I asked because I had some brass go missing that was left outdoors after some impromptu shooting on the night of the 4th, but upon going to pick it up today it was gone. The ammo wasn't fired at a public outdoor range but in my own backyard. I only shot about 10 rounds, but I couldn't find even one of the brass cases, and it should have landed right out in the open among the grass.
Obviously a person could have taken it, but they would have had to go hunting through the yard late at night without anyone noticing and all for the prize of a few pieces of brass which seems unlikely, so now I'm left wondering if an animal might have carried it off because it was shiny.

I tried Google Searching this, but the results were irrelevant.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Crows have been known to take shiny baubles that catch their eyes. Don't know about other animals.

Ditto for raccoons. I can’t personally attest to it, but I have long heard others say raccoons are intrigued by shiney, metallic objects.

Back when I had two ferrets running around the house, we had to be careful what we left laying around. Small and shiny got their attention, and a couple times a month we would pull the couch away from the wall, and see what they had hidden. My girlfriend at the time found several pieces of lost jewelry that way.

When I ran a trap line, a productive set was a#1 1/2 coil spring trap set in a shallow brook, with its pan covered in tin foil. Coons couldn't resist trying to grab it when it sparkled in the moonlight.

Larry

The only ones I know of are brass hounds. The best way to discourage them is to step on their fingers!

Brassett Hounds ?

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U. S. Army Veteran

Looks like Elk have been know to steal tires. Besides, it's a good place to keep your empty brass, too, when you don't have pockets.

WILDERNESS TRASH: Caught on video: Elk with tire wrapped around its neck near Conifer

There are a few animals that take shiny objects, if we knew what part of what state the OP was in, that would help. For all we know he's in desert woodrat (i.e. "pack rat") country.

Coons like shiny objects, and that might be possible if the odor inside the case does not deter from their fun.

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-Beach Cricket

That's what I'm going to blame my lost brass on, Crows and racoons! I was shooting 3 or 4 differed .45's out back last Saturday. I know I shot at least 80 or 90 rounds, but I bet I didn't find over 20 of the empties.

I know my Shield likes to toss them over my back, the RIA over my shoulder, but the SAR K2 slings them at least 15' off to the right and back a little.

Coons & Crows it was!

Crows and Big on taking brass seen it several times, and those filthy Raccoons.... we battle almost every week , he shows his teeth then I run away like a 5 yo kid. I refuse to shoot the Coons.... Crows....light them up.

Actually I think they have their own legs.

I can shoot a mag out of my gun turn around and find only one or two..

It gets easier after your first!

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Possum—The other white meat!

I blame monkeys for missing brass. Brass monkeys.

Range rats, or range lizards...depending on your latitude

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On the Oak Savannah

I live on the Northeast Coast, so there are no shortage of Crows and Raccoons here that could be the culprit.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Aye. And they hide from me. Specially the .45 ACPs.

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Expect the unexpected

Packrats. My son raided a packrats nest in the mountains when he was 10 & found: Indian arrowheads, brass, broken glass, a marble... what was a marble doing out in the mountains?

Those funky monkeys...

Pack rats and raccoons and crows and in that order.

If any of you have coon problems (i have chickens so constant battle here) just get a few Duke coon traps (just do a search). I tried everything until these were recommended and quickly got my coon problems solved.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

I couldn't find a cordless phone left out overnight by the firepit. It turned up buried in the wood pile with chew marks on it. Coon? Squirrels maybe?

Chupacabras?

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Expect the unexpected

My wife has called me an animal, just 2 nights ago and yes, I do take brass from the open.

And even easier when the scumbags start to try their hand at disassembling your house and garage. I’ve deported a bunch of them, but after a while, enough is enough. They’re the only animal I can think of that I don’t feel sorry for when one has met his end on the road.

A hard rain may have turned them mouth side up making them hard to spot. I would doubts critter liked them so much to carry them all away.

Here’s a pic of some brass turned upright in the drip line.

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

Maybe it rolled out of that broken jar the Indian hit with his arrow?

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“Look life in its iron face”

No hard rain needed. That is how half of my .45 cases land and the real reason I have a hard time finding them in the grass.

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Expect the unexpected

Ex-Wife?????

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Possum—The other white meat!

Yep.. 45ACP are the worst. that big case mouth creates a shadow, I can look right at it and not see it until I come back the other way.

I'd swear they're messin' with me

rim end is the heavy end of 45 brass. In the grass , it likes to hide heavy end down so you are looking at the mouth.

Range Chickens, I was told.

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NHI, 10-8.

Was beer involved?

I had a friend who was meticulous about picking up brass when we shot in his pasture. He said cows would ingest it.

Does anyone remember the pilot episode for the TV show Ironside ? After he was shot, which was the reason he was wheelchair bound, one of the investigators found some "miscellaneous nuts" at the spot where the shooter fired from. Ironside theorized that since those nuts were far away from the tree that they came from that a packrat had left them there since they are known for replacing any objest that they take with another object. Wally Cox played the scoutmaster who was called in with his troop to locate the packrat nest and if I recall, they found 4 empty .30-06 cases in the packrat nest that were fired from an M-1 at Ironside.

My memory might be slightly hazy, but that was the basic plot development.

Odds are they have just fallen down in the grass. Even in fairly short grass, shooting revolver so I know right where the shells are dropping, finding them often involves getting down on your hands and knees and feeling around. Having to guess where they auto is throwing the brass, based off of guessing where you were standing the night before, finding them will be a challenge.

Range Rats may have strayed onto your property.

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CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

At my place I'm convinced there is a low level of brass in the soil and some is absorbed directly into the soil. Once the level increases you will occasionally find some.

Maybe one of these will help?

I appreciate the suggestions, but the grass was cut short recently, so they'd be easily visible in direct sunlight, and I searched thoroughly too, never found a single one.

Also, for the record, they were .40 S&W, not .45 ACP, and they were fresh ammo with bright, shiny cases which would be hard to miss in broad daylight, even if they all landed mouth side up.

Nope, I almost never drink, and especially not when I'm going to be handling something as potentially hazardous as fireworks, let alone firearms.

Last time I had a drink was Christmas, maybe New Years Eve, and it was just Red Wine mixed with Sprite or Ginger Ale.

The hardest thing I drank on the 4th was Cocacola, but admittedly I went a little crazy and drank two whole cans that day.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

I watch people everyday picking up other people's brass,
very brazen about it too, doesn't seem to matter if public or private property,
don't seem to lean towards any caliber specific, all gets grabbed


I live in Chicago...............

Your brass will be found at a crime scene.

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No baby we aint

Like my ma used to say, "Are you braggin' or complainin'?"

I don’t know what you call them but they push stolen shopping carts. They will take any metal they can get. They have been known to break in buildings and steal copper plumbing and wiring. Don’t shoot them they are a protected species. Not rare or endangered just protected.

Do fired brass taste salty? That would make them attractive. Maybe they smell like something an animal would eat. The shine could make them look like hard shelled bugs.

Or Bigfoots. They take weird things.

Like the Bigfoot theory. Now if you just provide a picture.

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Expect the unexpected

Gentlemen, please... His name is Daryl.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

LOL.

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Expect the unexpected

Sometimes I can't remember where I've been. Are you sure you were shooting in your yard?

I used to shoot on the range on Vandenberg AFB. I don't think anybody had picked up their brass for years. The ground was solid with it. Lots of 9mm and 22LR.
My problem was I was shooting a Pardini in 32 Long wad cutter. At that time 32 S&W Long brass was almost unobtanium. I don't know how much time I spent trying to find my errant brass amongst the fields of other stuff. I could count on losing at least two or three out of ten until I finally got smart and made a brass catcher that hung on the side of the pistol....

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446