Were you awakened today by the sound of gunfire?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
43867
)
October 18th, 2014
I was. Today, Oct 18, is opening day of duck season and at precisely 30 minutes before sunrise, 6:58 am, there was a round of gunfire from at least 15 hunters in the area.
I am surrounded on three sides by marsh and a wildlife preserve that is ideal nesting area for ducks and geese. It is now 7:40 and I can identify specific hunters by the different sound and shooting pace of their guns. At least 2 likely have young kids with them as I can hear single shot 410 gauge shotguns firing. There are quite a few big bore Remingtons, 1100 or 1187, that cycle so quickly the third round is fired before the casing from the first hits the ground. There are classic pumps like the Ithaca with its regular boom pattern about 1 second apart.
I went outside about 5 minutes after it started to get the newspaper and just walked up and down the road listening to the rumbling. I like it.
Did you hear guns shots today? How do you feel about them?
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Update. It is now 8:25 am and there are still a few shots sporadically going off like the last few kernels of popcorn in the microwave.
Nope. Just high winds and trash cans.
No. But in Georgia, duck season doesn’t begin until just before Thanksgiving.
I’m not near the wetlands but someone made a makeshift pistol range about a half mile from me. I hear that on occasion. Does not bother me at all. I have been meaning to catch them up there and ask if I can use it.
@ragingloli I see that hunting is permitted in Germany. The rules were pretty complicated so I might not have it exactly right but it looks like hunters can buy a hunting lease for about $10,000 for the right to hunt on about 500 acres. They can share this lease with others. There are 450,000 hunter in Germany! Really? If a landowner has only 150 acres they must compete for the right to hunt on their land.
I thought this was interesting. “When something goes wrong, such as a wild boar destroying a farmer’s corn crops, the hunter who leases that land is responsible for the damages. If deer continually raid a citizen’s apple trees, the local hunter could face accusations of laziness and incompetence.” Source
I am roughly in the middle of over 1000 acres with about 20 other homes. We can fire a gun as long as we are over 500 ft from the road or a house.
@ARE_you_kidding_me That’s the spirit! :-)
No, just my neighbors barking dogs at 5:55. A.M. On my day off. Ugh.
No but I thought I heard the sursurrus of the arrow leaving the bow. My landscape guy is somewhere on my property, and it’s early bow hunting season.
@chyna Such a rude awakening. Hopefully you were able to get back to sleep.
@gailcalled Thank you for teaching me a new word. I will try to remember it. “Susurrus” instead of saying “the soft swoosh of an arrow”.
I now let 3 different bow hunters use my property. They each tie a bandanna onto a post in front of my garage to signify to the others and me that they are on the property: red, blue green. That minimizes the danger of anyone getting hit. I want no surprises!
(One precise word is always better than six, I say.)
I let only my one friend and his buddy on my property, for the same reasons. I am sure that one of my neighbors poaches but I am not walking way back there to verify or confront him.
Living in New York I guess I could wake up to gunfire but I really doubt if it would have anything to do with Duck Season. :)
The word you almost learned is susurrus, caused by the fletch of the arrow in flight, don’tcha know.
I woke to the sound of geese flying in an easterly direction trying to get as far as possible from the USA before their strength gave out.
It’s remarkable that you’ve been living near “the front” long enough to recognize the weapons from the sounds of their reports. Living near the marshlands, what’s your remedy for mosquitoes?
@CWOTUS: Damn. That was a typo. The “sursur” is impossible to pronounce and also defeats the purpose of the onomatopoeia “susurrus”
@stanleybmanly It is easy to hear the difference. You can also tell if they are using standard loads or higher power which propels the pellets at supersonic speed. The sound is so different it is simple to tell them apart. The pitch ranges from a low frequency “thud” to a high frequency, sharp “crack”. The intensity varies from quiet to earthshaking roar. Finally, the firing rate varies from a single shot to a rapid fire string with a lightning fast reload. From the direction you can tell if it is a large group or just a pair. You can tell if it is a father son/daughter team : large gun and small gun.
You can tell which hunters are methodical and which are excitable. For duck hunting the gun is limited to 3 rounds. for deer hunting it is 5 rounds. You can tell the conservative guy from the excitable one by the shooting style. the conservative guy will take on shot or two but will rarely empty the gun. The excitable guy empties the gun every time. Blam! Blam! Blam! Probably a young guy. The hunter who only takes 2 shots shows control and a bit of thrift. He is probably a gray beard. He only had the opportunity to take 2 good shots so that is all he took.
I love the sounds because I can picture what is going on. I imagine birders are the same way when they hear bird calls.
Yes. Mosquitoes are a problem in the summer. The swallows and bats love them. They are gone now.
Back in California, I fell asleep to the sound of gunfire. Moving to Alabama, I actually had trouble going to sleep because there was no gunfire. The silence is what wakes me up.
Nearly, fireworks!
Always the same on the lead up to bonfire night, morning, noon & bastard night.
@ucme Fireworks?!?! I love ‘em. That sounds like a great time! Sign me up!
@LuckyGuy Not when they go off right outside your window, tossed by the local brats.
No and I’m glad I didn’t. Apparently there are four states in Australia that still allow duck hunting but not my state. So if I hear gun fire it’s coming from the military base and more likely to be machine gun fire and I don’t hear that very often. Never wakes me up. The ducks are safe.
@LuckyGuy I’m still trying to figure out how you can take a duck with a .410. Isn’t that like shooting at them with a spitball? We don’t get duck hunters, it’s more deer hunters that make me nervous. Shooting towards my house at 250 feet is kind of scary. Hunters spend millions on wildlife programs and outdoor spaces, so I’ll cut them some slack. But when the state raids the “dedicated fund” it pisses me off.
I think the idea of the youth gun is to get the kid used to going out into the field/swamp, in the cold rain, sitting for hours in a blind, whispering with your father. The actual firing of the 410 is secondary. You don’t want the youth to fire a cannon that will likely cause a flinch next time.
Typically the kid fires first and the dad follows ½ to ¾ of a second behind. You can hear it.
@LuckyGuy Good point. We had a old 12 gauge. That kicked like a mule. I had a Remington 1100 20 gauge that was so smooth shooting I used to fire it with the butt on my stomach so people weren’t afraid to try it. That was an excellent firearm.
@Adirondackwannabe Nice! I still have my Rem 1100 – it is the LT-20 model. It Slightly smaller and lighter than the full size 20. I got it over 35 years ago. It’s a beautiful piece.
Fast, reliable and accurate.
No, if I woke up to gunfire where I live, I would be calling the cops immediately. That is, if they weren’t already involved in the incident.
No, thank goodness. But if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have been walking around on the street within 5 minutes… unless I was giving an account to the police (who likely wouldn’t be there within 5 minutes). I’d be looking in on my kids to make sure everyone was safe.
One time I was teaching in a little bitty, tiny town. I was out on the playground with the kids, when I heard gunshots. It kind of freaked me out, having just moved from a large city. Nobody else even seemed to notice, so I asked one of the students about it. She said, “Oh, they’re just hunting down by the river there.”
@Cupcake We don’t live that far apart yet it is a different world.
@Dutchess_III That is the attitude I like: “Oh, never mind. It’s just Gary and the boys sighting in their shotguns.”
@LuckyGuy I know, it’s crazy.
I love your stories and I imagine your property is beautiful. Doubtful that you’d say the same. :)
Me too. I love the pictures you post on facebook @LuckyGuy.
Usually any gunfire I hear is from the firing range at the military base nearby. I’m more likely to be awakened by the roar of a squadron of F-15’s taking off.
@Yetanotheruser That is way more annoying! Someday they will figure out how to harness all that acoustic energy and turn it into propulsion.
I remember the 60’s, when it wasn’t illegal to break the sound of speed over a populated area. Scared the crap out of me the first time. I was 8, and we had just moved to Kansas, near McConnell AF base.
@Yetanotheruser That would be awesome the first time, and irritating thereafter. I’d love to see an F-15 in flight one day.
It’s still awesome, when it is not irritating, if you know what I mean. Some days thert is more activity than others, but it is usually not early enough to wake me up. I’ve been in this house for over 10 years, and I still don’t get tired of watching them take off, land, and sometimes just do touch-and-go exercises.
I find it incredible that they can pack so much power into such a small package.
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