger as he swept my father's friend.
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