Hunting safety in populated areas

MT3 said:

Watching hunters (YouTube videos) shooting iguanas from boats in FL on lawns with condos directly in the background. With PCP pellets from high velocity guns, isn’t there at least a reasonable concern that pellet ricochet could cause personal or property damage in the background?

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I would trust my shots to be head shot only and solid hits BUT i don't take any shot over 30 yards .
Probably no insurance available ?

MT3 said:

Watching hunters (YouTube videos) shooting iguanas from boats in FL on lawns with condos directly in the background. With PCP pellets from high velocity guns, isn’t there at least a reasonable concern that pellet ricochet could cause personal or property damage in the background?

Click to expand...

Discretion. Choosing your angle carefully. Confidence in your skill. Extremely soft lead HP slugs. Mainly discretion. Angle and specific projectiles are Just further risk mitigation.

I do nothing but sketchy stuff. 30 years of it and I've not caused any property damage or hurt anybody. Slugs is where you really have to start to be careful...... And bbs. I ran a trajectory chart for pellets to see how far out they hold energy enough to be a problem.. So i try and keep my shots to where that energy is all lost in the air if I miss, or have a back stop like a tree trunk behind it. Slugs need a huge amount of time to bleed off energy relatively speaking.

shooting at ground level is far less risky than up in the trees or on a wire, I believe most people hunting iguana know what to look out for.

I've noticed that the lady iguana shooter that makes a lot of videos comments now on changing shooting position to get a safe backstop. Maybe others do too and just don't mention it. She also reduces the power of her Brococks on close shots. It's something we all should be careful about. We do not need negative publicity and I would hate to hurt anybody or their property.

I used my P35-177 almost exclusively on squirrels this year because it's relatively low power to start with (~18 fpe) and the pellets have poor bc so they won't go as far. Still kills fine although not quite as quickly as 22s and 25s with twice the power. The one I took with a 22 was with my Prod which is similar in power. My Caiman X will carry 3X as far as my 177 using slugs according to Chairgun. I just use it for targets, so far.

Many times I've cringed when watching some " Iggie" videos of the shots taken. I realize that my view is different than actual though. I have gone almost exclusively to air for my pesting on the farm(s) because of my location and slugs are only used in field shots for G-hogs. I have done real time penetration tests
on scrap metal siding/roofing with my rigs & ammo at my practical ranges to negate any possible damage to structures at my permission . I volunteered this info to my host , not that he needed reassuring , I just felt it would open other doors farther down the road. I take no roof shots w/ my more powerful guns except roof peaks or corner of gutters and no shots over 40 yrd.s around buildings. This is just my personal take of course.

I am actually a reptile owner and fan Besides my puppy dog. So I don’t watch anything like that, however I would actually comment on the slugs vs pellet argument for safety. In my experience which is more wood lands and trees slugs tend to be a little safer. Hollow points of course. BBS as someone said are the worst and I’ve even had a few pellets ricochet into a neighbors yard. What helps the most is power imo. And some expansion properties, as when I miss my slug will hit the ground or a tree and just disintegrate. Pellets are made to expand less so they worry me, granted still no big issues expect with break barrel. Just my two cents.

Seems to me if there were alot of issues they would have put a stop to it a long time ago.

I don't think there are a lot of issues but I don't want to be part of one. I also don't know how many issues it will take before there are more rules limiting what we can do with our airguns. If you only shoot at things on the ground I think you are pretty safe regardless of the projectile and power level. But if you shoot at things up in trees, I am sure you need to pay attention to what is behind your target and I think you should use the lowest power and worst bc that will work. The big issue is when you miss. Slugs will carry significantly further potentially something you did not intend to harm.