doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Skeet Shooting Incident

It is common! I have seen it happen many times . I have shot skeet for 50 years. My son was hit 3 times in one match. I believe that harder birds contribute. Wear Glasses!

bill

I don't think it always has to be a straight ricochet. I think the shot gets distorted and doesn't travel true. You can hear them buzz by every now and then.

As a result of all of the above, I have taken to wearing a hat with a brim while skeet shooting. A felt Stetson in cooler weather, and a straw cowboy hat in warmer weather. The high peak and broad brim have stopped many chunks of clay birds.

Mergus

Also in the FWIW dept. A friend who shot skeet all over the country for many years told me of two different times at major shoots where he witnessed someone having their glasses lens cracked/broken when the shooter was on station 4. Both times it was persons waiting their turn to shoot that were hit. You learn to never say never.

In the rough, people who shoot at low birds are a liability to both dog and man. I avoid them like the plague. Dove fields in particular can be a disaster if "NO LOW BIRDS!" is not strictly enforced. There too, wear eye & ear protection, the sight & hearing you save could be your own.

Dave, Suppose I'd have to ask my wife 'bout that.

But have been hit with #6 in the thigh....by a shooter across a dirt road. Saw it as in slow-motion: bird goes up, small muzzle signature, puff of feathers, bang, ouch. Didn't get through the Filson chaps, but left a welt. No need to ask the manager (aka, "chief caretaker") why he preferred customers use #7.5.

TW you are right about hazards in a dove field. I threw one hunter, an idiot, and his uninvited guest off my dove field about ten years ago for their repeatedly shooting at very low birds even after warnings. He had the balls to invite someone without asking or even knowing me personally. He was invited by a friend who had hunted with me for several years. Typical entitled politician. The idiot became Governor the next year. Lucky for me he was a one term Governor and I never needed a pardon or favor.

But when you hunt on my land, as my guest, I have absolute rules which must be followed by all, no exceptions. No alcohol before or during the shoot, no funny wacky weed, not shooting low repeatedly, no failing to look for every bird shot and no shooting over the limit at all. If lucky you get one warning but that is on a case by case basis. We are here to have fun not duck and cover because some jackass is out of control. And if excused from the field you can forget about the bbq. That's the best part anyways.

It amazes me when you have a field with several hundred birds using it and a 15 bird limit why people shoot at every bird which flies by them and feel the need to bring four boxes of shells. One year I had a one box limit of shells then required the hunter to ride back to the barn for more ammo. The kill per shot ratio doubled but the next year they were back with too many shells again.

Was it Havilah Babcock that wrote the story about the high class Southern dove shoot which started with breakfast and spiked eggnog, and the shoot rapidly degenerated into another War of Northern Aggression skirmish?

I have been shot, not by ricochets and not shot fall, twice in my life on a dove shoot. Once, at about age 14, I was shot by the host's son with a load of 3 1/4-1 1/8-8s at about 30 yards. Had to go have shot dug out of me that time. One pierced my earlobe ........... coulda put in an earring and been a real trendsetter in '65. Next time was as recent as 2 1/2 months ago. A guest did not see me leave my stand, to go pick up a dove I had shot down, and shot at a low bird, hitting me with several shot. None penetrated, but one hit me so hard on the upper lip that it caused bleeding inside my mouth for several minutes. When shot that time I fell face down on the ground instinctively, fearing another shot was coming. It scared the shooter so bad that he came running wide open thinking I was dead. I let him stay scared, briefly. He and I will not be within range of each other on any more shoots.

SRH

A high school friend's father got a face full of 6's when blocking on a pheasant drive. Fortunately, nothing really deep and none hit his eyes.

This was a good thread for me. I'm just getting around to joining a local skeet club and try my hand at it. This will keep me in the right frame of mind for eye-pro for sure.

An odd thing I had happen to me many years ago, not really related, but this reminded me. I was squirrel hunting with a 12 ga. I shot one at about 25 yrds with number 6 shot through IC choke. The wad was in the squirrel. Made a big hole.