Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rifle Hunting Safety Question

Witnessed one of the worst azz chewing I've ever seen a grown man take over this very subject

We were taking a group of hunters out caribou hunting and one of the guys for whatever reason decided to take a look at his buddies backs through his rifle scope

The top hand in our outfit went ballistic, I almost felt sorry for the guy, almost

'Twasnt pretty, he paid a pretty fair bill to come up and get his azz chewed

Imo binocs are for spotting, glass on a rifle is for killing

Me too... Why would anyone point a firearm at another person, unless the intent was to shoot them ???

Just someone who has never had any training.

I agree- get some binoculars. Don't care if they're $10 Barska's or $2500 Swaro's - Just get them.

Never is the right time to use a scope to glass. Besides the good sense safety reasons, it is awkward and doesn't work very well to look for game with a rifle mounted scope. Putting the scope on an already identified animal to verify antler points, choose the correct animal, etc. before shooting is also good sense.

This thread should quickly morph into a hot chamber vs. cold chamber thread.

Then we'll have fun!

JG,

are you keeping track? In order to post the results on the other forum?

Another vote for No, Binocular first.

Short range- able to ID animal as right species and sex, then possible, slightly possible, just to make sure of legal requirements, but if I'm undetected and can use binocular first, then that's the thing to do.

I hate being "scoped" and like others have said, I have a tendency to look at that as a threat. If the object is far enough away I can't ID it without an optic of some sort, it's likely far enough away to use my binoc. and be able to remain undetected.

Geno

1. Treat every gun as though it is loaded.

2. Don't point your gun at anything you don't plan to shoot.

I got glassed once, and I've probably still got an imprint in the ground on that ridgetop in Pennsylvania from eating dirt as fast as I did. How someone can glass you, thinking you're a deer when you're sitting there with your back against a tree wearing blaze orange top and bottom, blaze orange gloves, and a blaze orange hat is beyond me.

Scopes are for killing stuff, binoculars, monoculars, and spotting scopes are for finding game.

Absolutely not.

Muzzle control....do not point it at anything that does not need shot

I know some folks 'glass' animals or places with their scope, but I won't do it.

Depends on the cartridge. Its perfectly acceptable to glass with the scope on a 270.

I never "scan" with a scope, but I will frequently will put the scope on an animal I am considering shooting. I have watched deer for well over an hour on multiple occasions either waiting for them to turn to just the right position or just to decide if it looks tasty enough to shoot. Probably the latter has been most common for me since I shoot strictly for my table. Where I hunt, there have been way more deer than is reasonable for the better part of 20 years, so I get to pick and choose. This results in looking very closely for identifying characteristics so I can quickly decide I have seen and passed on this one before.

I regularly look at the antlers of bucks before shooting them. Not glassing to figure out if they are a deer, just making sure that it is legal. 3 pt rule here, and I shoot a lot of deer that I want out of the herd. If I decide that I do not want the deer, I might get my binoculars and watch it for a while. All "just looking" gets the use of binoculars. I do see a lot of people going hunting without binoculars but not on my place. miles

One of the best ass kicking's I've ever seen was delivered by one of my hunting partner's who had a rife pointed at him by a dipshite 2 separate times in the same day!
Losing buddies to a sniper in Korea had made him quite sensitive about that..

Binos or a spotting scope are always preferred.

No crosshairs to look through, Binos give you 2 eyes, spotter and binos will generally give a wider field of vision, and you can't have an "accident" with binos or a spotter.

Sure I can. But are you saying it's alright to point your rifle at someone as long as you keep your finger off the trigger and keep the rifle on "safe?"

Steelhead said it, it's a shame to have to repeat it. Muzzle control is the #1 rule; literally and figuratively. It's not an accident that it's at the top of the list.
Because you can violate every other rule and even pull the trigger but if the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction nobody gets hurt.

How many people have been killed by those 'unloaded' guns? You can see better with binocs anyway.

No one should be able to argue with that.

Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, and keep your finger off the trigger, until you are ready to shoot. Use binos to look for game.

Sorry smokepole. You are correct. I should have said "public land". That said, I use 8 and 15x Zeiss binos.

As a poor kid i did on occassion scan a ridge or pasture at times with the Weavrr 22 scope on my break open ss Savage for deer or turkey.

I consider scoping someone out with a rifle a different proposition. Had it happen to me once. I got behind an oak trunk and scoped them back. They got the message.