NZGAC Hunter Education. Enabling better education and safer hunting practices.
NZ Hunter Education: Module 5:
Rule 5: Check Your Firing Zone
Your firing zone is the area between you and your target and the area behind your target. This rule of ‘checking your firing zone’ is important for a number of reasons.
It recognises the fact that projectiles fired from a rifle or shotgun can travel a significant distance and beyond what you can see in the immediate area, and firing zones can change rapidly with moving targets.
Ask yourself:
“What could happen if I miss my target?”
Extreme range for projectiles may be as much as:
.22 rimfire 1.5 kilometres
.308 calibre 4.5 kilometres
Airgun up to 400 metres
Shotgun from 250 metres to 750 metres (Depending on the type of cartridge.)
Sights also need to be set correctly to prevent rounds falling short or going far beyond the target.
Safety points:
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Never fire when companions are ahead of you, especially when you have lost sight of them.
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It is unsafe to shoot at a target on the skyline. Remember that many hunting areas have rural and urban developments close by.
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Night shooting is dangerous, especially if using telescopic sights, because they restrict your field of view and because spotlights light up only a small part of the firing zone and the projectiles range. Only shoot at night if you are certain it is safe to do so. NB. It is forbidden to shoot during the hours of darkness in any state forest, forest park or national park.
Two hunters out spotlighting shot a deer, and when one went forward to retrieve it, the other person identified the victim’s headlight as another deer’s eyes and shot at him. Fortunately the victim had just bent down to remove stones from his shoe when the shot was taken. The bullet from the .270 however skimmed across the back of the victim, opening a sizeable wound running half the length of his back and requiring 13 staples.
(23rd March 2015)
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Be aware of other people, buildings or stock in your immediate firing zone. This is especially so when game bird shooting or taking shots when people or houses may be near as in rural areas with smaller land holdings. A ricochet from a missed shot may endanger someone near the house or hit stock, or a house.
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When following a moving target with a firearm such as a shotgun or even with a rim-fire or centre-fire rifle, firing zones can change rapidly when shooting at animals on the run. As you swing the muzzle around in an arc, be aware of the position of other hunters. This applies particularly when shooting with shotguns. Duck shooters sharing a mai-mai can drive vertical poles into the ground to prevent an ‘over- swing’ endangering a companion.
The hunter was in front of a mai-mai retrieving birds when pellets from a shot from another hunter in a nearby mai-mai landed on his face. While the two mai-mais were further than the suggested distance apart, the victim still received three pellets to the face, including one in his eyelid.
(2nd May 2015)
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When using a telescopic sight, especially when shooting at a moving target, your field of view can be limited (you only see what is visible in the scope) and can change quickly. The higher the power scope the less your field of view - that means the less you can see. (Note picture on right.) That is one reason why you should NOT use your rifle scope to identify your target. Another reason is this - the moment you lift your rifle to your shoulder, you have crossed a mental boundary - you are ready to shoot.
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Bush or scrub may obscure your whole firing zone.
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Shotgun pellets spread out over distance thus creating a potential safety issue.
Because hunting situations can be so fluid and can change so quickly, it is really important that you are thinking ahead and thinking safety all the time, and especially regarding changing firing zones.
You are responsible. One moment a situation may be completely safe, the next moment you or your friend may be in danger.
Here is a typical example:
Imagine being out rabbit shooting with a friend in an area that is semi scrub and you are using a shotgun and he is using a semi- automatic .22 rifle. You have shot quite a few rabbits by jump shooting – the rabbits take off when disturb them and the shooting is fast and you have to be quick. He has also shot a few and is not too bad at shooting on the run. You are hunting apart and most rabbits you disturb run a few meters and stop or run away from you.
However one stays hidden until you are nearly onto it. It jumps up suddenly and starts to run between you. Your reaction is to throw your shotgun up to your shoulder and shoot ... your friend may be directly in line and even if you only hit near the rabbit, pellets may ricochet off rocks. He may be tempted to have a shot on the run, but you may directly in line with him. One minute you have safe hunting, the next second potential danger.
Think ahead and think safety at all times.
A story to reflect on:
We were hunting at Stewart Island on Ocean Beach, which is a big long curved beach. On the north end there was a big rock stuck out of the sand like a tooth. Whitetail deer seem to live with you around your camp and for several days I’d seen lots of tracks of a buck in our area. Then one day I saw him on the track that goes over to Paterson Inlet.
That evening I headed down to the end of the beach and lay on the rock as it was a good vantage point to see along the beach. It was a good possie, but after being eaten alive by the sand flies I got down on the beach and found a nicer spot.
Then, after some time, as I looked along the beach I saw this buck walk out onto the beach for 20 metres, approximately 90 metres away. He was sniffing around the ground a bit, so I lay down for a shot. It was pretty much a sitting target as I sighted through my 3x scope. Then all of a sudden to the left of the scope I could see my friend walking up the beach behind the buck. Of course I didn’t fire a shot, knowing how easily bullets can ricochet off sand, or anything for that matter, especially at that angle, but who knows what might have happened!
Think ahead and think safety at all times.
(H is based on a true story – the shooter shot his mate and later took his own life.)