Henry Rifle Forums

It's "sighting in" season at the range where I shoot and "work" as a range officer. Gun season for deer in Wisconsin is a short, but HUGE event where perhaps a fifth or sixth of the entire population of the state all take the woods at the same time and shoot about 600,000 deer.

It begins at dawn on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and doesn't last very long (9 days, maybe)? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. So, for the two weeks prior to Opening Day, we have elbow-to-elbow hunters at the range sighting in their deer rifles and shotguns.

This morning, I naively thought I could get down to the range early, and shoot for a little while before things got too crowded. Nope. I ended up working for three hours instead. It was enjoyable, though. I helped a dad and his 8 year old son get a scope zeroed. The boy got a brand new rifle from his grandpa, and he was shooting it for the first time today.

Now I am a bit nervous, though. If the lad shoots at a deer and misses, they'll probably blame me!

The ranges around here are getting busy too!
But I bet it felt good helping the boy! Good job!

ditto1958 wrote: Now I am a bit nervous, though. If the lad shoots at a deer and misses, they'll probably blame me!

On the other hand, he may get his first deer. He may also want to share some of it with that helpful range officer. Now, that would be cool.

Nice you could be of help to the young shooter. The same thing happens at our gun club before the opening day of regular firearms deer season which opens the Monday after Thanksgiving and runs for two weeks. I have already done my sighting in on two rifles. Just as a side note, here in Pennsylvania, it is illegal to shoot at a outdoor range during those two weeks of regular firearms deer season. Or at any target anywhere outdoors for that matter.

We open our range to non members on weekends right before hunting season. Most will take three shots and leave.

Sir Henry wrote:We open our range to non members on weekends right before hunting season. Most will take three shots and leave.

Lol. When I close the range, I take down any paper targets that have been left. During sighting in season, there always seems to be at least one target with one hole right in the center of the bull. I guess some guy came down, took one shot, and said "okay, she's still sighted in. See y'all next year!"

ditto1958 wrote:

Sir Henry wrote:We open our range to non members on weekends right before hunting season. Most will take three shots and leave.

Lol. When I close the range, I take down any paper targets that have been left. During sighting in season, there always seems to be at least one target with one hole right in the center of the bull. I guess some guy came down, took one shot, and said "okay, she's still sighted in. See y'all next year!"

Most deer in this area is taken within 100 yards so not a lot of sight-in is required. My friend in Montana often can't get any closer than 300 yards and often even out to 700 yards so he practices a lot year round.

That's the kind of work I could get used to.

RetiredSeabee wrote:That's the kind of work I could get used to.

I've been told the pay is also excellent. I think it's similar to what the administrators and moderators have here at the forum.

I don't even bother going to the ranges is November.