Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What is the right thing to do when you hear a shot fired in the woods

I'll wait and see if my pard calls me on the cell. Otherwise, I'll hang back for a while and maybe get a shot if someone missed... All depends though.

CLB

It also depends who I'm hunting with, with 2 of my deer hunting buddies you really don't know if something is down or not no matter how many shots were taken. The third guys - one shot dead, more ... who knows.

If the shot goes, Crack-BOOM, I start looking for cover, as the shot was in my direction.

Well first off,there is no cell service or radio service where I hunt. Thank God.I go hunting to get away from all that crap.

Years ago,my brother use to come out from PA to elk hunt with me.He was always wondering around,not paying attention to where he was. One hunt,he was down in a canyon and got lost.Not to me as I could see him through the binocs.I heard the std 3 shots, 15 minutes later another three and so on and so on until he was out of ammo.I tracked his progress and eventually after an hour or two he made it back to the trial complaining that he had shot and I didn't answer him and he was lost.I told him he wasn't lost because I knew where he was.It put a scare into him and in later years he was a lot more careful on watching his location.
If I hear a shot from one of my hunting partners I usually go investigate to help.I can't remember anyone coming to mine though.I think they know that if they here me shoot,and elk has fallen over,and I can take care of it myself.Might be because I'm such an old grouch though. I ain't a fun person to hunt with.

If you hear the shot its too late to look for cover as the bullet has already passed you.

I always look in the direction of the shot(s). They may have spooked somehting toward me. I've even moved toward the shot depending on distance and available view, to enable me to see if critters are moving in my direction.

Don't count on that for very long.

Technology ain't bad, it's just another tool and it depends on how we all use it.

One ranch I hunt on is 270,000 acres. We carry radios and phones, and on most ridge tops we can use them pretty well. We use them to hunt (legal in that state) and not to keep in touch with our jobs... Unless it's to send a kill picture to some poor bastard who's stuck at work.

What is the right thing to do when you hear a shot fired in the woods

I thought the correct answer is to find the deer first, and claim it!

There was a fake poem that I read somewhere that goes like this:

Rancho and Tom, getting it on
Tom and Loco, getting some coco

When you hear a bang in the woods, run...AWAY...

My inclination would be to sit down and ponder whether, like the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one to hear it, the shot I heard was real or imagined.

Then I'd scratch my balls and move on...

I went to Church and I forgive you.

Dude, what's your deal?

They might want to take another shot.....

Brad, I was referring to Rancho Loco not to you. You're one of the very good guys on here.

He's been pestering me lately, along with Tom264 (probably a buddy of his) and I want to distance myself from them and move on.

Thanks.

How about picking up your rifle and get ready - they may have missed!

Immediately run over and claim the critter..........



Casey

Laffin!

Everything about my resposne depends on the situation.

Mostly, like others here, I ignore them.

If they are relatively close I often get ready to have game run by.

Unless there are 3 shots, relatively evenly spaced apart which is a universal code for distress there is no reason you should react in any unordinary way to shots during huntings season..... Just keep your distance, or else let your presence be known so you don't get shot.

I knew someone walking in the woods and heard someone say, "I hear a sound over there, should I shoot in the direction of the sound?" The person that was walking at this time had stopped and said in a loud and clear voice, "Only if I get to shoot back."