Question for AR Deer Hunters

[Airhasz]

Safety was not the context of my post. Read the part of the OP that has the question mark at the end of it. Looks like this: ?

My question was whether or not you climb into a stand with a AR charged or not to avoid the racket.
It was a question specific to the type of firearm and how a individual hunts with it. Not about safety.

Although someone could say...No, I do not climb with a loaded firearm. It is not safe. Fine. Safety is their first consideration and the hell with making noise. Perfectly good answer.

So I say, I don't like making all that noise on a hunt. So, safety is a secondary consideration for me at times.

Some of you are the ones who derailed this into a post about safety.
Didn't intend for this to evolve into a pissing match.

And Safetyhit, if I make a mistake, it won't be my first nor likely my last. But not this time brother.

Just about any simple question posted on a forum can and will turn into an open discussion on things other than asked. It is just the nature of people reflecting off of others comments and posts. Don't take the safety tips personally, it's good for new shooters/hunters and everyone else to hear them repeated again and again and again...

[ST911]

I shot a deer last week from a kneel at ~35yds, running the charging handle as I crept to that distance. 5 seconds and 64 grains later, the buck wasn't hearing anything.

I think we can have this discussion without catty comments about the comparative abilities of those exercising certain options and methods.

It's a cost:benefit, with no small assessment of individual ability and attention to detail. It's not about being a fud or a stud, it's about your math and margin of error.

Hunter safety education..."for fuds, by fuds?" I'd not be so quick to dismiss the only formal firearms education most will ever take. Nor would I dismiss or denigrate an entire population delivering and attending it. You might be surprised at who is attending, why they are there, and what they are hunting with. I enjoyed the hunter safety course I took last year, learning several new tidbits from the 20-something "fuds" teaching it.

[565fitter]

I used my ar to deer hunt for the first time last year. after hearing all the horror stories I always lift my gun up to my stand unloaded. the 3rd or 4th day of gun season, I did my normal routine and loaded once I was seated. no more than 5 minutes later I had dinner walk right under my stand. I really don't think the sound relates to danger to them.

[kry226]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Although, I think a person can load a rifle (AR or otherwise) pretty quietly if you're patient enough.

I have shot a hog or coyote one second, only to have a deer come trotting by just a few minutes later. I think the noise may be overated in some cases.

One thing a person can do is get in the stand earlier (say an hour before shooting light), then load. One will have plenty of time for things to "quiet down" before it's legal to start shooting critters.

Finally, I would also check the laws. In some counties or municipalities, it is (or used to be) illegal to have your rifle loaded until you're were so far off the ground in a stand. I have hunted such a place in Virgina.

[sva01]

Why couldn't you "ride" the handle forward and use the forward assist to assure it went into battery. That would seem to be a relatively quiet way of doing it...