What’s Wrong with This Picture — Look Carefully
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What’s wrong (or right?) with this picture? Does the “F” in F-class refer to “Fauna”? Look carefully at this Bisley Range photo taken by Australian R. Hurley while looking downrange through his March 8-80X scope. The photo was taken in 2015 at the Bisley National Shooting Centre in the UK.
The Story Behind the Photo
British shooter T. Stewart reports: “I was there when this photos was taken. All I can say was that Mr. Hurley was firmly reminded that should said deer accidentally jump in front of his bullet … he would spend five years ‘At Her Majesty’s Pleasure’.”
“That morning we had five deer moving across the targets, literally blocking the V-Bull. Since we were on the 900-yard Firing Point, and elevated for such, obviously the bullet would pass well above them. But they do NOT move or flinch at the noise or passing bullets since they are not hunted on the Bisley Ranges. Earlier this year we saw a herd of 20 or so deer grazing slowly across the Range.”
More Fauna Findings…
Apparently Bisley is not the only place were “the deer and the antelope play”. In Canada, on the Connaught Ranges near Ottawa, Ontario, shooters often encounter a variety of wildlife. William McDonald from Ontario says: “Animals are a common sight on the Range. Along with deer we see geese, turkeys, and coyotes on a daily basis.”Likewise, E. Goodacre from Queensland, Australia often sees ‘Roos on his home range: “I shoot at Ripley, Australia, and shooting is regularly interrupted by kangaroos. Our last silhouette match was delayed by an hour while 30 ‘Roos dawdled across — silly buggers!”
R. Hurley wasn’t the first fellow to view deer through his F-Class rifle’s scope. After seeing Hurley’s photo from Bisley, B. Weeks posted this image, saying: “Been there, done that!”
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Tags: Bisley, Deer, England Range, F-Class, March Scope, UK
Five years in jail? Because you accidentally shoot a deer? By the way, what is the minimum size of a potential “victim” to make you eligible to share a cell with rapists, murderers and carjackers? Would a stray dog or any rodent qualify? UK has gone insane for too long, they won’t see my precious bucks any time soon.
Reminds me. I used to shoot at the Isaac Walton range in Birchwood, Alaska. The range was laid out so we were shooting out towards the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet. Between the backstops and the water were a line of tall trees. In them we often saw Bald Eagles… lots of them. As far as I know none were ever shot.
Military ranges, being closed to regular “civilian” use, also have this problem.
In my otherwise unexceptional army days, I expended a LOT of Her Majesty’s ammunition on several big ranges, much of it at Greenbank, just outside Brisbane, Queensland.
The kangaroos seemed to think it was a game to bound onto the mechanical ranges and then saunter around among the targets as they popped up and disappeared during the shoot. Sometimes magpies and crows would take a lot of interest in some patch of the range, possibly where some previous furry or feathered visitor had a short lesson in applied terminal ballistics.
The biggest hazard were the wild horses. These rarely wandered onto a “hot” range in my experience, but seemed to delight in galloping out of the bush and onto the dirt service and main ring-road of the range complex. Being confronted by a horse suddenly crossing the road in front of the Land Rover is definitely NOT fun. Such an experience wakes you up MUCH more violently than the morning coffee you just finished.
Most of the other Oz military range areas I visited have similar opportunities to get “up close and personal” with the wildlife.
The old Gatton range was a “shared” facility used by Military and Civil organizations. One day we were doing a Grenade-Launcher shoot and had to stop for a small herd of cows to wander across the area containing the plywood temporary targets for the grenades.
Interesting times? Had a few.
Shooters, you will have 17 minutes to fire 15 rounds for record, and two sighting shots, NOT AT THE ANTELOPE. You may begin firing when your targets appear. -Actual words heard at a match.
The elk never hang out long with us, the antelope never leave.
With regards Five years in jail, what absolute tosh. Whilst the UK has many idiosyncrasies in its laws five years for shooting a deer is not one of them.
I have had kangaroos block my scope view and spend the day happily grazing underneath our shots dozens of times. One I always remember though is a bunch of emus starting the day just in front of the targets and by the end of the day followed us back to the 1000y line until they were only 50m in front of our muzzles and had to be shood away.
Five years in jail in the UK is only for being in possession of an unregistered firearm. It was introduced after the Dunblane school massacre.
You will get more than five years if you have a criminal record and have a firearm.
The police don’t have to carry guns in the UK and criminals seldom carry them due to the long sentences.