You know it's deer season when...

[rdinak]

At the range last weekend doing load development and practicing for deer season. I am shooting a GAP .308, son shooting his Longrifles .280AI. I shoot a group that looks like a clover leaf but they were all touching. Son shoots 3 shots into one ragged hole.....and the guy to the right shoots a group like a pie plate and swears it's good. It wasn't a group...it was random pattern. Minute of moose on a good day...then there is an old guy trying to teach his wife how to shoot a Taurus .357 using a cooler and pillow as a rest. The steel plates were safe at 15 yards....

We both went home knowing we could do better and to work on more loads...LOL

Yes I am going deer hunting next week and I am stoked!

 

[DroidSniper]

Shot my first deer Monday at 50 yards with a Remington 870 that is as old as I am. Was hunting on my father in laws land. Throughout the day I heard the Bang, Bang, Bang of idiots missing badly at deer and following up their first bad miss with two even worse ones. Had my deer killed first 30 minutes of the season took one shot. Got him in the neck as he walked towards me dropped dead where he stood. Butchered him that night. Lot of deer jerky and deer tenderloin in my future.

 

[rpk762]

...when you start finding ram rods half way to the 100yd berm.

Lol I once saw a guy shoot the arrow down range. It is amazing how much they bend when shot. It was classic the guy grabbed for the ram rod and I told him he shot his arrow down range. I also told him the arrows he is shooting are very soft as it bent wildly and did not fly straight at all.

That guy said something under his breath then packed up and left. Then some nice old guy came over and told me what that arrow really was. All I said was "I know." with the biggest grin on my face.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I did that myself about a decade back. The recoil was INTENSE!

I did not need to start looking around for my ramrod. More like I wanted to see if I could catch the plate number of that truck that just glanced off my right shoulder...

Never did find it, but I suspect it was about 10ft high and still climbing out, up into the second growth past the up-to 100yd mowed area, due to recoil induced muzzle flip.

Heck, I like the replacement rod a lot better anyway...

Greg

 

[docdredd]

Ok since were being honest here..... When I was 17 I was using my fathers brand new and very expensive at the time laser bore sighter ........ the kind that slide in the end of the barrel and have a custom ground bushing that matches the inside bore of the barrel..... well I was so very very stoked about shooting my first long range rifle...... and proceeded to launch it straight through the 25 yard zeroing target in about 50 pieces.....

 

[EddieP]

Ok since were being honest here..... When I was 17 I was using my fathers brand new and very expensive at the time laser bore sighter ........ the kind that slide in the end of the barrel and have a custom ground bushing that matches the inside bore of the barrel..... well I was so very very stoked about shooting my first long range rifle...... and proceeded to launch it straight through the 25 yard zeroing target in about 50 pieces.....

But was the pattern zeroed?

 

[docdredd]

But was the pattern zeroed?

Oh dead on Sir, Never you doubt it preformed its duties with flawless precision right up until the round destroyed it. One had to judge it more as a shot gun pattern than a group but dead on none the less.

 

[ryguy00]

Yep. 30-06 firing a 178gr Hornady AMax into my boresighter. That was an expensive day.

 

[docdredd]

WOW!!! I was lucky the bushing gouged the hell out of the last few inches of barrel but other than a cartridge welded into my action and needing the barrel shortened 2 inches and re crowned I was ok. My lgs smith had it up and running 3 days later....... Yours looks like it needed a bit more first aid.....

 

[RaptorFuel]

...threads pop up on the gun forums making fun of inept hunters.

 

[WB300]

When you go to the range and notice a few new "air conditioning" holes in the roof above the shooting benches.

 

[DropZone]

Years ago my father and I were taking in one of our regular range sessions at a public WMA range in Georgia. Up walks a father and son with a brand spankin' new Ruger 77 in .243 with a Leupold on top that the father had bought for the son to learn to deer hunt with. They set up their rifle, we call the line, they get a target set up at 100 yards. The father commences to shoot two boxes of shells at a 36" target, all the while I'm watching the target secretly through my spotting scope and talking with my dad.

This guy would shoot a shot, turn some clicks, shoot a shot turn some clicks. This goes on for two boxes of shells and he could NOT get it zeroed! Finally he takes a break and he and my dad are talking while I'm shooting. My dad asks him how its going to which he replies he can't seem to get the gun zeroed. Dad says, why don't you let my son try it out. The guy says sure! I took the bolt out, bore sighted it, shot one shot, made the correction. Shot a three shot group in the center of his little shoot and see pasty. He looked down there and was STUNNED! Said he had been trying for weeks to do what I did with one shot.

Then he had his son sit down and his son proceeded to shoot good (for a young kid about 13 years old) groups at 100 yards until the third box of ammo was gone. The dad was super happy and even tried to pay me, to which I declined.

Sometimes help is appreciated...and then have been other times with with other shooters...something about me being a know it all show off sob...LOL!

 

[shovelstrokeed]

Sometimes help is appreciated...and then have been other times with with other shooters...something about me being a know it all show off sob...LOL!

I have had similar experiences.
I was up in Northern Ohio at a public range and bored. I had been shooting my Witchita 308 Silhouette Unlimited Pistol with open sights. Shot up a box of FGMM and was taking a rest. Went down to check the target (100 yds) and I had my usual <1" groups out there. Couple of guys along with see my targets, look at my tidy groups and their pie plates and can't figure out what I was doing. Most of them shooting lever action 30-30 with 4x scopes on them and they can't zero.
Showed them how to get more or less on line by starting at 25 yards, adjusting as needed to get a single shot on paper. Then, using a rigid hold and the same point of aim, having a buddy adjust the scope to move the crosshairs from the POA to the bullet hole. Next shot was usually near center of target and a quick click or two would bring the scope where it needed to be, an inch or more low at 25 seemed to work.
Move out to 100, which was a challenge for some, and make final corrections to the scope using the same method.
I got thank you's and a free beer or two when I was ready to leave. All the while, a couple of grumpy guys are over there sending rounds down range in no particular direction and twiddling with their knobs.

 

[Bill Larson]

wow, they really need to make members take a test before they allow them on the range.

AMEN........... and also before they can buy a hunting licsense........even older fellas...... our club has a siteing in days a month before deer season in WI.....75% of the people who come out could use training.....

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Although we no longer do formal instructional activities at the Club, we used to run sight-ins the W/E before gun season opened.

A staple part of the process was the free coffee. It availed an opportunity to get the shooter aside and ask questions, offer help.

Softly, softly, catchee monkey...

Greg

PS "Hold into the wind...", Yes, but which wind?

 

[hlee]

AMEN........... and also before they can buy a hunting licsense........even older fellas...... our club has a siteing in days a month before deer season in WI.....75% of the people who come out could use training.....

The hunter education program in Texas has a marksmanship component, but it is only for those that least need it children 9-16...

"If you are 9 to 16 years of age, after passing the unit quizzes, you’ll immediately print out your Field Day Voucher. After successful completion of the required Field Day, which includes safe firearm techniques and participation in a live-fire exercise, you will receive a “Temporary Student Card” issued by the instructor. Your permanent Hunter Education Certificate will be mailed to you in 3–4 weeks by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department."

Official Texas Hunter Safety Course | TX Online Hunter Safety Course

While the assumption may be that those older already know how to handle a firearm, a better assumption would be that most have merely learned (and ingrained) how to mishandle a firearm. I would be totally down with mandatory firearms instruction for everyone attempting to get a hunters' safety card. And, maybe a recert every few years as well...