Shooting in the Offseason

[godores]

Hey all,

I'm very new at all this, so I wanted to get some advice. We have 50 acres in Maury/Hickman that we are starting to manage for the first time next year. We are planning on a few food plots and some bedding areas.

Here is my dilemma. I am a gun nut and love shooting for sport, and I have a nice range built on the property. The range runs right across a proposed food plot and next to (within 100 yds) of a proposed bedding area.

If I only shoot from January to August, will the deer just leave and come back in September when the food plots kick in? Or if I'm only shooting once or twice a month for a few hours, will they return immediately? Would the backstop and targets on the edge of the food plot scare them away since it is so unnatural?

Just trying to figure out how to have my cake and eat it too! Thanks for the help.

 

[Omega]

I stop shooting at my place when archery kicks in unless I want to do archery that year, then it's a month prior. But, there have been a few times I have been target shooting and deer cross behind my targets, same at the Ft Campbell ranges, every now and then they have to call a cease fire due to wildlife. They seem to know when they are not being hunted.

 

[younggun308]

I'd be inclined to think they care less the more frequently you shoot. Might be more disruptive if it's completely out of the blue.

 

[godores]

So use the land pretty freely in the off-season, but stay out of the sanctuary parts.. Even if you are running trucks and shooting guns right outside of it, is the walking through the sanctuary uniquely bad compared to making a racket right outside? Please forgive my ignorance!

 

[Jcalder]

I know a guy that shoots all off-season and kills deer all season. Routinely sees deer while he's shooting. They don't pay him no attention.

 

[Safari Hunt]

I know a guy that shoots all off-season and kills deer all season. Routinely sees deer while he's shooting. They don't pay him no attention.

"Lead us not into temptation."

 

[JCDEERMAN]

If you shoot enough, they will become accustomed to it. I remember seeing a deer that bedded on the side of the rifle range at Cheatham years ago. How much is "enough"? That's the question.

 

[Lost Lake]

At my local range, it's not unusual to have to wait for deer to clear the backstops before firing. They really don't pay much attention to it there.

I'd guess it's all in what they get accustomed to.

 

[fairchaser]

During our matches, we frequently have a flock of turkeys wander out on the firing line. They don't seem to mind bullets flying overhead.

 

[jemo4570]

Years ago at Cheatham (the early 80's, when you could go and shoot anytime) there was a doe that would come out when the shooting started. She would walk up to the firing line and just watch. Sometimes right in front of your setup. After a few months, someone put a blaze orange dog collar on her. She was around for a couple years. Shooting nor the collar bothered her at all.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Years ago as a teenager I was in my grandfather's field checking my rifle before season started....had a half sheet plywood propped up in edge of woods with target stapled to it..... between series of shots I was making adjustments to my scope....set back up and looked through scope and a small 6pt was peeking around the plywood backstop.... couldn't believe my eyes....had to run him off!!....lol.....but today I'm fortunate to have a spot at the house I can shoot out to 100yds.....I do not sight in or "fun shoot" on the farms I hunt....I'm sure it would be fine to do so....but mentally it just would bother me....but I can get obsessive about stuff when it comes to deer hunting and putting undue pressure on them....crazy I know.

 

[Huntaholic]

Ive got a 100 and 200 yard range set up here in my yard. LOTS of times I can be shooting with deer trying to get in the way. I try not to shoot much during season but other than that, I shoot regularly and it doesn't bother them at all.

 

[DeerCamp]

I have neighbors on both of the main properties I hunt that like to shoot ARs on Saturday afternoons in the fall (smacks forehead). Both are around 300 yards from where our primary stands are.

I have not ever seen this have an impact on deer movement or spooking deer. The deer just seem to get used to it. Sometimes they look up for a minute, and then go back to feeding.

I think it annoys me more than it does the deer.

 

[Thelonegoose]

I hardly ever target shoot at my place but I usually dove hunt a few times starting in September. I always have a few deer come out into the field while I am shooting. They usually seem more worried about me than the shooting.