"Sound" shots

[Land Owner]

Ever heard of those? I had (stress on "had") a co-worker of "low station" (FL Cracker) that reported with authority, he and his kin took "sound shots" into the palmettos and thick brush when they "heard" movement there on the off chance of shooting a deer or hog trying to slip through. I think that "practice" to be unethical, despicable, disrespectful, and UNSAFE.

He took drugs, got laid off, and completely ruined his mind and his health. He did breed though, as well as his kin. There were other reported equal or WORSE tactics (imo) for taking deer and female Large Mouth Bass in spawning season that I won't reiterate. Sorry, no good folk, in my mind.

[scattershot]

Yep, it’s a thing. I haven’t heard much about it lately, so maybe folks don’t do it so much anymore, but I agree with your assessment. It’s stupid, and dangerous.

[BJK]

I've heard of them but never saw anyone actually do it. Is there any more dangerous practice with a firearm? OK, maybe Russian roulette could be more dangerous. I can't imagine anyone actually being stupid enough to take a sound shot and think it was a good idea.

[KenH]

What's a "sound shot"? That couldn't possibly be where somebody hears something in the brush and just shoots at the sound..... could it? I can't imagine that.

[bedbugbilly]

Individuals like this . . . well . . . as Forest Gump's Mother said . . "Sometimes you just can't fix stupid".

I once hear shots behind my house when we lived on the farm - it was during a year that they allowed you to take a doe or buck on your license to get the population down. I slid a 45 in my coat pocket and started off to find the intruder that was trespassing . . . especially since we had cattle whee I had heard the shot. I'll also mention that I was dressed in blaze orange. It didn't take log to find the guy - it was a field with a marsh and some brush in spots - he was denied from head to toe im blaze orange. I asked him what he was doing and he said he had permission to hunt there - oh really? I then informed him that I owned the and and nobody had permission to hunt. I asked him what he had shot at and he said he had seen a "flash of brown in the brush". What an idiot! I asked hi, "buck or doe"? and he said he didn't know. I then asked him if it could have been one of my cows - he was obviously a city slicker - we ran Holsteins and he had no idea that they were black and white. I told him to unload his gun and leave the way he came in and never come back - and I also advised him that he needed to learn how to hunt and that y9u never fire unless you ca identify the target and make sure that there is nothing behind it that would prevent you from shooting.

I wonder what would have happened in the case you describe if that "sound" had turned out to be a human, livestock or a neighbor's dog? Unfortunately, there are many out there who shoot without identifying their target and that is how people get killed in hunting "accidents". As far as I'm concerned, people like that should lose their hunting rights and shouldn't own firearms. They are a danger to themselves and to others.

[memtb]

During the ‘70’s there were a father and son, that that I worked with, were Turkey Hunting. The son shot and killed the father.....sound shots! It was ruled accidental.....but, many people questioned the ruling! memtb

[Ural Driver]

What's a "sound shot"? That couldn't possibly be where somebody hears something in the brush and just shoots at the sound..... could it? I can't imagine that.

That is it exactly. It's one of the main behaviors that has kept me away from hunting in the "public hunting areas". It is also a practice of poachers.

[Handloader109]

Guy is in prison here in Arkansas for killing a woman a few years back that had stopped on road near old abandoned house and was taking pictures. Most probably this very thing. Shoot with out seeing anything other than movement. Idiot doesn't describe this adequately.

[gbrown]

When I was with the S.O., back in the 70's and 80's, we had 2 accidental deaths, with behavior like this. One, a father, his friend and the son were hunting deer, they decided the friend would go out in front and try to jump a deer. The friend was dressed in khaki. Father and son moved up, Dad saw something move and told the so, "Shoot, shoot." Son did so, killed the friend. How stupid, such senseless stuff.

[richhodg66]

I hunt on public land quite a bit and have had good luck with it. I won't go out there on the first weekend of the general firearms deer season, but any other time is OK, everybody wears their orange and is pretty careful.

There are irresponsible types in all aspects of life. I'm more afraid of the ones out on the road operating a vehicle than the ones out "hunting".

[rbuck351]

There are people that should not be allowed to have firearms. I don't know how you would sort out the "sound shooter" but that is one that should not have a gun.

[Krag 1901]

Idiots are had to avoid![/I]

[buckwheatpaul]

When I was a kid, a very very long time ago, I heard the old timers talk about sound shots.....never seemed ethical or safe and I remember a case where a young man was killed by a sound shot....havent heard that term in years and it will be too soon if I hear it again....IMHO!

[Kraschenbirn]

One of the reasons that I no longer hunt deer...too many nitwits out there in this part of the world. I was once shot at...on posted private property, 1/4 mile from the nearest fence...when I shifted position inside my blind.

Bill

[waksupi]

If this "sound" is shot at, said "sound" will be returning fire.

What has scared me in the past, I have been sitting in the woods, wearing blaze orange, and had another "hunter' walk within ten yards of me and never see me.

[MaryB]

I was shot at... guy went past SIX no trespassing signs. .223 hit the tree over my head after I shifted position(and I was a head to toe blaze orange pumpkin!). I hollered, he ran, I beat him back to the parking spot in the farm yard. He was using a rifle in a shotgun only zone on top of it. He pointed the rifle at me to get me to move my truck just as one of my hunting partners came up behind him(we used FRS radios for emergency backup, I had called him and told him to head for the trucks) and told him to drop the rifle. My hunting partner was a MN state hwy patrol captain... he made an arrest, called the DNR to come process the guy for trespass and a host of other stuff. Guy lost his guns, his truck and was banned form hunting in MN for life plus he got to spend a year in county lockup and had to do 10 years probation and outreach teaching on what NOT to do when hunting.

His excuse? "I heard a noise and shot"... his excuse for going past 6 no trespassing signs? "I didn't think they applied to me because the river edge is public land"... which it is but only accessible form the water! Or by walking the rivers edge from the nearest public road and to get to our hunting lease that is a 1 mile hike, I know, I have walked it looking for deer.

[white eagle]

once while hunting on a friends farm he let a couple of others hunt
and one of them told him that he heard something in the bush and shot at the noise
that was the last time he was there,there is no excuse for that IMO

[Char-Gar]

In the late 60's about ten of us had a deer lease in Brooks County, Texas. We heard a shot one day but nobody knew who fired it. Later a guy came straggling in and was asked about it. He said he had a "sound shot", but found no blood. He was escorted off the leased ranch instanter. I didn't want to be any closer than three counties to that fool.

[10-x]

Wow, if around firearms instructors there are usually some “ hunter safety “ classes for new hunters. Pretty clear in every hunter safety material I’ve seen that never shoot at any noise or sound. A “ Sound shot” to most of us means a good shot, as in a “ sound decision”.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Have ran across idiots similar in the past and also the ones who were so lacking in any sense that I avoid areas where others are hunting and have seen the ones so lacking in observation skills that they do not see the obvious or you standing there .

[lightman]

Sadly this happens way too often and is often tragic.

[popper]

If I hear a 'sound' in the middle of the nite in my house, it will get 'shot'. I did do a sound shot high in a tree line with a 12 ga - no, no dove around that day. Pack up and go home. And I knew where the other guys were.

[Shawlerbrook]

You can’t fix stupid !

[hoodat]

Couple years ago, I'd gone through a gate where I had permission, and set up to shoot ground squirrels with my Hawkin rifle. I was having a great time, taking a shot every five or ten minutes, and with a pretty high kill rate.

All the sudden a bunch of shooting erupted behind my position, with bullets flying all around me. I realized that I was out of sight from a rig on the road where someone had stopped to shoot (from the road) in exactly my direction. I fired a "sound shot" well above their heads, to let them know where I was. I heard doors slam, and the vehicle take off down the road. It all scared the crap out of me. jd

[Martin Luber]

Typical of city people coming upstate. Cows make pretty good deer too. Those get painted orange. Do you think it helps?

[TimD]

Individuals like this . . . well . . . as Forest Gump's Mother said . . "Sometimes you just can't fix stupid".

I once hear shots behind my house when we lived on the farm - it was during a year that they allowed you to take a doe or buck on your license to get the population down. I slid a 45 in my coat pocket and started off to find the intruder that was trespassing . . . especially since we had cattle whee I had heard the shot. I'll also mention that I was dressed in blaze orange. It didn't take log to find the guy - it was a field with a marsh and some brush in spots - he was denied from head to toe im blaze orange. I asked him what he was doing and he said he had permission to hunt there - oh really? I then informed him that I owned the and and nobody had permission to hunt. I asked him what he had shot at and he said he had seen a "flash of brown in the brush". What an idiot! I asked hi, "buck or doe"? and he said he didn't know. I then asked him if it could have been one of my cows - he was obviously a city slicker - we ran Holsteins and he had no idea that they were black and white. I told him to unload his gun and leave the way he came in and never come back - and I also advised him that he needed to learn how to hunt and that y9u never fire unless you ca identify the target and make sure that there is nothing behind it that would prevent you from shooting.

I wonder what would have happened in the case you describe if that "sound" had turned out to be a human, livestock or a neighbor's dog? Unfortunately, there are many out there who shoot without identifying their target and that is how people get killed in hunting "accidents". As far as I'm concerned, people like that should lose their hunting rights and shouldn't own firearms. They are a danger to themselves and to others.

I had the same experience. Found a hunter that "had permission" trying to climb over my barbed wire fence. He wasn't very happy when I sent him back through the swamp he came from. At least he didn't shoot one of my Angus. Might have been interesting if he found the bull's pasture.

[cas]

I've heard people say they "took a sound shot". They should be beaten to a pulp.

[Winger Ed.]

Typical of city people coming upstate. Cows make pretty good deer too. Those get painted orange. Do you think it helps?

None of my relatives in the Hill Country did,
but I've heard of ranchers that sold hunting leases in various other places spray paint "C O W" on them
in white or orange 2-3 foot tall letters after one of theirs had been shot.

[John Wayne]

Hey Mary B I'm glad you got that guy. Here in Georgia we call them Slob Hunters or White Trash.

[jim147]

Back in the '80's my dad and my uncles told me about deer hunting in the late '60's early '70's.

They were on a ridge they had permission to be on waiting. One of them moved and it turned into a war zone. They yelled for a while before the other group ran off. Idiots are everywhere.

[Land Owner]

Seems the title resonates within the hunting community and for no good reason. Sorry 10-x. The rest of us have had our fill of "poor decisions" from folks taking "sound shots" at noise rather than visual confirmations.

My maternal grandfather saved my "tender aged" skin of 13 as we walked a cow track together through his overgrown field. A poacher shot at, and fortunately just ahead of us, undoubtedly due to "movement and sound", as we passed through.

At the shot Granddad shoved us both to the ground. The shotgun pellets had already sprayed through, above and just ahead. Neither of us was hit. Granddad was MAD then. Scary MAD. He could not locate the poacher and I am quite certain that was best for the poacher. I don't know but suspect that Granddad would have hurt that man.

[BJK]

I don't know but suspect that Granddad would have hurt that man.

And I think rightly so.

[JoeJames]

I used to own 100 acres north of me. It was not posted. But walked in on opening day of gun deer season. I heard two shotgun blasts ... waited until the feller walked out. Asked if he got it. He said no, that he’d just made two sound shots. Told my neighbor about it who owned 250 acres butted up against my place. By dark that afternoon we had marked off his place and mine with “poacher paint”. That was the end of that.

Upon reflection I think that deer are probably about the only mammals safe from sound shots. I have deer hunted for 50 years or more, and I cannot recall ever actually hearing a deer going through the woods ... everything else is at risk: hunters, dogs, cattle, armadillos, but deer are probably safe.

[missionary5155]

I have heard deer hunters in ILL-nois talk about "taking sound shots". My first time to hear that remark I said "You do what !"
How many hunters yearly get killed because some fool has done such .....
If you read this and have done so please stop !

[cwlongshot]

100% Richard!!!

I have been a victim of this in upstate NY. I yelled loud and fired my rifle into the base of a tree. I was UNHURT but probably needed new drawers... As I got up I could hear the bugger running away... I have herd this speak in diners and gun shops. I always asked wherr thry hunted cause I wanted to be mountains away!

NOT COOL

Cw

[Three44s]

“A family of black bears .........”

That’s what a bunch of “immigrants” told a Game Warden when he found a black angus bovine stretched out on the kitchen floor of the house they were occupying as they were dressing it out!

......... a family of black bears ........ Indeed!

Three44s

[contender1]

I too could relate a few stories.

However,, I also teach Hunter Safety.

I STRESS to all new potential hunters the STUPIDITY, of such activities. I use all kinds of names for the types of people who do such stuff. I tell my classes; "A person like that would be the same type of person in the movie "Deliverance". Or, simple terms like; "Idiot, Stupid, Unethical, Moron, Poacher, In-bred, Coward," or any other derogatorily statement I can come up with.

I also stress that I'm a firearm instructor, and point out the (4) gun safety rules all over again.

Lastly, I use reports I get from the State about the previous accidents where someone was SHOT by another person to stress the point of NOT "sound shooting." And I often follow up with the CRIMINAL reports of some cases.

Hopefully, I make a difference.

[jaysouth]

When I was a child, 60 or 70 years ago, I heard the "old timers" talk about the folly and danger of "sound" shots. It was more prevalent then because most deer hunting was done with shotgun (no once could afford a rifle) ahead of dogs running them.

[SeabeeMan]

One of my dad's buddies still does this on a regular basis each fall. He's also the guy that aims for the white spot on the neck of whitetails for a "one shot kill" despite the fact that he has admittedly shot the jaw/muzzle off at least two deer that he was unable to recover.

When I used to teach hunter's safety, I was usually the guy who got to teach the hunting ethics section. I had a dad argue with me and storm out of the class with his two kids when I stated, in extremely clear terms, that they were NEVER to take exactly this kind of shot as it violates one of the fundamental rules of firearm safety and is one of the most unethical things you can do while hunting. He claimed that it must be safe because his grandad got the biggest buck he's ever seen doing that and proceeded to rant about our qualifications as instructors and the quality of the program in general! He had to be escorted out and his kids were not able to finish the course for that year.

Our conclusion as instructors was that hopefully their dad's embarrassing public meltdown was enough to prevent another couple of hunters from coming up with this unsafe practice.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ever heard of those? I had (stress on "had") a co-worker of "low station" (FL Cracker) that reported with authority, he and his kin took "sound shots" into the palmettos and thick brush when they "heard" movement there on the off chance of shooting a deer or hog trying to slip through. I think that "practice" to be unethical, despicable, disrespectful, and UNSAFE.

He took drugs, got laid off, and completely ruined his mind and his health. He did breed though, as well as his kin. There were other reported equal or WORSE tactics (imo) for taking deer and female Large Mouth Bass in spawning season that I won't reiterate. Sorry, no good folk, in my mind.

needs a kick in the you know what!

[KenH]

If I hear a 'sound' in the middle of the nite in my house, it will get 'shot'. I did do a sound shot high in a tree line with a 12 ga - no, no dove around that day. Pack up and go home. And I knew where the other guys were.

That's how family members kill other family members. Somebody came in late, got up for bathroom - other person hear a "sound" and shot without knowing what they were shooting at. Result, dead (or wounded) family (or guest) member.

I just can NOT relate to that. Take aim and KNOW what you're shooting at.

[kerplode]

This nonsense is one of the reasons why I don't go anywhere near the forest in the fall.

[MaryB]

Hey Mary B I'm glad you got that guy. Here in Georgia we call them Slob Hunters or White Trash.

Yup same here, slob hunters!

Get them duck hunting too. We were across the slough from another blind. So we were making sure n shots in their direction... until they had peppered us with shot for the 5th time. All 7 of us put in a 3" goose load, aimed up high in their direction and rained shot on their heads. They took the hint and packed up and left... We were far enough apart it wouldn't penetrate skin but dang it, that crap stings bouncing off your skull!

[GONRA]

GONRA's not a hunter. Lived in VA long ago. Fellow Red Necks mentioned "Sound Shots". YIKES!
(Never heard of them since....)

[TimD]

“A family of black bears .........”

That’s what a bunch of “immigrants” told a Game Warden when he found a black angus bovine stretched out on the kitchen floor of the house they were occupying as they were dressing it out!

......... a family of black bears ........ Indeed!

Three44s

Sounds like an expensive bear.

[Mk42gunner]

Its hard enough to hit what you are aiming at, let alone just hoping.

I have never done a "sound shot", and hope I never do.

I am reminded of a story I read in one of the children's books from the library back in the 1970's. One of the famous riflemen in our past was the subject, I think it was Daniel Boone but I'm not 100% sure. His uncle took a shot at some grapevines moving, trying to hit a deer supposedly, and hit a neighbor in the shoulder.

Treatment involved running a cloth laden with pepper through the wound, which sounds worse than getting shot in the first place.

Robert

[M-Tecs]

Short of military action there is zero justification for a sound shot. Being really really stupid is not justification, but unfortunately, the world has an over abundance of really really stupid people.

In my world there is no such thing as shooting at a deer. When a take a shot it is at a very specific part of the deer. Same for every shot I take.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

I’m amazed that anyone would do something that stupid. I guess I shouldn’t be.

[Gtrubicon]

I know sound shots, here in California we have a lot of Hmong in our woods that literally shoot anything they see, legal or not. Several years ago I was hunting with my cousin, opening weekend of deer. It was hot as hell. I was making my way down a very steep hill side to a road I had seen. I was no more than 50 feet above the road when there were 2 shots fired in my direction, so close I heard the sound of shot through the thick brush I was trying to get out of. I finally got out of the brush and onto the logging road, and right in front of me are these two idiots with their shotguns, I confronted both of these geniuses rather aggressively, I was ready to beat them badly. When I demanded an answer as to why they took a sound shot they said they thought they heard a bear, I commenced to losing my temper and after a few minutes we went our separate ways. Lesson learned. Watch your ass in the woods, those idiots were shooting #4 shot at anything they heard. They should thank whoever they pray to that they lived to crawl back to their truck.

[David2011]

Another hunter ed instructor here. Stressing that the target must be identified clearly is one of the major points of the curriculum.

[Land Owner]

On an occasion witnessed in South Carolina, five hunters assembled at camp after dark, following a single late-afternoon shot. It was asked if there was a deer down that needed to be recovered. The older gentleman that took the shot said he "thought" a doe was bedded by the field he was watching. He took a shot at "it" and discovered "it" was a shadow and not an animal. Oh Brother! That didn't sit well with four of us. With the prevalence of deer that come out into the open, why would you shoot at a shadow? He didn't come back to hunt for a couple of years.

[trapper9260]

It been many years I had hear the term Sound Shots . I stay away from people like that. Also hear of stores of hunters get kill when they needed to take a dump in the woods and during the deer season and someone kill them thinking they where a back end of a deer. The one that shot them did not made sure it was a deer .

[GhostHawk]

I've seen it done and been on the receiving end of it.

I had a large deadfall close laying on the ground so I dove behind it.
5 min later I walked out to find that miserable excuse for a human sitting in the passenger seat of a truck with the window rolled down. The 3 three brass laying there made it quite plain who the culprit was. I started giving him grief, he was responding with BS and getting upset. Finally I said I think I hear a deer in that truck. Think I'm going to crank off 3 rounds and see if I can get lucky.

Mr Bluster dried up and the idiot started to see my point. "Your first shot hit a branch 6 inches above my head. You could have killed me. I spit at his truck and walked away.

I think it mostly happens where you have some real thick country, and some real idiots who are too lazy to walk said country in the same area. They get frustrated because they never see anything. Nor should they IMO.

[Larry Gibson]

50+ years ago I heard about "sound shots" in a made up hunting joke.......apparently it's been repeated enough it has become the truth........

[farmbif]

I think its something made up by people who don't actually know how to hunt but they sure are good at firing a gun off.
I remember Totch ,Lorne Brown and the stories he would tell me of the early settlers life in the everglades. The Brown Family survived in the Everglades for generations by hunting and trapping one of the pioneering families of Florida . They made a living for a very long time hunting birds for the feathers that would get shipped to New York City to get put into the latest fashionable hats. they sure as heck didn't shoot willy nilly into the palmettos just cuz they heard something. Totch grew up in an era of changing times in Florida. when the government made his hunting grounds into a park and sent the first ranger to prevent people from hunting there.Totch told me he shot that ranger right in the head with a 22 mag. shooting like that sure aint no "sound shooting" Totch grew up to be a very influential man in his part of the everglades from The keys, Florida City, Everglades City. He and his uncle "stone Crab Joe" were the ones who made stone crabs popular to eat for the well heeled yankees that would come to Florida to enjoy the warm winters.
Just thought I would share this bit of Florida shooting history on this topic of Sound shooting in the Palmetto bushes

[popper]

Or the guy who accidentally fell into the enemy trench on a moonless night and wiped out the enemy (during 7 day war), was a turning point of the battle. Stuff happens but not when game hunting.

[JoeJames]

We get a lot of townies in our area. Enough that our black mouth cur wears a blaze orange vest whenever we let him out during gun deer season.

[rbuck351]

60 years ago my dad lectured me about not sound shooting and he wasn't joking. It wasn't too many years after that we had a hunter wearing a blaze orange hat shot out of a tree stand by a "hunter" that thought he was a deer.
Four simple gun safety rules and an amazing number of people can't follow those.

Half the people in the world are below average and average isn't all that high. And then there are the ones that just don't care about anyone else.

[JRD]

The thought of actual "sound shots" is scary, but here's a different take:

Many years ago my dad and a couple of his friends used to make trips to a neighboring state to hunt a large state park. Being state land there were ample other hunters about, but the tactic he and his friends employed was to get there early and stake out a good spot which overlooked a likely deer traveling corridor. Get settled and just wait and hope the other hunters tromping around the woods would scare up a deer and push it past him.

Occasionally he'd get some nimrod tromping through who didn't get the concept of personal space. The nimrod would be stomping along, looking at the ground, then look up and notice my dad sitting quietly at his spot. They'd walk right up to him and loudly ask if he'd seen anything.

My dad's response to those guys was usually something like, "A little while ago I heard something moving down in the brush near where you walked out of, so I took a couple sound shots in there. I went to check it out but didn't see any blood so mustn't have hit anything..."

My dad would deliver his line with a straight face and that would be enough to make the nimrod's eyes get big, drop the conversation, and move on to interrupt someone else's hunt.

I went along with him on some of those hunts. In fact, some of the most memorable moments of those hunts were the funny interactions we had with other hunters.

[MOshooter]

Its been a long time since I've heard that term "Sound Shots"

Actually the last time I heard that term was in the early 70's while taking an all day hunters safety class the NRA use to organize. They(NRA) ingrained NO sound shots religiously, I took the class twice with my Dad.
I grew up quail hunting,Never ever think about a sound shot with 2-4 hunters and 2-4 bird dogs in the field hunting, bad results.
Dad had me hunting over his dogs with a single shot 410 at 7 years old, at 9 years old I graduated to Rem 1100 20 ga.
Definitely no sound shots!

[444ttd]

i had an uncle(grandpap's brother) who was sound shot. him and his son were going spring gobbler hunting. they sat down in the woods and my began hen calling. (this was in the 1970s) it wasn't long but heard the hunter. he began to speak and boom, he was shot. at first he was MAD!!! he looked at his boy found out that he was ok and then he tried get up to beat the "man" senseless, but then the pain kicked in. he was shot by #4s and they penetrated his chest and neck. then he looked around and found the shooter had run away. my cousin, who was 12 or 13 yo, helped his dad to his feet and they stumbled and hobbled to the car(which was 3/4 mile away). then my cousin drove to hospital. my late uncle went to his grave years later and he still has pellets that weren't removed. his heart has 3 pellets and his neck(spine) has 2 pellets. it took about 2 weeks of investigating, but they caught the guy who shot my uncle. i was young lad when this all happened, but i do believe he said not guilty and he went on trial and he was found guilty on numerous charges. he spent the next year occupying rockview state penitentiary, not a good place to go to. but the fishing there(spring creek) was quite good!!!!!! remember, watch where you step. there's rattlers everywhere. well, there was about 8 or 9 years ago.its a trout paradise, no, really you can go to Fisherman's Paradise, bellefont, pa.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fisherman+paradise+spring+creek+bellefonte+pa&atb=v81-1&ia=maps&iaxm=maps&strict_bbox=1&bbox=40.88673631805807%2C-77.80190872126306%2C40.87775091633807%2C-77.78390788604307

[CLAYPOOL]

I stood and "LOOKED" for a few minutes, BUT i wasn't sure it was a deer ( 100 yds.) till it ran off. BUT I SURE DIDN'T SHOOT SOMEONE BY MISTAKE. Sneaked down the fence AND SAW A MOTION. STOOD REAL STILL AND THE BUCK CAME BACK LOOKING FOR HIS GIRL FRIEND. Shot him at about 15 feet. No question then....