November 18, 2003

You THINK FIRST, then shoot....What is difficult to comprehend about that concept?

Um, it involves thinking.

If some numbnuts shot me, and I survived, I'd shoot him, the bastard.

Actually, most hunting accidents happen because these idiots don't consider the lack of a backstop when they pull the trigger.

IMHO, most accidents happen when teenagers or out-of-state cityfolk take alcohol into the woods. Guns + Alcohol = Stupid Accidents

I'm not a hunter. I don't own a gun. I really don't like guns that much. But I grew up in a very rural town where my high school gets vacation days for the first two days of deer season. I think it's important to know how to handle a gun, just in case. You never know what situation you'll be put into. So I took a hunter's safety course and I also know the basics of gun operation.

Along with basic self defense, I think a gun safety course should be mandatory at all schools. Because knowledge=understanding.

I like guns, don't hunt either, but I can't imagine a situation where I'd shoot (outside of a flat-out gunfight, I guess) where I didn't know what was in front of me, and more important, what was behind the target.

Teach your children!

Gun safety course in the schools? Great idea, and I hope to live to see it. Meantime I teach my kids like my old man taught me.

I do hunt, though I haven't in a few years due to lack of spare time, but have previously more times than I can count. I've never had a single incident.

Granted, I generally hike ten odd miles away from any given road or trail, which pretty much eliminates the possibility of running into "road hunters" and other generally stupid people.

Some people become complacent in their respect for potentially dangerous things, including, but not reserved to guns. For example, fast cars and fast women.

When my dad taught me how to shoot, one of the first thing he pounded into my head was "if you point a gun at something, make sure you want it dead/broken in the first place."

My dad bought me a .22 rifle for my 13th birthday and taught me how to shoot it. I loved those weekends with my dad at the shooting range. We mostly shot at cans, but eventually I got bored with that and he bought me some targets. I got pretty good at it. He also taught me to load and shoot his pistol, but I usually ended up with a sore arm/shoulder from that piece. I haven't shot in a long time, but I keep a gun in my closet because of all the bears around here.

This is why the anti-gun crap is causing more deaths than it is preventing.
Those of us who handle guns all the time can prevent crime, (read Dr. John Lott's, More Guns, Less Crime) and the stupid people cause such accidents.

I have trained myself to draw and fire carefully. Whenever handling a piece, the trigger finger never touches the trigger until a target is sighted.

I have carried locked and loaded for years. Not a single incedent. Obey the simple rules. Be totally aware of the entire field of fire. Be absolutely sure of your target. Do NOT put your finger on the trigger until you are sure of your target.

My pistol has saved me from danger at least three times. All three times, I merely had to brush my vest aside and grab the pistol in the holster. At that point, goblins disappeared. But I practice on a regular basis to make sure that I can still put 5 rounds in the space of 2 inches at 20 yards.

Incidentally:

Congrats on the new rifle. There's nothing wrong with buying a new gun "just because"... it's my favorite reason.

And 80% of the world's population can't use it, either.

I got lucky: the girlfriend's brother handed over four rifles that had been handed down by their father. 30-06, 308, 12 gauge shotgun, and a 22 semi-auto. They had been sitting in storage for four years before I got them. So I cleaned them up, made sure they worked, checked for any damage, and made a new gun rack for them.

I finally got a chance to fire the 30-06 a couple of weeks ago. I go over it with a fine tooth comb, making damn sure the thing is safe before I take it to the range. I notice the words NATL ORD stamped across the top of the chamber.

Did some research and found out that it's an M1903A3, made in 1942 for the US Army, that had been sportsterised (sp?).

It still fires as strait as the day it was made, btw. Analog Kid from Random Nuclear Strikes can attest to that. I let him fire off a few shots. The cool part is that since the g/f's father was in WWII, there's a slight chance that this might be his actual rifle from the war. It's a very minor chance, but still cool to think about.

You sound like my husband! lol He taught me how to shoot. Why, I don't know. But his safety instructions were pretty strict.

My now ex-husband was shot in the upper thigh by his brother years ago in a hunting accident. To make a long story short, it all boiled down to two excited hunters that split up after they both shot at the same deer. Excitement was high and neither payed attention to where the other was after they went seperate ways looking for the deer. The ex found the deer and was admiring the rack. The brother saw something move in the distance and fired a shot toward the movement. He shot his brother.

I blamed both of their ignorgant asses for that incident. #1 for splitting up. #2 the ex should have never picked up the rack until he found his brother and #3 the brother shouldn't have pulled that trigger until he was sure of what he was shooting at.

I am all for hunting but some people get downright stupid with buck fever and loose all common sense when they get a glimpse of the big daddy. It just isn't safe anymore. Also, I think that the woods are more crowded that people think. You just never know what idiot might be over the hill and mistake you for a deer.

Excellent advice.

I would like to point out that accidental death by firearm has been on a continual decline since we've been keeping records, but I'm not sure what the statistics on hunting accidents are.

500 rounds, eh? That's about three or four weekend's worth!

I'm not a hunter either, as I see hunting as "taking your rifle for a walk," but I do understand its appeal.

Hunting in Texas was quite the shock for me, at first. After all, what the hell was a "deer-lease" all about, anyway?

Growing up in CA, hunting was on public lands. The herds were plentiful indeed. Pity, though, said "herds" were hunters spooking the game en-masse.

Fortunately, this was in the early 70s, so the granolaheads hadn't QUITE taken over the state like they have now.

When looking to hunt in Texas, I initially resented the idea of having to lease hunting rights from a rancher. Since then, I've come to really appreciate this system. I know EXACTLY who is on the property. No worries about liquored-up, buck-fevered, glazed eye morons with more firepower than brains.

On leased property, you can work the land all year 'round, too. There's always days to scout game trails, pattern deer, set up blinds and such. And to enjoy the picnic lunch, basking in the warmth of the late-summer day.

Game management improves this way, too. Ranchers can and DO exercise control over what sort of game can be taken. Pesonally, I LIKE negotiating my lease for mostly does and spike or cull bucks. Leave the good ones to breed, put the unfit in the freezer.

Planned Parenthood, Bambi style.

Hmmm...wonder if we could get some Texas Hunters to run the public school systems?

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

It is now fall, and the only reason I'm reading this is because its dark enough that the deer hunting is over for the day, but the coons arent out yet. I hunt 100 days a year, and I am raising my 2 little girls the same way. And yes, I am very, very much a redneck.

Anyhoo, I'm also a Hunter Ed Instructor, and mandatory hunter ed is the reason hunting accidents have fallen to about 1/10 of what they were 30 yrs ago. In Ohio, where Im at, the No 1 cause of death for hunters is falling asleep in a treestand and doing a 16 ft/sec ^2 DarwinDive (TM).

Get out there Rob...... Find a friendly farmer and get excluive access, if you're "henky" about getting lead poisoning... Its a blast, man..

Self-imposed ignorance should disgust everyone.

The superior man loves his soul, the inferior man loves his property.

Make sure you still have something worth wishing for.

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You do a good work, keep it going

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.