Questions: Gun Safety, Hunting and Sarah Palin....

[xocet]

Recently, this video of Sarah Palin hunting in Alaska was released; namely, (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-matthews-calls-sarah-palin-a-dead-shot-but-unedited-video-suggests-otherwise ). The video brought to mind several questions regarding hunting, gun safety and Sarah Palin's technique. If any experienced hunters could respond to the following questions, it would be appreciated:

• Is it ever ok not to clear the down range area? (The missed shots were high so they carried for quite a way, I presume.)
  
  
• Was Sarah a few inches away from pointing the barrel of the rifle right at the head of the guy in the green shirt at 3:31 in the video?
  
  
• Why could Sarah not use the rifle's bolt-action? Is there any way in which that mechanism would be too difficult for her to use?

Thank you in advance for any answers to these questions.

[brewens]

1. The bolt action is not too difficult for anyone to use. Well, almost anyone.

But you don't see anyone else with a journalism degree that can't name any journals either.

[Kaleva]

2. I'm not really sure why the guy had to work the action.

As for clearing down range, they are hunting in Alaska and the odds of someone being in the path of a bullet shot high would be zilch.

[MiniMe]

3. ......

1) I don't know, but it makes sense

2) She went to the Dick Cheney shooting school

3) She is an idiot, and wasn't even familiar with the gun she was using

[napi21]

4. Bolaction is easier than any other and I'm a 118# female who has done her share of

hunting with lever, bolt & on shotguns the pump. As or down range, you have to remember where they were. There's no obstructions anywhere (trees,, shrubery ets.) and with no obstructions in sight, and nopeople, tht bullet would go miles unti t inaly dropped. The's always a chance a stray bullet may hit something which is why there are restrictions about how far away you must b from any buildings and poulaton. Sorry, I didnt watch the video. Can't stand to watch her, so I dint se howor where she was aiming her gun.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. She knows about as much about hunting as Shrubbie did about ranchin' or running a company.

Having seen her now in a couple vids from that stupid fucking show, I think it's pretty fucking clear that her whole "I'm a moose-hunting bear-killin' mean ass outdoorsy chick" shtick is just that: schtick. Completely made up.\

She acts like she's rarely ever held a gun, and maybe never shot at anything when she wasn't in a helicopter, which I wonder now if it was just a photo-op stunt that involved no actual gun use on her part.

Fucking fake phony idiot.

And shooting at an animal on a hilltop when you have no idea what the hell is behind it? That's utterly pisspoor sportsmanship. Even if they know damn well there's not another human for a few miles, you just don't do it unless you're on the verge of starving to death unless you kill the thing.

Those four bullets that went high could have killed four people, or four other animals, or went through a car, or a pipeline, or God only knows what.

She makes me sick.

[Kaleva]

7. Ridge running is a common hunting method

It wasn't being used by Sarah but in ridge running, a hunter below may well shoot at an animal at the top of the ridge or it may be shoot by the ridge runner himself.

[rocktivity]

6. I want to know why everyone was whispering--presumably because the caribou might hear and run

yet the caribou didn't react to the sound of Sarah's five missed shots.

:shrug:
rocktivity

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. So let me get this straight.... SP is a fraud...

who knew?

[krispos42]

9. Turn bolt until it stops. Yank backwards until it stops. Shove forwards until it stops.

Turn bolt until it stops.



Yes, it is that easy with the safety off.


With the safety on it can be a bit more complex: some rifles have a three-position safety, "Fire", "Safe/Locked", and "Safe/Unlock"; the latter lets you work the bolt to load or unload the rifle but locks the firing mechanism.

But if she had just fired it, turn yank shove turn gets you ready again.