I know it's the trade-off I make for living out in the sticks, but I'm a jumpy person to begin with. Random gunshots don't help.

A rifle round can carry quite a ways, too.

I've hunted and am properly respectful of firearms -- to the point that I'm genuinely afraid of yahoos I don't know or trust walking around with something that moves a 200-grain bullet at 2000 fps for several hundred yards. (My PTSD sure ain't helping, neither.) It's like I've said for years: I'm not in the least afraid of guns. Ammo scares the snot out of me, though. And rednecks whose firearms training consists of watching Bruce Willis movies? Don't get me started?

On the plus side: venison.

I hear you, though. When I lived in the woods of Massachusetts I had some memorable incidents with nearby gunshot. It's somewhat startling.

Yeah, I especially hate deer season when I don't know anyone I can mooch venison off of. That farm raised venison is tasteless.

Even better when the foliage flies off of trees you're standing near. If you can actually tell the difference between sounding close and being close, or if it's a bunch of rowdy drunks, then a "hey! watch out you idiot!" is not out of order.

I don't even like venison, so there's nothing in it for me! Well, except thinning the herd. That's really important.

We're across the street from about 20 acres of forest. I'm not really worried about the people who have lived here for generations and come from a long line of hunters. They tend to be safe and respectful. It's the yahoo transplants that concern me. (And the kid across the street. He's a bit boneheaded.)

I know it's the trade-off I make for living out in the sticks, but I'm a jumpy person to begin with. Random gunshots don't help.

Well, if it makes you feel better I occasionally hear random gunshots, too.
And I don't exactly live in a rural area... ;)

What kelly said. There aren't too many deer in my neighborhood but gunshots are common enough.

There aren't too many deer in my neighborhood but gunshots are common enough.

Maybe they are hunting for manison. Manison is people, it's people!

Getchur seasonal suburban safety head gear on, people. If you're gonna be a target anyway, help hunters make sure you go down on a clean head shot.

If you're going to go for the orange hat, make sure to get one with ear flaps. It's cold out there.

Cheers. I hatehatehate deer season. Hunters and U.S. State DNRs/DOWs sell it to the public as "population control," but they actually maintain deer populations HIGH as a convenience to the hunters whose hunting licenses fund the DNRs.

Case in point: Recently the Farm Bureau told a State DNR to lower the deer population because they felt the deer were grazing crops too much. The DNR said, No way, if we take the deer down that low hunters will have a tough time getting their kills! They even cited statistics showing how easy it is for hunters to bag deer compared with 20 years ago.

Also, hunters always want bucks. If you're stupid enough to try to control deer populations by killing deer, you should only kill females. Kill 9 out of every 10 males and deer are still so polygamous that all the females will get pregnant.

Then the REBOUND EFFECT takes place!:

Deer's fecundity (birth rates) are tied to their health (and even directly to factors like % of body fat.)

Less deer + same abundant food source = Deer give birth at earlier ages and birth twins and triplets instead of single fawns.

Population rebounds back up like a tree that has been expertly trimmed and grown bigger and healthier because of it!

It's just all so much bullshit.

If you truly hunt to survive, then fine. But studies show hunted venison averages way above the price of steak in the grocery store when you factor in all the costs.

And you wouldn't believe how many hunting accidents ("Cheneys," LOL), some of them beyond idiotic, have occurred already this season. Some folks I know keep track of them.

Jesus, can't a supposedly compassionate and evolved race leave Bambi alone?

The cost is not significant. One's initial investment in hunting gear isn't a whole lot and need not be terribly fancy.

The time investment is no worse than that for any good hobby.

And the payoff — sweet, delicious deer meat — makes the cost pretty much irrelevant anyway.

But, geesh, hunters, learn to read and use a map. You shouldn't be taking shots toward any populated areas! Bullets are lethal for miles. They can kill things a long way out of your sight.

For instance, you might startle one of these guys.

And that can never be good news.

"For instance, you might startle one of these guys. ..."

In fairness, the chance that any errant deer hunter is going to rile a crack 2 man sniper team, equipped with a military .50 calibre gun, and the optics and training to use it effectively, into making a retaliatory shot at the idiot deer hunter who just missed them, is vanishingly small. There all, after all, probably less than 50 guys in the world who could make that shot, and only then with military ammo and weapon.

But you know, idiot deer hunters do bag the occasional feather pillow.

This is why I hunt with a bow.

Be careful out there, rossi. They might also be hunting foxes IYKWIMAITYD. *waggles his eyebrows suggestively*

What shane said.

*high fives*