Targeting guns on hunting property

[chas0218]

Most everyone targets in their guns on their hunting property, has anyone saw a negative effect on deer sightings when doing so? I need to shoot but haven't because I haven't seen much on my small parcel.

[grampy]

My buddy needed to replace a scope last year about this time. He went to zero it in at our shale pit range on the farm. As he was finishing, he saw movement, and just along the shale pit he saw a decent buck moving along the edge! Just target your gun. It will all be fine by the next day. Stomping around their bedding area would have a much worse effect. So get some quality trigger time. Have the confidence, that when that deer steps out opening morning, your shot will be perfect!

[YFKI1983]

Most everyone targets in their guns on their hunting property, has anyone saw a negative effect on deer sightings when doing so? I need to shoot but haven't because I haven't seen much on my small parcel.

If you shoot right over a deers back, it won't even move a muscle. I've also had deer in front of me while bowhunting, while my neighbors were shooting all day with their rifles and the deer didn't seem to care. I still hate that they do it but that's another story.

Sight your gun, deer will be fine.

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[mowin]

I've had deer near me on opening day when someone on the neighboring land (maybe 300 yrs) shot.  Barely flinched. 

Had does in same first during ML and had someone shoot a half mile or more away.  You would have thought the shot was in the field I was hunting by the way those deer about turned inside out getting out of there.  

I don't believe it's the shot alone though. I think it's the combination of Hunter intrusion into their lives and the shots. By the tail end of the season, they definitely notice the shots and react accordingly. 

[wfmiller]

Just go shoot. I have geese hunters 200 yards from my stand sometimes and the deer pay no attention to them at all, they don't even look.

[DaveJr.]

I have had deer walk right through my shooting path... while I was shooting. If I hadn't spotted the deer, I would have shot it. This is one topic that people think way too much about. Every time I head upstate to the same property I hunt, I always shoot during the summer and winter, I generally stop in september for hunting season, I almost always see deer that night. 

[chas0218]

I figured I was over thinking it.

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[wolc123]

I always try to get that done by Labor day weekend.   The main reason I do that is because it bothers me a bit when I am hunting during late archery season, and hear the sounds of the neighbors sighting in their deer guns.  It bothers me because I have rarely seen any deer activity while that is going on. It really sucks when they keep shooting right up until sundown.  It makes me think they are lazy procastinators, which is not cool.   I would prefer to not subject others to that same aggravation.  This is also one of the reasons that I now do most of my target practice, year round, with bb guns.  The main reason for that is "real" ammo cost savings.  I used to use my .22 rimfire for that, until that stuff got expensive and hard to find. The relative silence of the bb guns is a nice added bonus.  I can shoot them all day, right off the back porch, and the neighbors hear nothing.      

If some type of scheduling conflict, malfunction, or weather conditions, prevented me from getting a deer gun sighted earlier, then I would certainly do it right up to the day before the opener, rather than hunt with a gun I was not certain of.  I will also not skimp again on the number of shots I use while sighting, and settle for a zero not quite where I want it.  Last year that caused a doe a little extra suffering, when my first shot struck her a few inches higher than I intended.  A second shot was required to finish her.  Using a little more ammo on the range is well worth the cost to prevent bad hits (or misses) later, when it really counts.

So the bottom line is, shoot early if you can, but if you can't, still shoot.  I don't think you are over thinking it.  It is not all about you.  Think about the folks out there hunting right now.  You will never go wrong by putting the interests of others, especially those from whom you expect nothing in return, ahead of your own.  

Also, imagine you are a big old buck bedded down in some thick cover and waiting to get up and eat a few acorns.  Just as you are about to rise, you hear a series of loud bangs.  You might decide to wait until after dark after hearing that, especially if you had a bad experience with a hunter at about this time on the year prior.  I don't think those big bucks are quite as dumb as some folks think.          

Edited November 10, 2017 by wolc123

[First-light]

A few years ago it was a Friday right before opening day. I was in my stand looking at a buck watching over a few does out in the flat.

He was mature 3 plus on the age. Just about 40 yards out. My neighbor started to sight in his gun. Shot after shot rang out really close.

This buck stood motionless he had his eye on one doe. She approached my stand then veered off towards the gun shots. Both buck and doe went that way. When the rut is on they could care less. 

[chas0218]

Shot on Friday, action gross night was great. Granted I only needed 3 rounds but it didn't effect any deer sightings.

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[GreeneHunter]

I've shot a buck on opening day (Saturday) and killed a doe the next day (Sunday) from the same ladder stand !