Our place is listed as a nature retreat as it abuts a nature preserve, and it is generally considered “peaceful”. “Serene”, even. Unless the rooster across the street is crowing. Or the jets are taking off at the Air Force Base (daily), or if they are doing something with munitions, there. Or if the local yokels are hunting (nature preserve, nature shmaserve). Everything is disclosed. No one has ever mentioned anything in a review. We still have 5 stars. Hmmm, maybe I’ll put earplugs in the welcome basket, though.
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I’ve always provided earplugs. But when I mention them to guests, they usually say they always travel with their own. Still, I leave some in the bathroom.
I birded in Queensland a number of years ago and was absolutely in love with all the birds I’d never seen before. And, yes lots are noisy, but good noisy, but I’m not hosting in an area with them. I also loved the flying foxes, platapus and kangaroos.
IMO there’s a huge difference between loud birds and guns going off for hours during the day. I’ll take the birds any day.
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Oh, my gosh, you’ve just made me realize I need to add bird noises (other than rooster) to the cacophony of nature that people might hear while staying here! The squawking of the herons can sound absolutely terrifying if you don’t know what it is!
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@mccarras The “Potential for Noise” tick-off box is there for situations like yours.
I think you really, really need to disclose the shooting range specifically (“Sounds from a neighborhood shooting range may be heard during the day”). That statement or similar should be up high in the listing description, in the top box, not buried somewhere.
If I booked your place and heard a shooting range without prior disclosure in your listing, you can be sure I would demand a 100% refund as I immediately packed up and walked out the door. And I would be furious at you too.
If I were in your situation, I would keep trying to get the shooting stopped. In the meantime I would probably give up on STR and move to a long term rental if the property could accommodate LTR.
P.S. I grew up hunting in an area that sounds a bit like your area. It’s not that I’m objecting to. It’s the fact a guest can’t nap or relax, especially with the windows open.
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I wasn’t referring to hunters, I was referring to the OP saying his neighbors are having “fun” doing target practice, drunk, until 1am, complete with pinging off a metal target. That’s the kind of thing where innocent people, including children, get accidentally shot, not to mention disturbing the neighbors for no legitimate reason.
I understand the use of guns for hunting purposes, as long as the hunted gets used as food, not killed “for sport”. I’ve certainly enjoyed venison that hunter friends have gifted. As well as the need for farmers and ranchers to occasionally use a gun to get rid of predators killing their livestock and devastating their crops.
That’s not the type of gun usage that I mean as far as “Americans’ love affair with guns”.
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No, it isn’t unique, but far more common in the US than anywhere else I am aware of. I lived in Canada for 40 years and never encountered this. Nor in Mexico.
Lived out west in WA and AZ for over 40 years and never ever encountered this.
This is extremely funny. Meanwhile, @KKC 's picture of feeding the cockatoos (aka being menaced by birds that could bite a hole right through your finger and who could and would rip out a large chunk of your hair just for funsies) is very cute, and brave!
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Is part of the attraction the loud noise made when the weapon of death is fired? They have silencers, you know…
… but I am pretty sure in ‘maga’ enclaves this is not the case.
No. I said I was pretty sure that in ‘maga’ enclaves that laws prohibiting silencers (for example) would not be found.
"maga’ enclaves such as West Virginia and other states that push ‘open carry’ as a ‘right’.
Silencers on a practice rage would help keep the noise down. That is what this thread is all about. Providing them or allowing them on a practice range is how a range could be a good neighbor.
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Abso-effin-loutely. Also large calibers (for example the Colt Python handgun) just for fun.
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During 4th of July or any other loud events, including thunder I’ve always wondered how vets that served in wars handled these. I watched something where a woman vet was leading a discussion with several vets that had bad physical injuries, one from Viet Nam and the others more recent.
Even though their service was years ago they all still had reactions to loud noises, some with PTSD that probably never goes away.
If you’ve never been in war you probably think the louder the gun the better. After the war those loud sounds do not sit well.
Not everyone who has been in a war gets PTSD. Everyone is different. But it does affect some as well as people who haven’t been in war and it certainly affects the dogs. But really, those using guns and fireworks don’t give a flying ****.
Just a personal reflection … a few years ago I bought a house in the country on a creek (having lived in the city my entire life) and I could almost not sleep it was so freaking quiet! Well after a few months of not being able to stand the quiet I am startled from my bed at 6:30am by shotgun fire! I look around frantically, spot the neighbors across the creek in camouflage shooting shotguns. Me being a city guy all my life I call 911 and tell them what I saw, the lady on the phone calmly responds to me “well today is the first day of duck hunting season sweetie, you’ll need to get use to that”.
The point being that everyone will react differently to the gunfire, we are conditioned for certain things. I get plenty of guests at my units in a vibrant neighborhood in the city who say the “noise was nothing, I live in NYC” to people saying it was unbearable trying to sleep there.
Mention it in your description and leave it at that. Be matter of fact about it.
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I thought you said it wasn’t a gun range. Shooting range Definition | Law Insider
You aren’t following the conversation. No, there is no gun range involved in the OPs situation, just yahoo neighbors, as well as being in an area where people hunt.
JJD was responding to Rolf saying silencers should be used at gun ranges. That did not relate to the OP’s post.
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Read again the original post. Call it a “riflefest” as the OP did, or a shooting range, a gun range, a constant barrage of gunshot, target practice for hours–whatever terminology you think is most accurate.
The bottom line it is a major problem.
So far the OP has been fortunate in that no guest has made a fuss about the noise.
I predict that situation is not going to last. I would bet on it.
As somebody who booked a quiet farm country cabin (a converted livestock shed) using AirBnB in 2022, I can tell you I would not book such a place if the shooting was disclosed, and I would throw a MAJOR fit hours of shooting happened while I was there and the risk of this was not disclosed in the listing.
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Not so sure this is a wise decision. Aren’t there Air rules regarding guns? I know hosts have to disclose them if they’re on the property, but maybe I’m just thinking of house rules in places I’ve been a guest. 
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