Re: No hunting rule at the rifle range
I had to chuckle at all the squirrel episodes, pheasant, deer on berms, moose on berms, and especially at the Warthog holding off from the Strafing practice.
We here in Cental Wyoming, Casper, to be exact, at the Stuckenoff Range, have a different problem.
The Speed Goats (antelope to you Out of Staters) here use the berms to go up OUT of and DOWN into the ranges themselves...DURING ongoing firing!
We had just closed the range to check/change out targets and then returned to the firing line.
I got comfy behind my rifle, readying for a new series at the 200yd target (proofing my new Hornet) and looked through the scope at the target.
I was concentrating on the X of the bull, but had a really weird feeling that something wasn't right with the target.
I looked a little closer at the target: nope, wasn't cockeyed, nice and level. Target holder post was tight, no swaying....and THEN it hit me.....my target had grown 4 LEGS!!!!
I looked more closely and realized it was a Speed Goat.
Pulling the live round out of the chamber and tabling it, I stood up and turned to the Range Master, crossing my arms above my head: the signal for Cease Fire.
He looked at me and heard me yell "Antelope Down Range!" as I pointed to my target.
Everyone was a Local that day, so I could have said Speed Goat, but we use Antelope just in case we have guests from Out of State who aren't used to the terminology.
Everyone quit firing immediately, pulling live ammo out of their weapons and looking for where the Goat was at.
Someone much younger than myself had to (as usual) go down and actually shoo the Pronghorn off the range, as he was not willing to go of his own accord (they usually don't).
This has happened to nearly EVERYONE who attends the range on a regular basis: the Goats have plenty of fodder, no one hunts them, and they consider the firing of weapons as a sign they are safe, rather than in danger.
We too have a no hunting rule: one because it's a Family Oriented Club and two, because we're technically inside city limits; hunting within city limits is forbidden.
I swear the Speed Goats know PRECISELY where the city limit signs are and what they say too!
Anywho, had to throw this in.....and one last thing.....to the few who would actually blow up critters on the range: two points for your consideration;
1. If you don't like Range Rules, don't shoot there and don't belong to the Shooting Club.
2. If your lives are so empty, negative, sad, and humorless enough that you have to blow the crap out of unsuspecting critters which are not afraid of humans through association, then you're probably the type of people who'd hunt in a Zoo, or actually have a rancher tether an animal to a stake so you could walk up and execute it.
Ah yes, bold hunters indeed!
Have you NEVER heard the term "Sportsman," or of men like Ben Pearson, Howard Hill, or more modern persons such as Mike Eastman,or Jim Zumbo?
Ethics people, NOT emotions are what make a quality shooter and hunter....any goof with an index finger can blow things up.....our goal is to be MUCH better than mere dweebs amidst the bushes.
Cheers from Wyoming.
