Gun safety

[bigbrother]

As a lot of you know I just returned from a great antelope hunt in Wyoming. An odd thing occurred to me though while hunting. My guide thanked me 3 different times throughout the day for my safe gun handling. I finally had to ask him why as I wasn't doing anything other than what should be second nature to all of us.

He went on to tell me a story about another hunt he had recently guided where it was a father/son deer hunt. There were 2 bucks and the father was going to shoot the biggest one, but the son would take the 2nd if an opportunity presented. The guide explained to the son that if his dad dumped the buck right there the other one would probably not go far and to get along side of him so that he could take him when the shot presented itself. Well, the father did his part and dumped the first buck, the 2nd buck took a couple of jumps and stopped at which the guide says "There's your opportunity, take him." The son's response is one that freaked out him, me and should everyone reading this. He replied "Your arm is in the way."

The son was still standing BEHIND the guide and would have shot through him had he been able to see the deer.

I only tell this story in hopes that we all look at ourselves and those we hunt with and make sure that we are all safe in what we do this hunting season. Please don't worry about offending someone if they are not handling their firearm safely. Hurting someones' feelings about it will be a lot less for them to deal with than being responsible for someone's death.

BE SAFE AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

[PJgunner]

I second the motion. Mantra we drum into our students at the Hunter Ed classes. We can be talking about handgun hunting and right in the middle of the elcture say, "TAB." The students, kids and adults must then rescite TAB as shown below.

1.Treat every gun as if it were loaded.

2. Always point the muzzle in a safe diredtion.

3. Be sure of your target and beyond.

Paul B.