It seems as though everywhere you go there's always someone talking about how bad guns are and how no-one should be allowed to have them. Most of these people weren't brought up around firearms and only know what they learned from the public school system and what they hear from watching the media outlets. It's as if no-one is capable of investigating the subject matter on their own. Why have we allowed the U.S. to become a nation of people so unwilling to think for themselves?
One issue is there are a lot of parents who are unwilling to take the time to check in on the education their children are getting at school or from anywhere else for that matter. They are too busy to talk with their kids and find out what they're being taught and correct any misguidance they have picked up along the way. Shame on those parents. Ultimately our responsibility as parents to ensure that our children understand the truth about (and where we stand on) the subject of guns as well as any other subject matter they are being taught by others.
I know I'm preaching to the choir but I have to repeat it....Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I know a lot of people who own guns and not one of them is willing to just go out and shoot someone. None of them want to do anything that would even begin to cause them to lose their right to own guns. This is true of most gun owners. The vast of majority of gun owners are like those I know and wouldn't do anything that could cause them to lose their right to bear arms.
Why is it then that so many people view the gun owners of America as crazy lunatics who would shoot someone at the drop of a hat? Many of the people with this viewpoint are simply afraid of guns and feel only crazy people would have them around. Where are they picking these ideas up from? They certainly haven't been hanging out with the gun owners themselves or they would find out that their viewpoint on these the majority people is completely backwards. Certainly there are the select few who would go off at the drop of a hat, but those gun owners aren't the norm.
I was in a local Wal-Mart store waiting to buy my deer tag one evening last year when a toddler who was maybe three wandered across the aisle from his mom to the sporting goods section. He happened to stop at one of the gun display cases and just stood there looking up in awe. His mother noticed that he was by the gun display and began shouting and screaming "get away form there! Oh my goodness, get away from those guns!" Did she not realize that those unloaded firearms were no more capable of shooting her son than a notebook is capable of smacking someone over the head on its own? This type of reaction to guns seems to me to be sheer insanity. Perhaps the anti-gun people are the ones who need their heads examined.
The anti-gun crowd doesn't seem to understand that if there were no guns in the United States we would continue to have murders. Murderers would turn to other weapons of choice such as knives or any other item they felt would help them to complete their task at hand. The standard answer is to call the police. I don't know about you but where I live it can take nearly an hour for the sheriff to show up after being called to the scene. By the time the police arrived a criminal would have enough time to kill everyone inside and escape with whatever they felt like hauling away. Besides this, why is it that they feel a cop should be allowed to have a gun but any other citizen shouldn't? This thinking is absolutely ridiculous.
It is up to us as sportsmen to take an active roll in educating the public with the truth about guns, hunting and the many other activities in which we participate. When confronted about why we take part in the sports we enjoy, we must take the time to help those who ask to understand. If we do nothing and continue on it may not simply be our guns they seek to rid us of, it may be our outdoor lifestyle.
I won't be publishing many posts like this one, but I had to get this issue off my mind. Thanks for taking the time to hear me out.
-Any day in the outdoors is a good day
Now Is The Time To Prepare For Fall Archery Season
Two years ago I began my journey to becoming a bow hunter. This love affair with archery began by purchasing a used compound bow off of Craigslist from a guy who was hard up for cash. Upon returning home with my new-to-me Bear Whitetail II I began researching how to properly sight it in (having a neighbor who is himself a longtime, avid bow hunter didn't hurt anything). From the moment I released that first arrow I was hooked on the sport and haven't looked back.
That first deer season I just knew I would get a deer. Unlike most people, I didn't care about getting an enormous buck, I just wanted to kill my first deer. With every chance I had to escape the hustle and bustle of every day life I faithfully hit the woods. Time and again I sat without so much as seeing a deer. I would take my children along with me which only makes deer hunting more difficult (especially for a beginner), but I didn't mind, I was outdoors where I belonged.
One evening my daughter and I were headed back to the truck when three bucks about sixty yards ahead of us darted out of a cornfield across our path and into the woods. I didn't even have time to begin thinking about shooting before they were out of sight. Again I made many trips to my chosen hunting spot to no avail. About a week before Christmas my brother and I headed out together and found a spot where we could sit fairly close to each other hoping that four eyes would be better than two. About an hour before sunset my brother decided he would move to a different spot to try his luck. Within fifteen minutes my first opportunity arose, but even with many hours of practice I was ill prepared for what would happen next. At first I thought I must be dreaming. I saw one deer, then two, then four and then I lost count. I picked a doe out of the bunch, proceeded to take aim and that's when it hit me. My heart was about to jump out of my chest, It was freezing cold outside but I was beginning to sweat, I couldn't stop shaking.....The excitement was too much! I pulled the trigger on my release sending the projectile sailing off through the air. Somewhere in the distance I heard the clank of my arrow as it struck a tree and faster than it began, the whole scenario was over. I had made my first shot at a deer and cleanly missed it. That was the last deer I happened to see that year but I learned a valuable lesson from the encounter. Preparing for archery deer season is a year round commitment.
It is not uncommon for a hunter to get the jitters upon spotting a deer; however, being able to control your emotions when the time comes is an important discipline to learn and there's no time like the present to develop the necessary self control.
One method of taming your nerves is to spend every practice session shooting at realistic targets. When taking aim at a 3D target imagine that it is a real animal. This can help to stir those emotions up and teach you to contain your excitement when the big moment arrives. Always strive to make every outing as realistic as possible. Shoot from varied distances mimicking real hunting scenarios. By shooting from the tree stand that will be used in the fall you will gain more confidence in your shooting skills. This will also ensure that you are comfortable being in that particular stand and ensure accuracy when shooting at the angles which are necessary while hunting from a stand. Using these methods of practice is a sure way to improve your hunting skills while reigning in those out of control emotions that are all too common among deer hunters.
That first deer season I just knew I would get a deer. Unlike most people, I didn't care about getting an enormous buck, I just wanted to kill my first deer. With every chance I had to escape the hustle and bustle of every day life I faithfully hit the woods. Time and again I sat without so much as seeing a deer. I would take my children along with me which only makes deer hunting more difficult (especially for a beginner), but I didn't mind, I was outdoors where I belonged.
One evening my daughter and I were headed back to the truck when three bucks about sixty yards ahead of us darted out of a cornfield across our path and into the woods. I didn't even have time to begin thinking about shooting before they were out of sight. Again I made many trips to my chosen hunting spot to no avail. About a week before Christmas my brother and I headed out together and found a spot where we could sit fairly close to each other hoping that four eyes would be better than two. About an hour before sunset my brother decided he would move to a different spot to try his luck. Within fifteen minutes my first opportunity arose, but even with many hours of practice I was ill prepared for what would happen next. At first I thought I must be dreaming. I saw one deer, then two, then four and then I lost count. I picked a doe out of the bunch, proceeded to take aim and that's when it hit me. My heart was about to jump out of my chest, It was freezing cold outside but I was beginning to sweat, I couldn't stop shaking.....The excitement was too much! I pulled the trigger on my release sending the projectile sailing off through the air. Somewhere in the distance I heard the clank of my arrow as it struck a tree and faster than it began, the whole scenario was over. I had made my first shot at a deer and cleanly missed it. That was the last deer I happened to see that year but I learned a valuable lesson from the encounter. Preparing for archery deer season is a year round commitment.
It is not uncommon for a hunter to get the jitters upon spotting a deer; however, being able to control your emotions when the time comes is an important discipline to learn and there's no time like the present to develop the necessary self control.
One method of taming your nerves is to spend every practice session shooting at realistic targets. When taking aim at a 3D target imagine that it is a real animal. This can help to stir those emotions up and teach you to contain your excitement when the big moment arrives. Always strive to make every outing as realistic as possible. Shoot from varied distances mimicking real hunting scenarios. By shooting from the tree stand that will be used in the fall you will gain more confidence in your shooting skills. This will also ensure that you are comfortable being in that particular stand and ensure accuracy when shooting at the angles which are necessary while hunting from a stand. Using these methods of practice is a sure way to improve your hunting skills while reigning in those out of control emotions that are all too common among deer hunters.
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