[GalFisk] The dear hunter

[GalFisk]

Inspired by/stolen from WiZ. FMOI:
A hunter walks through an area of Victoria's High Country, known to be home to the large Australian Sambar deer. He walks until he comes to a series of steep hills where no animals have ever been seen. He then fires a shotgun repeatedly into the hills for several minutes. Why does he do this?

[Earnest]

Is this your PM to the puzzle of WiZ?

Relevant that it was Victoria's High Country? Can we assume that he did not want to be heard and that he did not want to hunt? Relevant that Sambar is among the vulnerable species? Maybe since no animal was seen in such steep hills there were no restrictions for hunting there. He crossed the border and then was able to fire too a deer belonging to the protected zone.
To be sure: is the hunter an hunter of deers? f birds? Of animals? of treasures?
Is he playing airsoft? is the gun "real" (i.e. a gun that can injure-kill)? A toy gun?

Did he relevantly have a dog?

Relevant why no animal hav ever been seen in such steep hills? It was too cold? They are too steep? There was no life (plants?)? There was not oxygen?

for several minutes = until he run out of ammo? until he hit a target? the more the shots the better?
Does he shoot on the ground? Up in the sky? Does he have a target? A specific one? A living one?

Did he walk while firing?
Are movies relevant? Is he an actor? Its the noise of the gun relevant? echo relevant?

Did he want to kill himself (which is impossible with a shotgun being too long...so he maybe shot several time until her was able to break a rope...ok maybe too elaborated)

[GalFisk]

Is this your PM to the puzzle of WiZ? Yes.

Relevant that it was Victoria's High Country? Only for context. Can we assume that he did not want to be heard and that he did not want to hunt? Both are correct. Relevant that Sambar is among the vulnerable species? No. Maybe since no animal was seen in such steep hills there were no restrictions for hunting there. Irrelevant. He crossed the border and then was able to fire too a deer belonging to the protected zone. No.
To be sure: is the hunter an hunter of deers? f birds? Of animals? of treasures? Assume yes to all.
Is he playing airsoft? No. is the gun "real" (i.e. a gun that can injure-kill)? Yes. A toy gun? No.

Did he relevantly have a dog? Irrelevant.

Relevant why no animal hav ever been seen in such steep hills? No, it's just to make the shooting appear out of place for puzzle purposes. It was too cold? They are too steep? Probably this. There was no life (plants?)? Possibly, irr. There was not oxygen? No.

for several minutes = until he run out of ammo? Yes. until he hit a target? No(ish). the more the shots the better? No
Does he shoot on the ground? Yes. Up in the sky? No. Does he have a target? Yes. A specific one? Not necessarily. A living one? No.

Did he walk while firing? Irr.
Are movies relevant? Is he an actor? Its the noise of the gun relevant? echo relevant? No to all.

Did he want to kill himself (which is impossible with a shotgun being too long...so he maybe shot several time until her was able to break a rope...ok maybe too elaborated) No, nothing like that.

[Earnest]

Can we assume that it happened on real life?
Military relevant? Skydiving (e.g. he landed with the parachute and shot several times on the a piece of wood to avoid hitting it)?
Does he shoot on the ground? Yes. --> Near his feet? Was there someone else with him? Does he shot always on the same place on the ground? Nearby? In very distant places every time?

Does he have a target? Yes. --> plants? roots of trees? stones? water? wood? grass?

viewfinder relevant? Is he searching something relevant? If so underground? Are placeholders relevant? Did he want to make little holes in the ground? Did he have a problem with the shotgun?

[GalFisk]

Can we assume that it happened on real life? Yes.
Military relevant? Skydiving (e.g. he landed with the parachute and shot several times on the a piece of wood to avoid hitting it)? No to all.
Does he shoot on the ground? Yes. --> Near his feet? Reasonably. Not so near that he risks injury. Was there someone else with him? No. Does he shot always on the same place on the ground? No. Nearby? Thisish. In very distant places every time? Noish

Does he have a target? Yes. --> plants? roots of trees? stones? This. water? wood? grass?

viewfinder relevant? Is he searching something relevant? If so underground? Are placeholders relevant? Did he want to make little holes in the ground? Did he have a problem with the shotgun? No to all.

[Earnest]

Did he want to break/destroy the rocks/stones? Did he want to leave traces on the stones? Rebound relevant? Relevant which types of rocks he shot to? Geology relevant? Minerals? Common stones? Ancient ruins?
Quarries relevant? Mines? Caves? Holes?

Does he throw the rocks before shooting to them? Are the stones very big? Monolites? Cannot be move?

To be sure: did he bring the stones there? Were the stones already there? Did he take the stones with him after having shot to them? Leave them there? Relevantly move them?
Does he shoot to a relevant part of the stone?

Could he have done the same with rocks/stones in another place? Or did he need to shoot to these stones specifically?
Is hunting involved here in any way? Trying different types of bullets? Were the stones relevantly tough as the horns of a deer?

Is his job relevant (a part from being hunter)? Sculpture?
Can we assume that he shot with common bullets?

[GalFisk]

Did he want to break/destroy the rocks/stones? No. Did he want to leave traces on the stones? Yes. Rebound relevant? No. Relevant which types of rocks he shot to? Not sure. Geology relevant? Minerals? Common stones? Yes to all. Ancient ruins? No.
Quarries relevant? Mines? Caves? Holes?

Does he throw the rocks before shooting to them? No. Are the stones very big? Probably. Monolites? Don't know. Cannot be move? Correct.

To be sure: did he bring the stones there? No. Were the stones already there? Yes. Did he take the stones with him after having shot to them? No, but... Leave them there? Yes. Relevantly move them? No.
Does he shoot to a relevant part of the stone? No, just the surface.

Could he have done the same with rocks/stones in another place? Yes, but he wouldn't. Or did he need to shoot to these stones specifically? That was what fulfilled the purpose.
Is hunting involved here in any way? No. Trying different types of bullets? No, but see below. Were the stones relevantly tough as the horns of a deer? Irr.

Is his job relevant (a part from being hunter)? Yes. Sculpture? No.
Can we assume that he shot with common bullets? No.

[Earnest]

Is he archeologists? jeweler? collector? see worked in a museum? scientist? chemist?
something like he was shooting with a very old shotgun and was trying too reproduce chipping left on the surface of stones?

Ddid he took pictures after having shot?

[GalFisk]

Is he archeologists? jeweler? collector? see worked in a museum? scientist? chemist? No to all.
something like he was shooting with a very old shotgun and was trying too reproduce chipping left on the surface of stones? No.

Ddid he took pictures after having shot? No.

[Earnest]

Does his work mainly involve: stones? guns? bullets? nature? hunting? Health care? material resistance? Agricolture? geology? sighting monsters? Scouts? Safety/security?


Did he want to leave traces on the stones? Yes --> would he have come back in a Larter time? If sos, would he expect the traces to be there?

[GalFisk]

Does his work mainly involve: stones? This. guns? bullets? nature? hunting? Health care? material resistance? Agricolture? geology? And this. sighting monsters? Scouts? Safety/security?


Did he want to leave traces on the stones? Yes --> would he have come back in a Larter time? If sos, would he expect the traces to be there? Yes to both.

[Earnest]

Did he shot a chemical substance to stones? Did he expect a chemical reaction to happen? Did he expect something to grow on rocks? To find precious materials (gold?)? Faults relevant? stratification of rocks?

Were stones fragile? Could they be commonly found elsewhere?

Would he come back after: hours? months? years? weeks? After a certain event happened?

Once he come back to the stones: all he analyze the traces? Would he shot against them again? levigate them? Try to cancel the traces? Or maybe look at thee traces o find thee exact position of the previous time? Are the traces necessary for him to: orient? find something? find something in geological terms? see how stones move and maybe modify the traces? measure water corrosion (e.g. maybe he would have come back after two or three times that a storm happened).

[GalFisk]

Did he shot a chemical substance to stones? Yes. Did he expect a chemical reaction to happen? No. Did he expect something to grow on rocks? No. To find precious materials (gold?)? No, but OTRT. Faults relevant? stratification of rocks? No to both.

Were stones fragile? No. Could they be commonly found elsewhere? Probably, irr.

Would he come back after: hours? months? years? weeks? After a certain event happened? Hours, days or weeks, probably.

Once he come back to the stones: all he analyze the traces? No, but OTRT again. Would he shot against them again? No. levigate them? No. Try to cancel the traces? No. Or maybe look at thee traces o find thee exact position of the previous time? No. Are the traces necessary for him to: orient? find something? find something in geological terms? see how stones move and maybe modify the traces? measure water corrosion (e.g. maybe he would have come back after two or three times that a storm happened). No to all.

[Earnest]

chemical substance to stones? Yes. --> quartz relevant? does the substance accelerate a process? color the rocks? make the stones more precious? is marble relevant? relevant which chemical substance in particular? a corrosive substance? Does he want a part of the stone to be revealed? uncovered? cleaned? painting relevant?


he analyze the traces? No, but OTRT again. --> look at them? put some other chemical substance? use a tool? x-rays relevant? bacteria?

[GalFisk]

chemical substance to stones? Yes. --> quartz relevant? No. does the substance accelerate a process? No. color the rocks? Somewhat. make the stones more precious? Yope, OTRT. is marble relevant? No. relevant which chemical substance in particular? Yes. a corrosive substance? No. Does he want a part of the stone to be revealed? uncovered? cleaned? painting relevant? No to all.


he analyze the traces? No, but OTRT again. --> look at them? put some other chemical substance? use a tool? x-rays relevant? bacteria? No, OTWT.

[Earnest]

make the stones more precious? Yope, OTRT. levant which chemical substance in particular? Yes. --> a part from what he shot, did the stones have an intrinsic value? Does the appearance of the stones relevantly change as soon as he shot the chemical substance? after weeks to months? If so: are veins relevant? would the stones appear shiny? Would he have sold the stones as being part of something relevant (e.g. as people selling stones claiming that they were part of the Berlin Wall)? Did he want to feed a fungus growing on the stone and make it precious? crystals relevant? crystallography? Vulcans?

UIs a fraud/something illegal going on here?

[GalFisk]

make the stones more precious? Yope, OTRT. levant which chemical substance in particular? Yes. --> a part from what he shot, did the stones have an intrinsic value? No. Does the appearance of the stones relevantly change as soon as he shot the chemical substance? Yes. after weeks to months? If so: are veins relevant? would the stones appear shiny? Yes to both. Would he have sold the stones as being part of something relevant (e.g. as people selling stones claiming that they were part of the Berlin Wall)? Did he want to feed a fungus growing on the stone and make it precious? crystals relevant? crystallography? Vulcans? No to all.

UIs a fraud/something illegal going on here? Yes.

[Hobbsicle]

Is he trying to convince others that there is gold (or other precious metal)? Does he come back with someone else? Is he trying to sell land or the rocks? Convince people to visit? Get gold hunters on the wrong track?

[GalFisk]

Is he trying to convince others that there is gold (or other precious metal)? Does he come back with someone else? Is he trying to sell land or the rocks? Convince people to visit? Get gold hunters on the wrong track?

Pretty much yes to all:
He's "salting" a barren mine by shooting gold into the rocks, in order to trick someone into buying his worthless claim for a lot of money.

Most other details of the puzzle are there mostly in order to reuse the original puzzle statement. There has been a gold rush Australia's High Country, the Sambar deer is a game found there and hunted with shotgun slugs, and a hunter would be likely to choose this method of salting.

Thanks for playing!

[Balin]

I've seen something similar in one of the Monk tie-in novels. Very clever puzzle!