How likely are you to be injured by falling shot from a game shoot?

The chance of you getting hit depends on a lot of factors; without knowing where the guns are, which direction they are firing, which way the pheasants are being driven from, how far they are from the footpath they are, what angle they are shooting at, etc it is impossible to say how likely you are to get hit.

That being said, when beating or shooting birds/ clay pigeons directly overhead, it is not uncommon to get hit by falling shot. If you are in/near a wooded area, you will be able to hear the shot falling, it sounds a bit like a localised rain shower. It doesn't hurt, and feels a bit like a hail storm. I imagine if this hit your eye, it would be quite unpleasant but have no idea how much damage it would do.

Not asked, but steps I would recommend:

1. Wear a cap - this will help protect your eyes. You probably have noticed most of the people out shooting wear flat caps, falling shot is one reason.
2. Speak to the shoot directly - If you are nervous go and talk to them, they will be able to give you more information. As noted in the link to the BASC website, they do not have a right to obstruct your right of way (at the same time, you have no right to obstruct them shooting if they are not putting you in danger).

https://basc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/01/rights_of_way_access_england_wales_2012.pdf

3 Don't run when they are shooting - Normally a shoot is once a week, try to avoid that path on the day of the week if you are nervous about falling shot.

posted about 5 years ago

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User205850‭

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@WeatherVane is spot on, there is a specified safe distance for all kinds of projectiles, depending on what is being shot they simply cannot fly farther no matter how it was aimed.

If they are shooting at their own people out in the field, standard safety procedures would imply that they are beyond the range of any projectiles and you would be too.

However, Regardless of injury risk or probability of getting hit, there should never be a situation where anyone (member of public or hunter) is in the range of any projectiles, certainly not at an organized, regular range (as opposed to a backcountry hunting trip)

This is an issue that rightly concerns you. Obviously you are uncertain if the situatiion is safe, you are likely not the only one that feels so!

Since there are multiple users for an area that have conflicting requirements, I believe the hunting club may not be effectively communicating with other users and are not behaving in the most neighborly way.

I would approach the hunting club to open a dialog about signage and cordons to be installed at the far end of the field to prevent wanderers and to assure the other users of their safety.

Cordons can be simple, bright flags in the ground or marking tape on tree limbs every 10-20M and some laminated signs near the trail.

If you are uncomfortable doing this on your own, engage public lands management or a local hiking interest group for help

This is in your interest and in theirs, maintaing good relationships with other users is likely critical to their continued use of the field.

As someone who has organized archery ranges in shared environments where there are similar concerns (and we had to calculate and prove our safe distances) , I would want to hear all concerns from any member of the public on how we could improve our safety and communications and to assure that they are safe when we are sharing the space.

Otherwise they would be liable to complain and risk us losing access to the space in the future.

posted about 5 years ago

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crasic‭

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Pheasant shooters will almost certainly be using shotguns, not rifles. A shotgun cartridge contains many small pellets, and they lose their velocity much more rapidly than bullets do. In fact, their range is comparatively short.

The typical shot size used for pheasant shooting is #4 to #6, as revealed in A Guide to Pheasant Hunting Ammo and Chokes, for a wide spread of situations.

Now, turning to a table of properties of different shot, in the National Rifle Association's Target Shotgun Training and Reference Manual, the safety distance shown in Table 2 is 275 or 300 metres for those sizes of shot.

Of course, if there are participants lining the path, they know what is safe, so there should be no problem. You can always ask one to confirm that shotguns, not rifles, are being used.

posted about 5 years ago

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Weather Vane‭

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The likelihood of you getting hit is difficult to estimate, but it's very, very improbable that you'd be struck randomly by falling shot. It'd be hard to make that arcing shot of hundreds of yards even if the hunters were trying to hit you, so the odds of a random shot hitting you are even lower. There are likely more birds than hunters in your area, so I'd have to guess it's more likely that one of the birds will poop on you than it is for falling lead to strike you.

As for the danger, I expect that the hunters are using relatively small birdshot. Birdshot is often not deadly to humans even at muzzle velocity, and drag will slow the projectiles significantly over a long, arcing flight. It might sting a bit to get hit by falling birdshot, but the likelihood of serious injury is very low, and the probability that you'd be killed by it is practically non-existent. Larger projectiles will be slowed less by drag, but I don't expect that would be used to hunt pheasant.

posted about 5 years ago

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Nuclear Wang‭

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I performed a calculation using the Chairgun app, which includes ballistic data for a .177 round lead ball. Birdshot is even smaller than this, so it would lose energy even faster than the calculation suggests.

If fired from a shotgun at 1,200 feet per second, a .177 lead ball would have a muzzle energy of 25.58 foot pounds. At 90 yards, it would be traveling 526 feet per second with 4.91 foot pounds of energy. This amount of energy would be considered marginal for humanely killing a rabbit.

The maximum range would be 343 yards if fired at a 17 degree angle. Terminal velocity would be 91 ft/sec and it would impact with 0.15 foot pounds of energy. That's approximately as hard as the average high school baseball pitcher could throw it at you.

posted about 5 years ago

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No U‭

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Just to add to previous answers. Mythbusters worked on this problem. They fired 9mm bullets in the air (which would be anywhere from 90-125 grains) and found that it would hurt but not injure you, and certainly not kill you, if it fell on you.

Now heavier bullets such .45 caliber pistol rounds (230 grains) and rifle rounds may kill you.

It's the mass and the velocity which injures/kills.

The mass of birdshot ranges from 1 grain to about 18 grain. You will not be injured by a falling buckshot, you may not even feel it, unless it hits your eye.

posted about 5 years ago

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Mayo‭

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Falling birdshot stings a little, but I've never known it break the skin. It's no worse than having a 5p piece dropped on you from a couple of feet up.

If you're on a public footpath, guns may not legally be discharged within (IIRC) 50 yards, so shot shouldn't reach you - and the shoot organisers would be in serious trouble if they failed to prevent harm to people on a right-of-way.

posted about 5 years ago

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Toby Speight‭

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