Woods etiquette question

[wvrifleman]

wv has concurrent seasons. bow season and squirrel season,deer season and bow/squirrel even throw in some fall turkeys,black bear and wild boar for good measures.only laws concerning firearms are caliber/shot size and first 3 days of buck season that you cant hunt anything but deer.after that you can hunt whatever is legal at the time.

[gdeal]

U have to be real careful. How far will your bullet travel? You could hit someone that U don't see behind your target. Better to be shaken up by a ranger that to be questioned by an attorney. U made out OK.

[springmom]

Our Sam Houston National Forest has 'target shooting' areas. Maybe your forest does also. That would be the best place for plinking during hunting season.

NO. Not any more. SHNF has been a no-target shooting area for the last two years, at least.

I was up there last week hunting mid-week and some idjit was banging away target shooting probably a half-mile away. He would not have been able to see me because I was farther down the road than he was! Just figuring that because you haven't seen a car there is nobody there is a great way to hit some poor hunter.

And of course there was the OTHER idjit that was working with a bunch of hounds somewhere down the gully!!! Between the baying of hounds and the target shooter, let's just say the deer decided to stay put and stay safe. I thought seriously of asking them if I could join them after awhile.

Don't plink during deer season. Don't plink during turkey season either, for that matter. Be a good helpful soul and go to a shooting range to plink. Please.

Springmom, who IS going to get that deer once this cold front blasts through!

[FirstFreedom]

My thoughts.

1. What you did was obviously LEGAL. Otherwise, he would have ticketed you. That's not the issue, as you know.

2. As for it being proper etiquette (your question), I would say that since there was a squirrel and crow season, you had both a legal and ethical right to be there, *IF* you were hunting a specific species. You were not, so in my opinion, it's bad etiquette to shoot/plink in a public WMA/GMA/Forest when there are any actual seasons going on (be they deer, squirrel, or multiple), because of the chance that you'll molest their hunt. Furthermore, IMO, it's bad etiquette to EVER simply just plink with a gun, unless you are trying to actually take some kind of game, or cull a nuisance species. But NOT plink at objects like trees, rocks, etc. That's what gun ranges are for. We don't need to fill up our public lands with lead, empty shell casings, and scarred trees for people to plink. They are there for hunting, fishing, or otherwise enjoying the land without messing it up. Simple solution, however....next time, actually look for, stalk, and shoot some squirrels, a nuisance species, or whatever else is in season - it's fun, challenging, and you'll have a nice dinner or 2 when you get home. Then, if the game warden confronts you, you'll have no compunction about telling him (in a nice way) to stick it where the sun don't shine. But if you're just plinkin', then I agree with him. And there's the issue, as mentioned, of bowhunters being very hard to spot, so it's hard to know whether you're right up on them. They'd love for you to spook game up to them, but not get within 100-200 yards. Well, I have to backtrack. Actually, I think it would be bad etiquette to be hunting a nuisance species like coyote during a season, particularly deer season (of any type), since you can hunt nuisance species all year long, but they (we) can only hunt deer for a relatively short period of time. If it's squirrels or rabbits or crows during deer season, although *I* wouldn't do it, I say have at it if you like. The proper remedy for us, as deer hunters, if people molesting our hunts actually becomes a big problem, is to campaign the wildlife dept. to pass a reg that temporarily suspends the 8-month squirrel season during the deer seasons, if we don't like it. In fact, I think that would be a good idea, to suspend temporarily squirrel and rabbits during deer, particularly archery deer, or perhaps even better as a compromise, something like weekdays during deer season, squirrel & rabbit fine; but on weekends during any deer season, the small game hunting is temp. suspended.

[shureshot0471]

Art I like what you said there are only a few days a year that hunters do their thing so respect that and do your target shooting somewhere or sometime else I am shure that you have some friends with land around that they would not mind if you went out and blew off your few rounds even though you are a resident and do own a state licence you still must respect all of the hunters I am a bow hunter and to get to some of my stands you must walk 1/2 mile to 2 miles so you could have been invadeing on a hunters grounds

[Art Eatman]

Sorta like coming upon a couple of lovers who've parked for heavy smooching. I don't see the point in excercising my right to flash my headlights and honk my horn. Why mess up somebody else's good times?

Courtesy and politeness. You always hope it's catching, so somebody else might think before crashing your party.

, Art

[rwking]

how would you feel if i was walking through your blind shooting at everything insight because you thought there was no one around that you could see. it is hunting season, you shoot at what you are hunting for and nothing else, maybe its fine to shoot at cans during the off season; your hunting pass for public lands should be good until next season.

[Mikeyboy]

Its definately an etiquette issue and a safety issue. There is a small public gun range inside a state park near where I live, and during hunting season even though the range is techinically open, it is usually empty. You got to respect guys trying to hunt. Also as everyone else mention, you got guys in the woods wearing full camo and not blaze orange, someone could get hurt. Actually a teenager outside pittsburgh is up on murder charges because he was shooting off a .22 and hit a guy bowhunting. The bullet hit the hunter in the pelvis and he could not move. The teenager told the hunter he would go get help, then he went home, played video games, ate, went to the party and basically forgot about the hunter. The hunter bled to death but thankfully he left a video camera in his tree stand to record his hunt, and it recorded the whole incident.

[winder]

I appreciate the information that everyone has voluntereed. From the number of responses it sounds like I have brought up a popular subject. My only remaining question is for you serious hunters that ask me to stay out of the woods during your seasons because they are short compared to the offseason where I could plink in the woods. Is it legal to take a gun into the wild and have some fun when there is no hunting season to cover my a** if confronted by a officer\ranger? I guess I need to call someone to find out. One of my other original points addressed the issue re: the lack of public shooting ranges where I live. One indoor 25yd range and one public 4 station "shoot through a tube" range 20 miles down the highway. I am beginning to ask myself why I even bothered to take up the shooting sports. Seems to me that society in general makes it as hard as they can to prevent repsonsible adults from purchasing and enjoying their firearms. I just found out this weekend that I cannot purchase a handgun in Ohio without transferring it to an FFL holder in my state, Ky, for an additional $20 to $30. Maybe I'll take up birdwatching.

[Art Eatman]

winder, part of the whole deal is getting out and finding places to shoot and/or hunt.

Take a weekend: Go out to farm country. Talk to landowners about your wishes. Offer to trade some sort of work for some sort of shooting/hunting deal.

Ask them if they've had problems with shooters in the past, and what those problems were. LISTEN to them.

I've always called that sort of doings "homework".

, Art

[winder]

Thanks Art. I've been thinking about trying that but I need to get up the nerve to do it. I did talk to a wildlife officer yesterday and he gave me some helpful information about the public trap/skeet range down the highway as well as a contact.

[shureshot0471]

Winder i am shure like i said ast first you have no friends with land if not if your fiances are where you are able to go out and buy you a small tract of wooded proptery to do your shooting or hunting on the goverment has programs that you can join that will make it to where you do not have to pay taxes like in THE GREAT STATE of TEXAS there is a program called CRP no manitence on the land and taxes are free its like keeping the laqnd wild or so the goverment says

[springmom]

That's a new one to me, sureshot.... what is it and how do you sign up?

Springmom