Double Naught Spy
New member
After reading the thread on super duper whamo ammo that doesn't group well, http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=394331 , and seeing some of the comments, it reminded me of an experience I had with my BIL.
Last year I took my BIL hog hunting on my property. He actually had more experience hunting than I had at the time, having gone hunting once or twice a year for the past several years. No hogs were seen, but the next week he went deer hunting with the same scoped rifle and missed two deer, the first shot was offhand at 50 yards and the second shot was rested at 30 yards. Both deer were broadside and stationary. He had no idea where his shot at 50 yards went, but based on the impact well behind the deer, he estimated he was a foot high at 30 yards!!
I asked him what the zero was on his rifle and he said "in the middle of the crosshairs." After further discussion, I learned that he inherited the rifle and assumed it was sighted in properly by his grandfather. Needless to say, I was seriously upset with my BIL for reasons of safety and ethics, a conversation that did not go well.
I spoke to a buddy who is a retired gunsmith and is a guide about my BIL and he just laughed and said that I would be surprised at how many hunters he had buy rifles before hunting season and return them after missing game because either they never sighted them in or didn't know how to sight them in properly and missed their shots or made poor shots. He would charge them to sight in their guns properly with their ammo (for a fee) and said that most then got good results when they next went hunting, which sometimes was the following year. In other words, folks still weren't checking out the rifles for themselves before hunting. He informed me that folks don't want to deal with the expense of shooting their hunting ammo at paper targets and so end up shooting their hunting rifles and hunting ammo as little as possible.
I know that every year at the public range where I used to shoot that the two weekends before deer season saw the ranges filled with hunters sighting in or verifying the zero on their guns. The rangemaster there considered it to be one of the most dangerous times at the range because many of the hunters shoot only 5-10 shots a year and a goodly number of those shots are reverifying and adjusting their zeros. Still I was of the impression that most hunters did verify their zero before hunting, especially because of the turnout at the public ranges where I have shot.
I have always been warned about inexperienced hunters who might take less than ideal shots because they got buck fever or blew shots due to their inexperience in hunting or marksmanship, but I guess I never considered that some would not have sighted in their rifles or verified zeros.
So is my gunsmith buddy right? Is there a fair number of hunters who are fairly clueless about sighting in guns or just assume they are on target without first verifying them? Has anyone else taken somebody hunting only to learn that the person had not sighted in the rifle before, maybe never even shot it before? My lesson was learned. I don't take any new people hunting until I know more about their capabilities and the capabilities of their gear. There isn't anything wrong with being new or inexperienced, but there is something wrong with being improperly prepared.
Last year I took my BIL hog hunting on my property. He actually had more experience hunting than I had at the time, having gone hunting once or twice a year for the past several years. No hogs were seen, but the next week he went deer hunting with the same scoped rifle and missed two deer, the first shot was offhand at 50 yards and the second shot was rested at 30 yards. Both deer were broadside and stationary. He had no idea where his shot at 50 yards went, but based on the impact well behind the deer, he estimated he was a foot high at 30 yards!!
I asked him what the zero was on his rifle and he said "in the middle of the crosshairs." After further discussion, I learned that he inherited the rifle and assumed it was sighted in properly by his grandfather. Needless to say, I was seriously upset with my BIL for reasons of safety and ethics, a conversation that did not go well.
I spoke to a buddy who is a retired gunsmith and is a guide about my BIL and he just laughed and said that I would be surprised at how many hunters he had buy rifles before hunting season and return them after missing game because either they never sighted them in or didn't know how to sight them in properly and missed their shots or made poor shots. He would charge them to sight in their guns properly with their ammo (for a fee) and said that most then got good results when they next went hunting, which sometimes was the following year. In other words, folks still weren't checking out the rifles for themselves before hunting. He informed me that folks don't want to deal with the expense of shooting their hunting ammo at paper targets and so end up shooting their hunting rifles and hunting ammo as little as possible.
I know that every year at the public range where I used to shoot that the two weekends before deer season saw the ranges filled with hunters sighting in or verifying the zero on their guns. The rangemaster there considered it to be one of the most dangerous times at the range because many of the hunters shoot only 5-10 shots a year and a goodly number of those shots are reverifying and adjusting their zeros. Still I was of the impression that most hunters did verify their zero before hunting, especially because of the turnout at the public ranges where I have shot.
I have always been warned about inexperienced hunters who might take less than ideal shots because they got buck fever or blew shots due to their inexperience in hunting or marksmanship, but I guess I never considered that some would not have sighted in their rifles or verified zeros.
So is my gunsmith buddy right? Is there a fair number of hunters who are fairly clueless about sighting in guns or just assume they are on target without first verifying them? Has anyone else taken somebody hunting only to learn that the person had not sighted in the rifle before, maybe never even shot it before? My lesson was learned. I don't take any new people hunting until I know more about their capabilities and the capabilities of their gear. There isn't anything wrong with being new or inexperienced, but there is something wrong with being improperly prepared.
I could never understand people who are not 100% sure of their zero on hunting rifles, yet they go hunting without concern and wonder why they miss game.....