Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Zing!

My 44 acres is surrounding by neighbors on the North, East and West by homeowners on 20 acre parcels. My South border is crop land. A few of my neighbors enjoy target shooting, which is fine by me, but I have a pretty stupid question for those of you experienced enough to advise me. Again, forgive my ignorance here - I own a few guns I shoot very rarely, but I've never been shot at, at least to my knowledge - so I'm not sure how dangerous my situation here really is.

So...my question is: If I hear a gunshot, then a whining "zing" in the air, that surely means a round traveling somewhere nearby - yes? I have to admit, the sound is really disconcerting - especially when I am with my family - and I have approached neighbors on a couple occasions regarding it. In each instance they claim to be shooting into the hillside and looked at me like I was overreacting. Rest assured, I would not have dropped everything I was doing to engage them unless I heard the bullets flying - so this really happened. However, I do believe my neighbors would not be so careless and ignorant as to fire directly into my land, either. Could these "zings" possibly be caused by ricochets? Are concerns for my family legitimate? Could ricochets occur shooting into a hillside? Can I legitimately complain about a ricochet in your opinion?

I did call the local Sheriff, not to complain, but to inquire regarding the law so at least I was aware of my rights, or lack thereof, moving forward for incidents like this. I was told it is NOT illegal to shoot across property lines - which to me seemed irresponsible and inaccurate - but again, this was his "official" position. He did not seem to be interested in engaging me with the situation in the future - and again, it doesn't seem like I have any legal recourse, regardless. He suggested I engage the property owner and ask they try to shoot in another direction. When I asked him if it was ok for me to fire a few shots back his way, he didn't have much to say. I was not being serious, for the record, but apparently that's legal, too.

It seems to me a land owner should be held responsible for keeping their rounds on their own property and be required to shoot into a berm of some kind - am I crazy, or does this just make sense to help prevent tragedies of stray bullets killing someone? I mean, I could catch one of these square between the eyes, right?

I respect your feedback - you guys have more experience with these issues than I do. I bought land to raise fish and enjoy solitude and wildlife - not to have to worry about catching a stray round while sitting on my dock.

TJ
I had neighbors doing the same thing. Shooting at the ground and the bullet ricocheting over my house, in fact one dropped on the roof. These were .22s so they loose power quick on a ricochet. Still upsetting. Here in Texas it is illegal to shoot across property lines for whatever reason. I would try to reason with them first. I'm not sure of the laws in your state but the law mans answer didn't sound legit in my mind

Hey TJ-I don't think you're crazy.
Ricochets can definitely cause the "zing", and could certainly deflect off a rock on a hillside, carry in a different direction a long way.
My general rule-If I can hear it zing, it's too close. If it happens again, I'd definitely engage the neighbors, remind them that it's not the first time, and whatever mitigation they may think they've employed, it's not adequate. A further emphasis that your kids are around on your property during this conversation might help. If the problem continues-a written complaint to the sheriff, making sure that he knows that it's not the shooting that's problematic, but the nearby "zings", would be a reasonable next step.

Usually a "zing" is ONLY heard when it's a ricochet. My best friends dad was target shooting with a .22 at about 25 yards at a steel disc. He fired, hit, and felt a burn in his leg...he'd just shot himself. Relatively low velocity, light weight, lead bullets take some very strange trajectories when they hit things...

If you believe the neighbors are being reasonably careful, I would not approach them in an angry fashion, but insist whatever their backstop is, it's NOT stopping the bullets.

My understanding is that Nebraska, like other States, is not short of gun control laws. I think the sheriff is either lazy or full of BS. I believe I would call back and ask him to put his response in writing.

Investigative Reporter from local TV station?

I would probably go ballistic over that kind of answer.

A local shooting range, that has been around like forever, was pretty much closed down because someone built a subdivision a mile or so behind the place. The area is heavily wooded, and of course there are plenty of backstops, but houses were still getting hit. I guess they can only do sporting clays now, no rifles.

I think you absolutely have a legitimate concern. From your initial post, I'm taking it that this has happened more than once.....which indicates it will probably happen again. There are no rules or ballistic formulas to indicate what a ricochet will do, or where it will go.
I would begin documenting everything, even when you hear shooting and DON'T hear a ricochet. Not to try and make them quit shooting, as they have every right to enjoy their property, but just as protection for yourself, and maybe another neighbor also....maybe the property owners on these folks' other side are catching a stray round or two themselves.

I would approach them again, when you hear a ricochet come onto your place, and just explain about your documentation and your concerns. Be nice. Maybe invite them back over to the spot where you heard the stray round, and see if, together, you could come up with a scenario that might explain why it's happening.

Definitely get back on the local law enforcements a$$.....his response was unacceptable in my opinion. Let him or her know about your documentation, including speaking with him or her, and suggest you may be contacting the State Police if you have any further incidents.

I think I would copy all documents and make sure you have proof of it all. If it comes to that. With their response, I wouldn't be surprised that the paper work disappears sometimes.

It's a ricochet that you are hearing. Now, the question of "how close is it?" could be hard to answer.

When I was in Texas, I was at a hunting lease to try and remove some hogs. I shot at a hog with my .243 using Barnes all copper bullets. At 311 yds the hog was hit, but continued to run. I took another shot as it was running, maybe another 100 yds further away. I missed, and I heard the bullet "zing" as it ricochet off of the ground as it travelled further away.

The hog was running from 4:00 to 11:00, wind was blowing about 10 mph from 9:00 to 3:00.

When I missed the coyote with my 2nd shot from the long range gun, using copper jacketed lead core bullets, the bullet fragmented when it hit the ground, and there was no ricochet. But, if the bullet was going slower, I'd be willing to bet that the bullet would ricochet like the all copper bullet did.

In any case, the bullets that they are shooting are not being contained by the backstop that they have. Their backstop needs to be more vertical so the bullets penetrate and are contained by the ground, not bounce off.

I would call the sheriffs office and pose the question:

"If you were standing in your back yard and had a neighbor shooting, would you be comfortable if you heard bullets ricocheting?" If they say no, then ask them what can be done.

I've talked to law enforcement about different issues, and got different answers, depending on who I talked to.

Also, like Tony said, ricochets don't have to keep going in a straight line. On a hunt I was on, one of the members in the group shot an animal. The guide said shoot it again because it's still moving, but it looked like a good hit. The shooter said why, the animal that I shot is dead on the ground. It turns out that the bullet entered the first animal, hit something, exited at 90° and hit the 2nd animal. THAT took some explaining............. The guide and the shooter were looking at different animals when he shot.

Ricochets are completely unpredictable. Even with a perfectly formed backstop it's still possible to get an occasional ricochet, but 'shooting at a hill' would not be a well formed backstop. Not even close.

It's the shooter's responsibility to control his projectile, and his liability if damage results due to lack of control. That's irrefutable.

If it were me I would have a very frank conversation with the neighbor....to the tune of 'my children are more important to me than anything at all, and having a ricochet going over their heads is completely unacceptable. What do you intend to do to resolve this?'

If that conversation doesn't provide any resolution, then the next step would be to file a formal complaint with the sheriff's dept.

Video tape the events when they happen. Just fire up the old cell phone and get some hard evidence. He said she said can go on and on.

That's 110% correct.

That was basically what I was told by a local conservation officer when I asked him about waterfowl hunting on a local public lake. He said that no matter how the people complain, it's legal to hunt during hunting season. But, he suggested that it would help the hunters image if they didn't set up right in front of a persons house and start shooting at daybreak on a Sunday morning. Also the hunter had to be mindful of where the shot would land. The direction of the shooting had to be such a way that houses, cars, etc. wouldn't be in the shotfall zone.

Not a big deal for me, as the closest houses were 1/4 mile away.

Right here, this is an example of the grey area I'm often spouting on about. Is it legal for the hunter to set up in front of a house on Sunday morning? Sure it is. Do we need another law prohibiting such an act? Not in my opinion....we need responsible folks who, just because they can do a thing, legally, decide it would be in the best interest of others, (and themselves in the long range), to voluntarily agree not to do such a thing. If everyone would act responsibly and do the same, no law needed.

I like that CO's take on the matter.

Sorry TJ....didn't mean to wander this far off topic.

My one neighbor has a dog that doesn't like loud noises. I try to call before making any loud noises to make sure that the dog is in the house. Last night that wasn't possible, as a woodchuck that I've been trying to get finally was away from it's hole and didn't see me.

I called her afterwards and told her what happened.

A year or so ago, I told them that a friend was going to set off a large firework. She said no problem.

After the fact I found out that they weren't home, and her daughter-in-law was inside the house. She called her mother-in-law wanting to know who she could call because something huge blew up next door and she didn't know if the house here was still standing.

Could said neighbor have been impacted during the long range tannerite targeting/experimentation?

teehjaeh57, I'm sorry to hear about your problem. When I was a young lad, about 39 I used to shoot at a simple target in my back yard at 144 yards. My backstop was another 450 yards of thick hardwoods, I owned it all. We had some new neighbors, they built homes on the side of my 28 acres and one of them heard bullets "zinging" by his back yard which butts up to my woods. The neighbor simply came over, hat in hand, and calmly spoke to me about it. I then, hat in hand, asked to come on over and have a look.

When I went to his backyard we could not find any bullet strikes but I assured him that I couldn't live with myself should something happen. I built a 14' high mound shaped in a horseshoe so that any ricochets would be aimed only at me. Yes, this mound had sides on it from the horseshoe shape, it still does. All in it cost me $500 to build this hill and it was cheap cheap cheap to not only make my neighbor happy but to assure him that I cared.

The two things I'm trying to press home with this story is that even though you may be being infringed upon, you should still go to the neighbor with hat in hand. AND, even though you go to this neighbor with hat in hand he should offer to resolve this with his hat in hand. Acting cordially and humbly goes a long way in tearing down man's natural tendency to be aggressive when confronted. Of course you've probably already read "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

Treat the guy like a friend, he's your neighbor and you may need him some day. He should do the same. The law is on your side but don't use it, be a neighbor right up to the point where they won't be. Regarding shooting across property lines, I don't know if that would be a law as you don't own the air above your property do you? I don't think we own that airspace anyways. What is illegal, in every state I know of, is trespassing with that bullet when it lands on somebody else's land.

Good shooting!

Well said Tim

How about that. Looks like we do share some common ground after all. That's what it's all about.

A very very limited amount

But an amount, nonetheless I agree with what you wrote, completely. Said the same thing myself, earlier today.

Hey thanks for the valuable feedback guys - this gives me some direction moving forward when/if it happens again. Appreciate you sharing your experiences, looks like I'm not alone.

Those are really great if you set them between two house bricks and set a five gallon pail over top of it with the top edge of the pail on the two bricks. I would say ten times the bang and very difficult to find any thing worth picking up of the pail. We were at about 40 yards and pail was landing behind me.

Sunil, I forgot about that. I wouldn't be surprised if some underwear had to be cleaned............