This is kinda boating related. I've been thinking about boating activities. Besides the normal stuff has anyone tried skeet shooting from the boat? I would love to know if anyone else does this or would I be bringing on the law.
Does anyone shoot skeet from the boat?
- Thread starter swampu
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Funny you should ask. Several years ago I was hired to co-write a coffee table cookbook for a 120' corporate yacht. I wrote the stuff about the boat, which had quite a history and was used in a very interesting way, and the chef wrote the cookbook part.
One of the stories I have in the book about life on this yacht involved skeet shooting. The yacht spent its summers in a small remote bay up the coast in BC. VIP guests of the company were flown in and would spend three or four days salmon fishing before being flown out again. The salmon fishing at that time in that area was tied to the tides and currents and the massive whirlpools that would form in the three sets of rapids outside the bay. So there were periods of fishing inactivity during the day while the current was slow or changing direction.
So what to do with the guests? One year someone came up with the idea of shooting skeet off the boat deck. So a pair of shotguns and a pigeon launcher were flown up to the boat and the idea was tried out with the next batch of VIPs. Great fun was had by all and the idea was deemed a rousing success.
A couple of hours later an RCMP patrol boat came scooting into the bay and up to the yacht.
"Was anyone on board here shooting a shotgun earlier today?"
"Well, yes we were. Our guests were shooting skeet."
"Well, you have a choice. You either stop shooting skeet and never do it again or we will impound the shotguns and the boat and haul all of you in on a whole bunch of charges."
Turns out that a couple of bays over some local folks were minding their own business trolling for salmon when it began raining on them. Just a little bit, and just right where they were. Some of the "rain" landed in the boat and hit one of the fishermen with somewhat dangerous consequences and it was found to be shot.
Rather pissed that someone was shooting at them the fishermen managed to contact the RCMP and report what was going on. The RCMP immediately dispatched a patrol boat with orders to find whoever was doing this and cause it to cease and desist immediately and forever.
What goes up will come down so if you decide to shoot skeet off your boat make damn sure there aren't any fishermen, hunters, kayakers, swimmers, picnickers, boaters, or animals that don't want to be dead within the range of the shot falling back to the water.
One of the stories I have in the book about life on this yacht involved skeet shooting. The yacht spent its summers in a small remote bay up the coast in BC. VIP guests of the company were flown in and would spend three or four days salmon fishing before being flown out again. The salmon fishing at that time in that area was tied to the tides and currents and the massive whirlpools that would form in the three sets of rapids outside the bay. So there were periods of fishing inactivity during the day while the current was slow or changing direction.
So what to do with the guests? One year someone came up with the idea of shooting skeet off the boat deck. So a pair of shotguns and a pigeon launcher were flown up to the boat and the idea was tried out with the next batch of VIPs. Great fun was had by all and the idea was deemed a rousing success.
A couple of hours later an RCMP patrol boat came scooting into the bay and up to the yacht.
"Was anyone on board here shooting a shotgun earlier today?"
"Well, yes we were. Our guests were shooting skeet."
"Well, you have a choice. You either stop shooting skeet and never do it again or we will impound the shotguns and the boat and haul all of you in on a whole bunch of charges."
Turns out that a couple of bays over some local folks were minding their own business trolling for salmon when it began raining on them. Just a little bit, and just right where they were. Some of the "rain" landed in the boat and hit one of the fishermen with somewhat dangerous consequences and it was found to be shot.
Rather pissed that someone was shooting at them the fishermen managed to contact the RCMP and report what was going on. The RCMP immediately dispatched a patrol boat with orders to find whoever was doing this and cause it to cease and desist immediately and forever.
What goes up will come down so if you decide to shoot skeet off your boat make damn sure there aren't any fishermen, hunters, kayakers, swimmers, picnickers, boaters, or animals that don't want to be dead within the range of the shot falling back to the water.
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Steve
Guru
I have never done it on the boat, or on land for that matter, but, I'll keep that in mind in case someone complains about running the generator at anchor. I'll tell 'em I won't be able to watch TV without the genset so I'll do a bit of Skeet shooting. That should get interesting.
CPseudonym
Moderator Emeritus
I do not doubt the story related to you Marin but it would be interesting to see a map location and distance/size of those two bays. As a life long duck hunter I've been peppered a few times myself and the effective range of a shotgun is not quite as far as many non shotgunners believe.
jukesy
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Good point CP. I use to captain private yachts in Lauderdale a few years back, not only would we shoot skeet but these rich folk like to shoot anything that they could launch. It got pretty bad onetime (alcohol involved) and I had to shut things down. It is quite fun though.
The area where this took place in BC has hundreds of islands packed into a relatively small area and the shorelines are indented with little bays and coves that are often right next to each other. As in you come out of one and immediately go back into the next one.
HopCar
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Small shot really doesn't travel far. Back when I shot Trap regularly I was told that the 7-1/2 shot I used wouldn't fly more than about 300 yards. Smaller shot 8 and 9 commonly used to shoot skeet has even less range.
ARoss
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These days, in addition to the noise and "peppering down " risk, shooters need to be sure they're using eco-friendly shot. A citation for getting caught with lead shot is probably worse than discharging the gun in the first place.
SomeSailor
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My brothers and I used to purposely "pepper" each other while dove hunting as kids. Range on bird shot is a couple hundred yards tops. It's harmless at that range too.
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