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How to judge "500 Ft" Distances

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Scorpion8 
#1 ·
In the Alagash, in Maine, there's a whole lot of "nothin" ........so this question is mute.

However, here in CT, we are required to stay 500 Ft away from any structure (generally speaking; since some variances apply when talking about distance requirements, for populated buildings -vs- other types of structures; so relatively speaking, staying at least 500 Ft away from any structure is a safe rule of thumb I suppose), when firing our weapons when hunting.

That said, is there a good way to estimate (for known structures anyway) 500 Feet? I don't own a golfer's (or hunter's) distance estimating tool (which I suppose means that I should consider buying one) and want to be able to do a visual measurement that is reasonably easy to do.

-Soupy1957
 
#2 ·
Personally I wouldn't try to "Guess" the distance which might only allow myself to unintentionally break laws. The best action to be sure you're Hunting within the laws would be to use a good Range Finder, there's a little bit of a cost involved but I'd much rather pay the merchant vs. paying the fines for breaking the laws..
Good Luck
 
#4 ·
Won't that make the owner of the building a bit nervous to see a hunter walking TOWARD his building, carrying a weapon? (lol).

I'm just wondering if a good comparison tool is part of the arsenal of some hunter out there, who can say: "Five hundred feet (visually) is like.........."

-Soupy1957
 
#8 ·
The simplest way is to guage your eye against something of a known heaight at a known distance, and then project it out there. Do you see a barn or outhouse? How many stories? Typical barn is 10' per floor/story plus a pitched roof of another (having climbed a 30' ladder as a kid to paint a barn, I know it won't reach the top just barely). Now mark that height at that distance on a pencil or cartridge shell held at a consistent length from your eye. The key is consistency...if you hold your arm extended once and half bent the second time the estimation will be wrong. And then once you have a good estimation, move another 20 yards away for a safety smidgeon.

Secondly, if you know where you are going, look at the area on GoogleEarth and make printouts with circles drawn around each building at 500' to reference against known landmarks.
 
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