The Potential for Ricochet Shots
 

I'm sure lots of you have a ton of stories about your various hunting experiences. Got me wondering if there were any stories about shots you took, or that someone else took, that ricocheted. (sp?)

In the dense woods of the Northeast, that's something I wonder about. I'm going to "assume" that ricochet is always a concern, whether you hit the animal you were aiming at, or not.

How real is the potential for ricochet? If "10" is a very dangerous thing in hunting, and "1" is hardly worth being concerned about, where does the potential for "ricochet" lay in that graph?

-Soupy1957

to me, where I hunt, probably a 2

Is the low concern based on the high velocity of the round, which is more likely to embed it somewhere (hopefully thru the deer at least), rather than bounce it around?
-Soupy1957

I have plenty of "back stop" that will stop the round before going anywhere harmful. I will never take a shot on a deer that is on top of a hill or where I'm aiming with sky as a background. Most times when I shoot the ground is the backstop because I'm up high or at least high enough to make the round venture down. My entrance and exit holes are 99% of the time in direct line of each other. If I'm shooting at a deer on a wood line, there are always enough trees that will "catch" the bullet if I miss or have a pass-through.

Being the "rookie" that I am, I never considered the notion of avoiding shooting skyward. No "backboard" there to guarantee, and I'd not know where my ammo round could end up. Is that the idea?

-Soupy1957

I always assume there is a wandering bullet probability and I am usually up high enough for a shot to be aimed in the ground. In WNY there is a guy serving time for hitting a school bus with a shotgun slug after his failed attempt to hit a deer with it. I couldn't even imagine trying to take a shot towards any road/civilized area. Where I hunt I grew up in so I know the location of roads, trails, houses, old abandoned camps and everything in between. Even when the hunting spots are miles and miles away from anything. Just be totally certain of any chances of wandering bullets and try making a shot without taking the risk. Good Luck.

"know your backstop" .........

-Soupy1957

I know my neighbors land on each side too. I know if they hunt, if they would be in the woods too. I also take a mental note as I hear gun shots. You can easily tell if they came from the property next to yours or if they came from 2 miles away. Make mental notes and you can easily find out where your neighbors are hunting.

I had a coworker tell me yesterday, that if he goes to a particular location to hunt, and there are too many cars parked there, he won't even bother to hunt (Danger factor)

-Soupy1957

That's probably true of any area, but not because of ricochet fears. More likely to be shot straight off by an idiot with buck fever, or because noisy hunters have run the deer off for miles. In our woods there is very little chance of ricochet because the timber soaks up any rounds, or the rocks destroy them. Lead splatters against granite.