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

Hey Starman,

We're not alike.

You're an idiot.

I'm not.

You're too clueless to understand my sense of humor.

I never scan with my rifle scope ... ever.

Agreed. There is absolutely no call or place for this in the woods.

Sounds about like the "Golden Rule".

As important as the "First Commandment" mentioned by Steelhead.

Geno

This is an old thread on a different topic, but similar, and the variety of responses are "interesting" to say the least.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...88365/all/Pointed_my_spotting_scope_at_a

Not for a second not EVER

Take 450 hunters as clients in your life, then judge them using an Average for skills they have.

Guaranteed you will see this as I do. Never point a gun at a thing you don't intend to shoot period.

The safety of guns is so casual and taken for granted by a majority is very scary to me. I've been asked countless times what scares me more brown Bears or lions having been a PH or guide for both.

My simple answer to this is neither, it's the guy with the gun behind or next to me every single time.

My binoculars are just as important to me while hunting as my rifle is. Why would anyone scan using a "monocular" rifle scope? Dang, spend a few dollars, buy some binos, and see what you have been missing! And if you already have binos, why the heck are you scanning with your rifle scope?

I'd not use my rifle scope just to scan terrain. But if I see a game animal where there is a good possibility of taking a shot right now I'm not going to waste time checking it out with my binoculars. Very often you have seconds to make a decision. I'll use the scope on my rifle first. If I decide to pass, or feel it needs a better look then I'd go to the binoculars.

JGRaider,

It seems there are many here who seem to think you ask, "Does it bother you if someone points a rifle at you?" I don't scan with a rifle scope. I asked a guy I used to work with this question. "That's what they're for," he informed. He didn't have binoculars.

So you would actually fire on someone for that?
What other excuse would you use for shooting someone?people who don't know better are dangerous, but it seems some who do know better are worse.

Never met a good hunter that used his rifle scope to glass..

Besides the safety concerns of it, I actually like to find the critters I'm looking for, not look like some dick that doesn't have the first clue.

A rifle scope is an aiming device . Binoculars are for glassing.

JJ

You have far more experience guiding than I do but in the outfit I worked for the camps I was in it normally fell to me to deliver the "safety lecture" on changeover days

I explained to our clients that some of them had been hunting and handling firearms longer than I had, that our rules were no reflection upon their skills or abilities. Many of them no doubt were proponents of a hot chamber from hunting back east in thick timber. Add to that we're hunting in a bear rich environment and the heightened sense of awareness of our place on the food chain hunting in proximity to bears. I'm sure many of them were uncomfortable with our policy, but I had to explain it was strictly enforced by our outfitter

After the scopin incident we added that part to the safety seminar

Thank you, an interesting read.
Here is one in return. (Read the comments below)
http://newatlas.com/kill-shot-camera-hunting-rifle/21802/

Never a good idea to use a rifle scope to "glass". You have no idea what your rifle is going to be pointed at. Blows the muzzle control rule!

I have been viewed through a rifle scope and it is very unnerving. He wasn't just scanning, he was watching me through his scope. I was dragging a dead hog down a road and had an orange vest on. He was hunting the road. The guy was too young to be hunting by himself and I took the opportunity to give him an education.

I concede you have an arguable point from your skewed perspective. Up here, much Native land abuts public land, with no fences, boundary markers, or postings. It is a line drawn on a map somewhere, possibly not even surveyed. One tree or tundra tussock looks a whole lot like another. Winter snow machine and ATV trails between villages and other points of interest cross many such parcels. It IS the responsibility of the hunter to not trespass if anyone cares (although the law does not spell out just how one is to determine that from the conditions existing), which some do and some do not. It is quite easy to unknowingly get unto private property while hunting public lands. Or get into National Park, while hunting adjacent public land. Ask Jeff King.

They will let you know if you do without pointing a scoped rifle at you. Or an un-scoped one. If they care. Everyone except SOME National Park Service Rangers, anyway, who like pulling their guns....

It is clear why no one will hunt within rifle range of you, and they have to stick you out there in that "remote" country all by yourself.

I have been following your posts since you started, and have a broad base for my opinion of your ass-i-tude, not just this single issue.

I myself can and often am an ass. Doesn't mean I cannot recognize it in myself and others.

And I'm deplorable too.

Dude. Go all in and strap your spotlight up there too. Works great during a new moon.

Not only is it a safety issue to scan with a rifle,. It's too much work.

I use a cheap pair of Tasco Binoculars to look for game....The peep sight on my '94 isn't much good for looking for critters...Only for shootin' 'em

LOL, now that would be funny, seeing a guy "scanning" for game with a peep sight......

This^^^^. I've seen many times that others inadvertently let their muzzle sweep across another person in a group hunting doves, ducks, quail, rabbits, coyotes etc around blinds or getting in and out of vehicles, and im talking about so called safe, seasoned hunters who at times have a lapse in what to me is the main cause of accidental shootings.

Muzzle direction at close range is the ultimate real safety.