Thread: Target id.

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and fairly new to hunting. I've been out in the bush a few times and as a relative newbie feel I am looking at the sport with fresh eyes. A lot of my mates have been hunting for a long time and I have been around it for many years. What I noticed in the bush is how different the sight picture through a scope looks and how radically it changes with a bit of cloud cover or different light conditions. Even while I was looking through the scope the sight picture changed dramatically with a cloud coming over or in late afternoon with falling light. It got me thinking about two things.

1- With a lot of the NZ bush having cell coverage these days could there be an app that can be turned on in the bush that shows where other hunters are. Not saying you need to walk around staring at your phone all day but something that will show there's someone over there and another over there. It doesn't need to identify the person just that they are there. Maybe there could be some sort of alert that comes up if you are within 200 or 300m of each other (silent of course vibrate might be enough). You could look at it before going in or check occasionally during the day. If your buddy can't be seen it can show you where they are.

2- I was amazed at how the sight picture from eyeball to scope and even looking through the scope can change. What if your guns were made safe and have a look at each other through the scope in all different conditions to see what the sight picture of another person looks like. Ideally we could get a look at the sight picture of a deer but not so easy or frequent. I know this goes against the grain with treat every firearm as loaded but with some common sense this could be made safe. At least then you will have a good idea of what the sight picture of another hunter looks like.

Not saying this will be the total solution but could swing the balance in the right direction if you do happen to start lining someone up by mistake. Also not saying I'm right just putting it out there for discussion. I know that our brains can be easily fooled but with an existing sight picture in our mind of another hunter it could be the difference between pulling the trigger and having a beer with him later.

What are the thoughts.