[Buffalobob]

The bitter truth is than I came closer to being killed while deer huntign by someones 12 year old kid with a 410 shotgun loaded with slugs than I did by the NVA. He shot at a fox as it ran across the road and I was down the road. I keep my face to my enemies but it is my "friends" that will probably kill me.

I hunted in Idaho for elk for three years. They do not have a hunter orange requirement and I cannot begin to count the number of times hunters would wind up in my spotting scope along with a deer.

Hunter education is a great program but it must be coupled with a responsible parent.

I started shooting a 22 rifle before I was six years old and by the time I was nine I was hunting alone "on the farm" but the fence line was my limit and the single shot 22 was all I was allowed to carry. Should I be late for dinner my hunting privileges were revoked. By the time I was eleven I had earned enough money to order a Stevens Savage 311 from the Sears Roebuck Catalog. Every squirrel and rabbit I shot was cooked and eaten.


My own kids, I started out very young with an air rifle and they shoot that until they were very good. I remember the day I took my son bowhunting with me and he carried the air rifle. A doe came along and instead of me shooting it with the bow, I had him shoot it with the air rifle. That was one spooked doe but lucky to be alive!!

Anyway, my opinion is that there should be a graduated system with requirements for years hunted accompanied by an adult for small game and then more years with an adult for large game. For a person like my daughter who had never hunted before last year one would look at her achievements in 1000 yard F-class as an indication of being responsible with a rifle around other people and she never hunts alone with anything but her camera anyway.

There are a lot of responsible parents who teach their children well but there is an equal number who should not even be allowed to have children. Basically it comes down to the fact that I believe some people should be neutered soon after birth to protect the gene pool.