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

Starman, I cant help it. Im a sinner. However, i dont have to be an anti-American liberal commie.

There's some good, and some bad comments in this thread...

Common sense needs to prevail though.

There are some people that I would never question if they picked up a scoped rifle to make a determination on an animal before shooting it, (or not shooting it).

And then there are those people I wouldn't want to be any closer than 5 miles from if they even had a rifle in their hands.

Personally, I never point a weapon at anything that I'm not 100% sure I could live with killing. Doesn't mean I will kill it... It just means I know what it is with certainty beforehand.

This^^^.,

There's a huge difference between pointing your rifle at an animal you've already seen and have a tag for vs. "scanning" or looking for game.

I appreciate the responses, and keep them coming. The link below will help explain why I was so curious what you guys think (except for that repugnant dolt starman).

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/...ifle/Hunting_Safety_Qeustion#Post6784365

When responding, keep in mind I'm not talking about picking up your scoped rifle to "size up" a buck after you've already seen him with your naked eye or binocs. I'm talking about randomly picking up your LOADED,scoped rifle when you decide to scan across the ground you're hunting for game instead of doing the job with binoculars.

The rules of firearm safety are irrefutable and absolute, not situational. Anyone who argues otherwise proves themselves unqualified to opine. For starfish, I dryfire several times / week and POA is my safe or my brick fireplace, it is not that hard to think these things through when you actually do things rather than talk crap.


mike r

Indeed there is.

If someone is just glassing with a loaded rifle, they need to have their hunting privileges revoked.

I've seen many people (myself included) who must set out intending to shoot the sky (or some distant object on a given trajectory) or the Earth somewhere in front of, to the side, or behind them.

+1

HOLY SCHIT !!!

The responses on that forum put the Freak Show to shame. This is one of the better ones.

"If glassing for animals is the same as seeing a sounder pulling up my rifle and picking out which one is the alpha female with my rifle scope then yes I am OK with aiming my rifle at the other pigs in the sounder that I dont intend to shoot first or at all. No Problem!!! "

Saw this exact thing done on one of the Reality shows within the last week or two[Yukon Men maybe].
Was shocked that no one had the foresight to at least edit it out.
Guessing I shouldn't be.

Agreed. How the heck would I know your bolt is open, when you are some unknown guy aiming a rifle at me? You are an immediate threat to my safety..
Edit: I would not shoot first unless I had some reason to think he was trying to kill me, not just stupid.

Depends ... "ish." I will look at an animal that I've already identified as one I'd be willing to kill with the scope as I make the final decision whether to kill it or not. I will not use the scope to "glass" to locate something to shoot at. In other words, I'm not using the scope to scan the terrain or even to decide if something I've seen is a legal critter or not, but I will make the final choice about pulling the trigger on something I've determined to be legal to kill through the scope.

Hope that difference is clear.

Tom

So long as you have no problem with me looking back at you with a round in the chamber we will get along just fine.

Sorry, acting like this is a measure of stupidity and irresponsibility, is well, stupid.

Everyday I jump in my truck and back out the driveway and head down the road. That truck has the possibility of creating 10's of thousands in damage as well as death. But I have eyes, legs, and arms to control the throttle, brake, and steering to avoid that. But the truck has several things beyond my control....what if the brakes fail, the steering column breaks, or the throttle sticks? I have no real control over failure, yet I drive it everyday.

A gun on the other hand I can control it's potential for damage. If I have cleared the action and verified it is empty several times the moment before I close the action and point it at a wall and dry fire it, then it CANNOT harm anyone or anything, ever. It's impossible. Do you sit at a 4 way stop sign all day with your wife and kids in the car? Or after you have checked both ways and verified nothing is coming, do you proceed through the intersection????? Simple question isn't it??

I'm safety conscious all the time with all things firearms. When reloading I will read out loud the powder brand and number I'm looking at in the book, then the powder can I'm holding in my hand, then the book again. Only the powder I'm using is ever out on the bench.

If I cannot trust what my arms and hands have just done with the action on a firearm, and what my eyes have verified more than once, then I shouldn't own a gun period, and for the love of God should never carry a gun out hunting. And even worse I should most certainly never ever crawl in a vehicle and head down the road.

Intentionally pointing the muzzle at a person, or even in the direction of a person is a whole other issue.

Nope. Had it done to me once and it's not a good feeling. I was sitting against a tree watching a spike bull elk who was drinking from a small stream about about ten yards from me when I heard two idiots sitting on the top of a ridge I had been keeping an eye on start chattering. Sure enough they both started glassing him with their rifles and from their angle I was right behind him. I ended up yelling and scaring him off before I got shot (spikes weren't even legal but I didn't like a rifle being pointed in my direction) and the dumbazzes were pizzed and started screaming why did I scare off their elk. Public land near Craig, CO...they weren't the only idiots I ran into...never again.

Good one.

I finally solved this little problem by strapping my binos to the top of my scope. So now I don't ever have to use the scope to scan for anything anymore.

Should keep everyone happy.

Well, whoever argued that it's ok, should get punched in the dick.