[hardluk1]

trip286 This was 2 guys 3 miles apart . NO bullet ether . Have you even checked the ballistics of the run of the mill hunting ammo at a 1000 yards. A 175gr smk match bullet has 363" of drop thats 28 feet of drop at 1000 yards and 1300fps left.

Heres a page to make up your own mind. Note these are low drag rounds compaired to hunting ammo. A 30-06 with a 150 gr bullet will only max out at just short of 2 miles reguardless if angle in a perfect clear day. 174gr will travel 4420 yards but but comes back to eather at a 71* angle at 4400 yards as it comes back to ground level. Note that a 30-06 with a 180gr btsp has a theoritical max range of 3.12 miles but thats in a vacume, not in the air. There was another shooter than was not seen or someone lied. http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/May01.htm

[trip286]

I shared what is KNOWN. What is known is that one guy shot a rifle, and another guy was hit.

It's believed by several people they were the same bullet. The guy who was hit thinks there's no chance. The guy who fired a round is incredulous, but believes it could have only been his.

I think there's a one in a billion chance. Maybe a trillion.

The ballistics don't lie. In a perfect world, it never could happen. In our imperfect world, have stranger things not been known to happen?

The locals know that on that particular morning, that particular hunter fired a shot, missed, and texted his girlfriend to let her know he'd be in early, as he'd likely just scared all the game off from the area until evening. Mere minutes after that text was sent, a passerby found the victim and called his mom for him to inform her they were going to the hospital. The victim said it had "just now happened" when the old guy found him.

That's what is known for sure. I could be mistaken on the round and even the range, but the range is as per the official story from those involved. Tall tale? Maybe. I do know the guy was hit by something that demolished his back window, phone, his dash, and his thumb. I've seen the damage. I've also seen damage caused by stray rounds, and it looked consistent to me.

Call it what you want. I call it a freak occurrence, regardless of whether the round came from the same rifle.

Heck, for all I know, it could have been a murder attempt from a couple hundred yards...

[Bootsdeal]

The key word is "landowner." It's his business and his decision. I have family that are ranchers in southwest Texas, who's land is full of deer. They won't allow anyone to hunt on their land period, even knowing they could earn a nice chunk of change on deer leases. It's their business and their right.

[JonM]

people are wounded pretty frequently from errant rifle shots during deer season. personally i dont hunt during gun season in wisconsin because centerfire rifles give morons more "confidence" in making longer shots and shoot at the slightest leaf twitch.

bullets that hit deer square arent dangerous. bullets that miss frequently dont do any damage. bullets that ricochet typically dont do any damage to anyone. as a property owner i totally understand not letting folks on land with a centerfire.

i wouldnt let a stranger hunt my land with a freekin slingshot much less a rifle in today's lawsuit happy world. i think the majority of landowners are more concerned with being sued from someone being stupid with a long range rifle than any concerns over ricochets. shotguns even with slugs just dont have any real range.

my suggestion is dont be a dick about having to use a shotgun if you got a place to hunt. be responsible with your hunt dont leave trash and waste around and share your deer with the landowner and once you prove yourself, that person's opinion may change. going on a crusade is not going to win your argument

[tri70]

The shotgun option is not all that bad, the public land we have here locally is bow only for most with drawing for muzzle loader/shotgun. I hope it goes back to open rifle soon.

[kfox75]

Originally Posted by Coyotenator

Many landowners aren't worried about ricochets, they are worried about idiots that can't tell a deer or elk from livestock.They also aren't crazy about hunters that shoot up farm equipment,irrigation pipes, wheel lines and pump houses through stupidity or carelessness.Losing livestock off property because some moron didn't get a gate closed properly is another reason that hunters have been excluded from many properties.I have seen all of these things happen.
Only those very few hunters proven to be responsible are allowed to hunt on the ranch now,and I keep a close eye on them.

This^^ is the only reason I can hunt where I do. The landowners and I go to the same range, and we both know that the pther person is safe. I am working on some new land, and the deal is we can do supervised small game hunting for now, the landowner will re-evaluate us next season and see if big game privliges have been earned yet. In the meantime, we will be helping with farm chores, and using his range with him to prove our worthiness.

Originally Posted by Bootsdeal

The key word is "landowner." It's his business and his decision. I have family that are ranchers in southwest Texas, who's land is full of deer. They won't allow anyone to hunt on their land period, even knowing they could earn a nice chunk of change on deer leases. It's their business and their right.

QFT. 'nuff said.

Originally Posted by JonM

people are wounded pretty frequently from errant rifle shots during deer season. personally i dont hunt during gun season in wisconsin because centerfire rifles give morons more "confidence" in making longer shots and shoot at the slightest leaf twitch.

bullets that hit deer square arent dangerous. bullets that miss frequently dont do any damage. bullets that ricochet typically dont do any damage to anyone. as a property owner i totally understand not letting folks on land with a centerfire.

i wouldnt let a stranger hunt my land with a freekin slingshot much less a rifle in today's lawsuit happy world. i think the majority of landowners are more concerned with being sued from someone being stupid with a long range rifle than any concerns over ricochets. shotguns even with slugs just dont have any real range.

my suggestion is dont be a dick about having to use a shotgun if you got a place to hunt. be responsible with your hunt dont leave trash and waste around and share your deer with the landowner and once you prove yourself, that person's opinion may change. going on a crusade is not going to win your argument

The last paragraph says it all. With most of the hunting land on the east coast being privately held, don't b!tch about not being able to use a rifle. Be thankfull that you have a place to hunt. 2 years ago, my uncle sold the land my family has hunted on for 3 generations. As a result of of this sale, we lost the hunting land due to the fact that his kids play in the woods. The only thing that pizzed me off about this was that he waited until opening day of bow season to tell us. A phone call a little earlier would have been nice ro say the least. Not a priblem now, we have 4 farms that we can hunt on instead, but it still chaps my azz that he did that. As others have said, his land, his choice.

[John_Deer]

The shotgun is great for deer and small game. Coyote hunting has so many techniques. The most prolofic method is to drive a truck or 4 wheeler around an area where coyotes are seen at the same time everyday, You need a rifle for this type of hunting. You see the entire pack most of the time. So a repeating rifle is handy.

When I call coyotes a shotgun is great. The coyotes usually get real close before I see them. Live rabbits that will squeal when you pick them up are the best call. Coyotes get wise to manual calls and digital calls.

Coyotes in this area are under constant pressure. Since coyotes are not considered a game animal you can use any reasonable method to hunt them. Finding a pack in the same area long enough to plan a calling hunt is a race event.

[alsaqr]

Folks get hit by stray bullets all too often. A few years ago in rural Bray, OK some kids were attending football practice when a kid was hit by a .30 caliber bullet. That bullet was fired from a two groove 1903 Springfield rifle. The guy who fired the shot was never found.

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=9229653

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081106_12_BRAY322537

An Amish girl was killed by a muzzleloader bullet as she rode down the road in her buggy. The bullet was fired from 1.5 miles away:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/12/amish-teens-death-ruled-a-homcide-in-ohio/1

This lady was hit by a .50 BMG bullet as she sat in her vehicle. The bullet came from a shooting range over two miles away:

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?57053-Woman-hit-by-stray-bullet-at-Texas-Motor-Speedway

[dsstrpc_88]

Here in new Hampshire a couple years ago a 17 year old boy was shot from 40 yards away with a muzzleloader. He died obviously, kid wasn't wearing any orange, guy that shot him is in prison I believe. Apparently he wasn't taught to properly identify his target