I've got a bit of a delima, if you want to call it that... Let me set the sceen.
My part of the state started an extended muzzleloader deer season a couple years ago. It allows us two extra weeks to hunt. It started this past Monday.
I've got a few people, (two females and one male, not that that makes a difference), that wanted to get in on this extra "chance" to get thier deer, so they bought muzzleloaders earlier this year,, back around March.
Lets just say, thier shooting skills are not marksman quality, but thats not the issue,, well not totally anyways.
I try to get them to go shot before deer season every year, but the effort usually falls on deaf ears.
Anyways, I offered to set up thier ML's, get the scopes mounted, cleaned up and ready to shoot. I also told them to get with me on the other "stuff" they were going to need.
I ordered a butt load of powder, primers, sabots and bullets earlier back during early summer. We're ready to go,,, right?
They show up with ML's in hand, still in the box, between Christmas and New Years. "Here's our ML's", "you think they will be ready to shoot this weekend?", "and hunt with next week?".
I thought for a second and said "Sure, I'll have them scoped out and ready for a range session this Saturday". "Where's your other stuff you'll need?" What other stuff??? I say "Never mind, I have everything we need to get them dialed in".
Saturday, 2:00 PM, they finally get to the range. They are planning on going deer hunting at 3:30 pm.
I take the first ML, set it on the table and procede to bore site it for 25 yds. "What you doing?",, "I'm bore sighting your ML so it will at least be on paper for the first shot". "Ohhhh".
I then laid all the accessories and components out on the table and began to explain what everything was for. "We DON'T have any of this stuff". "Ahhh, no you don't", "This is why I told you to get with my for a list of goodies you'd NEED".
Anyways, I loaded up and fired the first shot at the bore sight target. A few clicks on the scope and it was right where it needed to be.
Time to move on to the 100 yd target. "Holy hell, you expect us to hit that,,, from this far". My reply, "Your feeders are all set up 100 yds from your blinds. Don't you think you need to be able to hit that target if you plan on shooting at a deer from this distance".
I fired the first 100 yd shot. 1" high and 1" left. Adjusted the scope, fired shot #2,,, cut the bullseye, fired shot #3, 1/2" sbove shot #2. Nice...
Now it's your turn... You need to load, and shot all by yourself. "Huhhhh!!!", "I can't do all that". "Sure you can" I said.
After going over loading 101 AGAIN, they finally get the ML loaded. After gun rest 101 and much coaching, the shot heads down range. The bullet hits the upper left corner of a 14"x14" target. Hmmmm!, Try again.
Loading 101 again.. Rifle rest 101 again.. Shot #2 hits far left mid target.
Both 101's again, shot #3 misses the target totally. I say "Let me shoot once more". Bullseye.
It's now past 3:30 and they are chomping at the bit to head for thier deer stands. I say "This session is to be continued,, right?" They agree they are not ready.
Fast forward to last night. I get a call from the only one of the three that shot thier ML last Saturday. "Can you load up some of those tube thingys and put them on the camp table?" I ask why? It appears one of the others was coming to ML hunt this weekend. I said "What makes you , or them, think they are ready to ML hunt when they havn't even shot thier ML". "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to turn y'all loose with powder and bullets to go wound a deer". CLICK,,, they hung up on me.
It didn't take long for the phone to ring again, except now multiply the drama by 10.
Bottom line is I'm an asshole...
My question is, How would you have handled this?
Am I wrong?
Sorry for the long rant. Maybe I need to cut back on the caffiene.
My part of the state started an extended muzzleloader deer season a couple years ago. It allows us two extra weeks to hunt. It started this past Monday.
I've got a few people, (two females and one male, not that that makes a difference), that wanted to get in on this extra "chance" to get thier deer, so they bought muzzleloaders earlier this year,, back around March.
Lets just say, thier shooting skills are not marksman quality, but thats not the issue,, well not totally anyways.
I try to get them to go shot before deer season every year, but the effort usually falls on deaf ears.
Anyways, I offered to set up thier ML's, get the scopes mounted, cleaned up and ready to shoot. I also told them to get with me on the other "stuff" they were going to need.
I ordered a butt load of powder, primers, sabots and bullets earlier back during early summer. We're ready to go,,, right?
They show up with ML's in hand, still in the box, between Christmas and New Years. "Here's our ML's", "you think they will be ready to shoot this weekend?", "and hunt with next week?".
I thought for a second and said "Sure, I'll have them scoped out and ready for a range session this Saturday". "Where's your other stuff you'll need?" What other stuff??? I say "Never mind, I have everything we need to get them dialed in".
Saturday, 2:00 PM, they finally get to the range. They are planning on going deer hunting at 3:30 pm.
I take the first ML, set it on the table and procede to bore site it for 25 yds. "What you doing?",, "I'm bore sighting your ML so it will at least be on paper for the first shot". "Ohhhh".
I then laid all the accessories and components out on the table and began to explain what everything was for. "We DON'T have any of this stuff". "Ahhh, no you don't", "This is why I told you to get with my for a list of goodies you'd NEED".
Anyways, I loaded up and fired the first shot at the bore sight target. A few clicks on the scope and it was right where it needed to be.
Time to move on to the 100 yd target. "Holy hell, you expect us to hit that,,, from this far". My reply, "Your feeders are all set up 100 yds from your blinds. Don't you think you need to be able to hit that target if you plan on shooting at a deer from this distance".
I fired the first 100 yd shot. 1" high and 1" left. Adjusted the scope, fired shot #2,,, cut the bullseye, fired shot #3, 1/2" sbove shot #2. Nice...
Now it's your turn... You need to load, and shot all by yourself. "Huhhhh!!!", "I can't do all that". "Sure you can" I said.
After going over loading 101 AGAIN, they finally get the ML loaded. After gun rest 101 and much coaching, the shot heads down range. The bullet hits the upper left corner of a 14"x14" target. Hmmmm!, Try again.
Loading 101 again.. Rifle rest 101 again.. Shot #2 hits far left mid target.
Both 101's again, shot #3 misses the target totally. I say "Let me shoot once more". Bullseye.
It's now past 3:30 and they are chomping at the bit to head for thier deer stands. I say "This session is to be continued,, right?" They agree they are not ready.
Fast forward to last night. I get a call from the only one of the three that shot thier ML last Saturday. "Can you load up some of those tube thingys and put them on the camp table?" I ask why? It appears one of the others was coming to ML hunt this weekend. I said "What makes you , or them, think they are ready to ML hunt when they havn't even shot thier ML". "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to turn y'all loose with powder and bullets to go wound a deer". CLICK,,, they hung up on me.
It didn't take long for the phone to ring again, except now multiply the drama by 10.
Bottom line is I'm an asshole...
My question is, How would you have handled this?
Am I wrong?
Sorry for the long rant. Maybe I need to cut back on the caffiene.
