The main downside of hunting is the danger that’s surrounding the hunters, but with proper organization and safety, hunting accidents can be limited to a minimum.
If you have ever wondered how to stay safe when you go out hunting with your local hunting club or with your hunting buddies, you’re in the right place.
In this article, you’ll learn how shoulder hunters who are hunting together walk to avoid accidents and to stay safe while being careful of each other.
On top of that, you’ll also learn a couple of terms and techniques that will help you additionally improve your hunting experience in groups, so keep on reading!
How Should Hunters Walk Together?
When we say how should hunters who are hunting together walk, we mean on the safe zone-of-fire determination and what you should generally do to stay safe with whoever you’re hunting with.
Accidents happen even to the most experienced hunters and that’s why it’s important that every hunter knows how to walk together during hunts, but also how to pay attention and take care of fellow hunters.
When hunting with one or more hunters with you, you should all walk abreast of one another. This means that each hunter should have a zone of about 45 degrees known as zone-of-fire.
This should keep each hunter in its “lane” and prevent accidents during shooting or cross-fire shooting.
What is Walking a Single File?
Walking a single file means that each person should walk behind one another. This is another technique hunters use when they’re carrying a selection for control and terrain.
In this situation, the first hunter in the single file should always point the gun ahead, the middle person should always point the gun to either side, and the last person in the single file should point the gun to the side or rear.
What is the Elbow Carry?
Elbow carry is a popular name for hunters who carry a rifle over their shoulder, hooked over shoulder.
If you ever carry your weapon of choice this way, you should always point the muzzle down towards the ground, and never up.
Elbow carry is never recommended for hunters who are behind another hunter since the muzzle can point at the direction of the person in front of them. Therefore, it’s more recommended to point the firearm to the side instead.
However, whenever you’re walking alone or from a lengthy distance of other hunters, you can freely use elbow carry.
How Far Should Hunters be Spaced?
Now that you know how hunters should walk together, and you are aware of the 45 degree shooting zone, the only remaining question is how far should hunters be spaced apart?
The answer is anywhere between 25 to 40 yards. Therefore, when hunters are spaced equally like this, and each hunter has a 45 degree shooting range, no matter how many hunters there are in the abrest of one another – this will improve the safety and keep every hunter in a loop.
How to Avoid Hunting Accidents
Hunting accidents are the scariest thing a hunter can go through, and in the United States, for all of the accidents, there’s a 10% fatality rate.
Therefore, to stay safe, here are a couple of tips that will help you not only safe but also keep other hunters around you safe.
Gun Safety
All accidents happen due to gun use, so the first and foremost important thing is gun safety. Some of the most common rules include not running with a loaded gun, never climbing or jumping with a loaded gun, the barrel should always be pointed down, never pointing a gun at another person (even if unloaded), check the barrel of your weapon every time you pick it up as this could help you notice jammed obstructions, keep the safety on until the moment you’re ready to fire, only invest in ammunition made for your gun, and always unload all firearms before leaving the action.
Safety While Shooting
The second part where accidents happen is during the shooting in the action. Therefore, to stay safe and keep others safe during shooting, you should ensure that you always have a clear view of the target, always make sure you double check you’re going to shoot at the animal, and never shoot at a sound or a movement, know the range of your gun and type of ammunition you’re using, never move into another hunter’s shooting line of sight, watch your footing, never shoot at hard surfaces or even water which can cause ricochets, and never use any alcohol when you’re hunting (or before hunting).
Best Way to Move Faster While Hunting as a Group (Electric Hunting Bikes)
If you’re looking for a faster way to move as a group, move to your blind or away from the blind, or get to the spots faster and ensure that you don’t miss on any bit of action – then electric hunting bikes are a good idea.
They’re a great investment since specialized companies build these types of eBikes to help hunters improve their game and take it to another level.
Not only do these electric hunting bikes come with everything you’d need to ride on rough terrains, but they have much better benefits than other vehicles used for hunting. For example, hunting bikes are very stealthy, they make no sound, they’re narrow enough to move in the trickiest terrain, and yet they have a high load capacity so you can carry a lot of storage and even attach a cargo trailer and go recover the game from the field.
Click Here for the Best Electric Hunting Bikes!
Conclusion
If you were wondering how should hunters who are hunting together walk, the answer is very simple, but you should inform all your hunting buddies of the same principle.
This way, everyone will be doing the same and you’ll all be more careful of each other which will lead to a minimum possibility of hunting accidents.
Did you ever happen to come across a hunting accident? What happened and do you have any tips to stay safer?
