Just wondering if this is a widespread issue or just more of a local issue for us. We have 65 acres on which my MIL resides on and we have a Christmas tree farm and tree nursery business. Her 65 acres is surrounded on 3 sides by homeowners with 10 acres in general. 3 of those homeowners routinely target shoot, more or less in their glorified backyards. They can legally do so if they have 10 acres or more. I had to call the sheriff's office after we found a bullet sticking out of the metal siding on one of our buildings last summer, we had routinely heard ricochets when they were shooting. Today after listening to someone shoot 100s of rounds of pistol and high-powered rifle with a number of ricochets I had had enough an called the sheriff's dept again. The shooting stopped not long after, which I assume was concurrent with the deputy arriving to the property. Is this a result of no kids taking hunter safety classes anymore or just a lack of I dont give a Nope by the general gun owning public. Obviously, I am all in on gun ownership, hunting and target shooting within reason.

Maybe some target shooting in the OTHER direction is in order.

Brainless people.

Some folks just don't know all there is that should be known regarding exterior ballistics and have no clue as to what that projectile is capable of.
Could be fools ... or ones that were never taught very well.
Many have little to no respect for the gun and its potential danger in the wrong hands.
Many NEW gun owners now with no prior family gun lessons handed down.

added around 40 million new gun owners in the last few years

some people need to be shown the effects and told how to avoid it

they may well not have ever taken Hunters ed because they may not be hunters

bringing them over to see the bullet and damage may get their attention the proof and not aw those neighbors are just complaining about the noise.

it isn't hard to put in a decent back stop , just a big pile of dirt more than likely they shoot a bunch of steel , rocks , garbage to get that many ricochets.

Yea one of my relatives suggested that! "Just start shooting back with something bigger!"

I will say that we have come to a general understanding with 2 of those target shooters, we politely ask them (have both of their cell numbers now) to refrain from shooting like its WWIII the 2 weekends we are open for Christmas tree sales and as long as we dont hear ricochets those other 359 days of the year they wont hear us complain. They both seem to understand that now. The shooter's today were a group on property I didn't have a means to contact.

No doubt they probably arent hunters. I offered to build a berm/ backstop for the one neighbor that "accidentally' hit our building with a round if he would pay for the diesel if I used our tractor. At the time he said yea that sounded like a good idea. As of yet he hasnt taken me up on that offer.

Try a Conservation Officer, or Game Warden.
Don't know about yours, but in many states they have a lot of pull in these type of situations.
Plinking or hunting makes no difference when its a safety / negligence issue.
Good luck.

I hope you talked to the neighbors before calling the law on them?

They are uneducated on a proper backstop and or don't care

You have a car ? If they are close enough to hear the shots just drive over and talk to them. Or if you don’t feel safe in that call the law on them . You already have the other group .

Education is key I agree. So is talking to your neighbors as soon as it happens just once!

They were raised different then we were. When we were kids guns were on display in glass fronted cabinets and we were told not to touch, and we did not touch or get you but wacked and lost privilege's. Now Kids only see guns on TV shows as toys.....jk

Did you ever once walk over there to inquire how they were shooting, what their backstop was or did you just straight call the cops? Sounds to me that you are more annoyed at them shooting than all the "ricochets" by mentioning they have to have 10 acres to legally target shoot. In my opinion, my advice would be to man up and go over there and ask questions to see what the issue may be and offer them some advice. Ask about their guns, ask them if they trap, show them how its done. Thats the problem today, everybody wants to just call the sheriff instead of going to talk to people. Just saying.

And this is what you get for asking a simple question.

I'm one of those guys what now lives on 10 acres. Assessed the situation early on.....a full 360 degree circle......and concluded there is no place here where a rifle could be fired that does not have a house, shed, horse, cow or public road downrange of a bullet's line of travel. Actually, there might be one place to shoot a big bore.......but that would mean firing 100 feet from neighbor's front door. Not only do they have a right to not have bullets whizzing past them, they should not have to listen to gunshots outside their living room window either. Am also one of those guys that thinks my right to do what I want to do on my place ends at my property line. So when I do load development, that gets shot elsewhere. Just common sense.

Couple years back, nephew bought an AR and brought it to the farm to sight it in and fire it for first time. BIL asked if it would be OK? Sure! Took him out behind the barn, pointed him North to an open field.......good backstop and nothing beyond for miles. So next day.....after I left....he gets his piece out........they setup a target in front of the house......shooting South thru some trees......no backstop and neighbor's house in line of fire. Barely gets started and phone rings......it's neighbor......also distant relative and good friends of family.......yelling at them to stop the shooting. Bullets whizzing past his house and overhead........which would also be past and over a Federal highway. Both BIL and nephew ex-military and should have known better. Worse, BIL seemed a bit put out by getting yelled at....and that kid didn't get to do much with his weapon. "Well.....that's why I had him to setup shooting to the North". Only then did the light come on.

Those warnings on ammo boxes are real. About 40 years ago, guy we knew shot at a rabbit in his garden.......uphill shot with no backstop. Dinky little 22. He missed high.....and bullet kept going.......over I-70 and when it came down, it parked itself in brain pan of a lady standing in her driveway talking to friends. Dropped her dead where she stood. Took a long time for investigator's to piece it all out, but in the end, he was convicted of manslaughter and went to prison.

DNR and Sherrif

Both told me Twice on a Pitbull incident

" Quit going over telling the neighbors to do anything "
" you're just warning them....And- if anything goes wrong You are now the Scapegoat ie: target for their Retribution anger.

" just take care of the problem " or call us.

Very few Neighbor s say...Oh Ok- sorry/ we'll change our habbits

YIP.

I wouldn't be timid with them, there's no excuse for shooting towards someone's residence!

That's what I was thinking.A discussion may have resulted in a safer shooting direction or putting up a back stop.