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Some of the guys at work found out I was a hunter and became interested enough to ask questions. I showed them pictures and told them stories and soon, I could tell they had the bug. I knew of a large piece of land that would accommodate us and we set out to form a group to share hunting camp now and forever...

Guy A bought a camper trailer. Awesome investment that I had never used before. Figured it would be way more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.

Guy B is a tactical sort who owns nothing but AR15s and pistols. He decides he will buy a rifle to hunt with. Of course, he knows more about guns being a Marine than the rest of us combined. I tell him that a light rifle chambered in a flat shooting cartridge is the ticket for the canyons were the mule deer live. Of course I know nothing and NO MILITARY uses a 270, so it can't be worth a damn. 14 lb M40 clone it is!

Guy C is the only one who has ever hunted and he's hunted every year since he was 12 (now 35). But he's never seen a legal deer. More on that later.

So, we spend the summer getting gear together, tailoring loads for each rifle, and got everyone to shooting ok. Guy C is still a bit awkward, so I decide A and B can stick together and I'll help C. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take them to the area before the season, so their first look would be the evening before opening day.

We get to the farm and I go forward as the one who knows all the people and has our access figured out. I called ahead and spoke to everyone who owns the property and permission was affirmed. As I walk up to the house, I see 6 camper trailers with 3 to 5 people sitting around each. That's a lot of people.

I talk to the farmer and he says that he forgot his nephews were coming in and it might get crowded. He suggested we hunt from the bottom of the canyone and come up, since his nephews and their families would be coming from high ground. I get the idea that we will set uo down below in the dark and let all the yahoos push deer to us. Excellent.

We have a great night and get some sleep in a wonderfully warm camper trailer. This is heaven. The morning comes and Guy A realizes its 20 degrees outside. He borrows long johns and a beanie and gets dressed. As we get ready to leave, everyone but me pulls out a pistol.

"What are you huys doing?"

ABC in unison: "Getting a pistol ready"

"Why?"

ABC: "Bears and cougars"

"So, you're gonna fight a bear or cougar with a 9mm and not use your rifle that packs 3000 ft lbs of energy at the muzzle?" (Secret, never once seen bear or cougar sign in this area)

A and B realize thats a good point, C keeps his 6-shot single stack 9mm.

After an hour of hiking in the dark where there are cacti....Guy C realizes he's lost his pistol. I hand A and B a chem light and tell them C and I will be back. Found the gun all the way back to within 100 yards of camp where it fell out of the "holster". I'm pissed at this point.

We hike back and find A and B. All together, we climb 500 feet into the rimrock just before daybreak. The farmers nephews must have gotten drunk because they were starting late.

We hear the ATVs start up a thousand feet above us. We set up shooting sticks and rifles and prepared for the mass heard of deer thay would be pushed down to is. Soon, buck comes over the saddle on the ridge across from us. Guy C had drawn first shot, and was struggling to get still. Guy A was freezing to death because he had sweat so much on the hike and he was soaked, sitting in the high desert with a nice 20 degree breeze. Guy B was being a real trooper, but pretty sure he was pissed too because he had a clear shot.

When the buck first came over the ridge, he was about 320 yards away and we couldn't count enough points on him. He came downhill towards us and stood broadside at 110 yards. I'm looking st him with a spotting scope and he is a small 3x3. I tell him to shoot.

Guy C must not have realized the deer was now 210 yards closer. First shot sails over the back and thebm buck takes off like a bat out of hell.

Dejected.

Defeated.

Dumbazz.

Guy C blows a gimmie on the first legal deer he has ever seen. After 20 minutes of b!tching about it, a 3x4 comes over the same ridge! This time, the deer holds up on the ridge where Guy A and B can't see him. Only Guy C can see him. He gets steady, and I check the wind. Its pretty much still. The buck is broadside and motionless. At the crack of the rifle, the deer looks uphill to see why rocks are falling. He then walks away. As he walks around a clump of rocks, he gets put down by a drunk nephew.

"What happened?!"

Guy C: "The gun is off! I held perfect!"

"You were steady?"

"Yes!"

"You had the first dot behind the shoulder?" (using Leupold LR Duplex with BDC dots)

Silence....

"Isn't 300 yards the second dot?"

"Not if you're zeroed at 200!"


EPILOGUE

Guy A sold his trailer, not before nearly freezing to death. Plans on moving to AZ.

Guy B blamed it all on me that he didn't get a deer. Hasn't gone since, or shot his M40 clone.

Guy C decided to continue hunting on his own. He was later cited and fined for killing an elk, thinking it was a deer.

Me?.....

Hunted alone the last few years.
 
Some of the guys at work found out I was a hunter and became interested enough to ask questions.


EPILOGUE

Guy A sold his trailer, not before nearly freezing to death. Plans on moving to AZ.

Guy B blamed it all on me that he didn't get a deer. Hasn't gone since, or shot his M40 clone.

Guy C decided to continue hunting on his own. He was later cited and fined for killing an elk, thinking it was a deer.

Me?.....

Hunted alone the last few years.

Damn! What a show. Well you tried.
Back in 80's I loved upland (Quail). New guy at work finds out, wants to go. All he has ever hunted was Pheasant. I tell him 12 or 20 shotgun with no choke is the ticket where I go. That birds will either be on the ground or flush within feet of you. He buys nice pump 12 with a full choke <sigh>
So we head out first day. No sooner we get out of vehicle I point, covey, watch. He is looking 360, asking where where. Birds flush, I take one, he never fires. This repeats it's self many times. Finally he fires wildly next time some flush. In a few hours I limit out. Stay out with him as he tries to get his first one. He was so used to hunting something like a flying basket ball he could not for the life of him get one. Birds would flush and either he would look at multiple birds and not be able to pick one to shoot at, or fire blind and of course hit nothing. Way home he stops at first stop n rob, gets a 6 pack he finishes before we get back to town. No more of that for me. I make excuses to bow out next time he asks.
Others I work with do not heed my warning and take him Deer hunting next year. He buys a nice 270. He goes to range and tells me he shot 1/2 of one box of ammo with it. I ask him if he got it sighted that fast? He says it's only off by.......... I just drop it. The weekend they go comes and goes, Monday he is saying nothing. One of the others when we get alone says it was a disaster. Guy "shot at" a couple Deer and one large Cat which he also had a tag for. He of course hit nothing. Spent the rest of the time at camp getting hammered and acting the fool till he ends up in a fight with one of the others. I "tried" to resist saying "I tried to tell you", could not, co worker shook his head laughing.
 
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Both great stories @Alexx1401 & @No_Regerts

I have a short story, early 1970's me and my friend went Squirrel hunting.
His gun jammed, and he tried to clear it, shot me in the big toe right at the top edge of the toe nail.
To this day that damn thing doesn't grow right. We were around 11 or 12. I took off my other sock wrapped my other toe and shoved them back in my boots, which we soaked in blood by the time I got home. Anyways I lived,
no media showed up, no cops, no safe place. And I never went shooting with him again even though we remained friends
several years later.
 
Both great stories @Alexx1401 & @No_Regerts

I have a short story, early 1970's me and my friend went Squirrel hunting.
His gun jammed, and he tried to clear it, shot me in the big toe right at the top edge of the toe nail.
To this day that damn thing doesn't grow right. We were around 11 or 12. I took off my other sock wrapped my other toe and shoved them back in my boots, which we soaked in blood by the time I got home. Anyways I lived,
no media showed up, no cops, no safe place. And I never went shooting with him again even though we remained friends
several years later.

As a kid I got to see a "close call" that stuck with me. Uncle used to take me when I was too young to get a license. I still loved to go. He would drive along a wash until birds spotted. Him and his partner would walk after them a while, turn and go back. One day he took some clown I can't remember where he met. Told guy first time out, we take this side, you that. The idea was when you double back you are not going to be running into other shooter. Moron for some reason went back, the came back looking for us in our lane. On way back birds flush, Uncle steps up to fire just as moron steps out from brush that is just over his head. He was wearing a straw hat that went flying off. No one was hurt, my Uncle was PISSED off so bad we got back in the vehicle and went home. I never forgot that when I got old enough to start packing my own gun with him
 
As a kid I got to see a "close call" that stuck with me. Uncle used to take me when I was too young to get a license. I still loved to go. He would drive along a wash until birds spotted. Him and his partner would walk after them a while, turn and go back. One day he took some clown I can't remember where he met. Told guy first time out, we take this side, you that. The idea was when you double back you are not going to be running into other shooter. Moron for some reason went back, the came back looking for us in our lane. On way back birds flush, Uncle steps up to fire just as moron steps out from brush that is just over his head. He was wearing a straw hat that went flying off. No one was hurt, my Uncle was PISSED off so bad we got back in the vehicle and went home. I never forgot that when I got old enough to start packing my own gun with him
Oh Crap....
 
As a kid I got to see a "close call" that stuck with me. Uncle used to take me when I was too young to get a license. I still loved to go. He would drive along a wash until birds spotted. Him and his partner would walk after them a while, turn and go back. One day he took some clown I can't remember where he met. Told guy first time out, we take this side, you that. The idea was when you double back you are not going to be running into other shooter. Moron for some reason went back, the came back looking for us in our lane. On way back birds flush, Uncle steps up to fire just as moron steps out from brush that is just over his head. He was wearing a straw hat that went flying off. No one was hurt, my Uncle was PISSED off so bad we got back in the vehicle and went home. I never forgot that when I got old enough to start packing my own gun with him

Had allot of close calls, that was the only time I got shot while hunting LOL , once was enough.
 
We used to hunt the fields around the family farm, there was always something to shoot and fill the pot or BBQ, most times we used the .22 rifles, didnt matter if it was birds on the wing or a little forked horn in the grass, if it was within range, chances were good it would be comming home for dinner. Long story short, a cousin we didnt really know came to spend the summer with us on the farm, his folks thinking he needed to spend some time growing up with good kids instead of the brats he was always gettin in trouble with. Uncle taught him gun safety and how to shoot a little and loaned him his .22 single shot! Lets just say this cousin is not only an arrogent little prick, but is not safe to handle a firearm unsupervised by an adult, a fact the rest of us pointed out to my uncle later that first afternoon! Said cousin got super pissed that the .22 was taken away and while the rest of us could go shooting after our chores got done, he would remain close to the house and would ether spend his time reading or doing additional farm chores that would ether teach him about being a man, or confirm his worthlessness to society!
Sad to say about kin, but that cousin is a worthless fellon doing a stretch in club fed for what else, stealing instead of working for it like every one else! Havnt seen that cousin since the end of that summer, and dont feel the least bit sad about it ether!
 
Not a hunting story, a shooting story.

When I was stationed in San Diego in my late 20s, we lived outside of the metro area up to the east near Alpine... a little town called Harbison Canyon. There was a bunch of canyons to the north across the US10 freeway. I liked to take my kids shooting .22lr and clays.

One day they decided they wanted a few friends to go with. Some 10 and 12 year old boys with .22 rifles. We went and had a good time and on the way back, as I did on the way there, I insisted that there be no loaded rifles in the bed of the pickup where those boys were riding the few miles it took to get home.

I should have checked. Getting out on that dirt road was bumpy. Stuff in back gets tossed around. During one particularly nasty bump, I thought I heard a little extra bang. Didn't think much about it. But later as I was putting gear away, I noticed the arm of the clay thrower had a bullet hole in it and some lead lodged in the rail section. Whoa! Then I realized the arm of that thrower was extended up right behind my head when we were traveling. Double whoa.

That was when I stopped taking people I didn't know well shooting.
 
I got a close call one to share.
Buddy of mine from college and I had been duck hunting together for about a year just him and I. He shows me a few good spots around the valley we live in and then a ways away out near the potholes. Couple weeks into the next years season he says we're gonna take along another guy he went to school with and has only hunted with once, says the guy is squared away. Morning come and we leave well before dark, dudes taking pulls off a pint of mcnaugtons in the truck on the way, first sign of trouble. Get out to our spot not many birds flying, it's sorta sunny and the water was moving fast. Buddy and I wanna leave but guy sees some in the distance so we stay hoping to come up with something. Right as some fly by kinda low new guy sky busts at them then swings over our heads and shoots twice more over the top of us. Buddy and I said F this and F you were out. That was an awkward drive home and never saw the guy again on our hunts. Since then I rarely will hunt with people I don't know or have newly met.
 
dudes taking pulls off a pint of mcnaugtons in the truck on the way,

Ummmm, no.

My wife was pizzed when I bummed a ride on a jet boat from the husband of a nice lady we met while camped out near Hells Canyon Dam. I talked my wife into going, then after few minutes on the water, this azzhat lights up a joint and pulls out a bottle of Jack. That was not a fun ride home.:oops::oops::oops:
 
Not my story. A friend was out shooting in the forest and was packing up to leave and some guys in a van pull in the area and had a number rifles sitting vertically in a rack between the seats. Anyway the van hits a dip and the rifles start firing, multiple shots. so things settle down and he walks over peaks in the van and notices the big hole in the windshield and says, "nice group.''
 
Its hard when its family, I have had two close calls with a Ex-Military family member. Oddly with the same firearm.

First time he showed me his firearm it was a AK-74 Hunting rifle. It was interesting. We have only shot pistols together and
thought nothing of it. So first time ( ya there never should have been a second, but there was a last). We are shooting at targets everyone is in their safety areas taking turns. He had dumped a couple mags, them he did some Rambo bubblegum, shooting from his waste, about half the mag in slipped, and tow rounds flew about 5ft from me. Mind you I was a good 8 feet behind him.

Second we parked as a quarry area . same family member same firearm, but allot of my wives family was there, that he is part of came. We parked across the road from the quarry and I saw him doing something off to my left side but I was busy doing our safety checks and getting everything set. I see him walk back to this side of the road as I am about to grab gear to go across the road. When all of a sudden Rambo starts blowing thru a 30 round mag. I am about 15 feet to his right and he is only shooting maybe 20ft at a rock wall, not dirt, Rock entrance to the old quarry. bubblegum was flying back at us, something knocked the top of the car and tossed my ball cap like 10feet. And everyone was ducking behind their vehicles. He stops and was obvious. I proceeded to pack my stuff got in the SUV and we left. That was 5 years ago and never went with him again. Its not a hunting but shooting... but dang thats just a few times Ive been around people that shouldn't be shooting firearm, until they learn safety. the fact he was old Army still shocks me as well.
 

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