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Outdoor Corner - Opening day for Nimrods coming soon!
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
The excitement of the start of rifle season for big game is upon us. Bow season opened on Aug. 25 but gun season started for birds on Sept. 1 with rifle season for big game beginning on Sept. 17 and for rut moose on Sept. 24 in most of the Peace River country.
In the excitement we may sometimes forget safety measures that inevitably lead to tragedy each year. An account I read about some time ago was an incident involving a lady hanging clothes on her clothes line in New England. She was wearing white gloves and while hanging clothes in her backyard, sadly, was mistaken for a whitetail deer and was shot by a careless hunter. The “hunter” argued that the flashing gloves resembled a whitetail deer and he was subsequently exonerated on the grounds that “accidents will happen in hunting season.”
Obviously, this is a rather drastic example but we might ask ourselves, “Is the deer or moose really worth taking a chance on mistaken identity?” After you fill up your truck with gas, purchase your licenses, buy the necessary ammunition, etc., etc., if you manage to harvest a moose, elk, or deer, that meat is probably costing you much more than it would to simply buy meat at the grocery store. So is it really worth it taking a chance in any situation where the identity of the target is in question?
So to start the season off on the right foot, place emphasis on safety, not simply filling the freezer with “cheap” meat. Number one, DO NOT POINT THE WEAPON AT ANYTHING YOU DO NOT INTEND TO KILL. About ten years ago I was out behind Reno when I talked to a fellow who was livid. He said he was quading down a cutline when he noticed someone was pointing a gun at him from an adjacent intersecting cutline. When the irrate hunter approached the fellow pointing the gun at him, the explanation the irrate hunter was given as to why a gun was pointed at him was, “I was just looking down my scope (telescopic sights) to see who you were!” Needless to say, the irrate victim of this scenario told the other hunter what to do with his scope and his gun.
Secondly, KEEP THE GUN UNLOADED AT ALL TIMES EXCEPT WHEN YOUR FEET ARE ON THE GROUND AND YOU ARE ACTIVELY HUNTING. Not only is t against the law to carry a loaded gun on any motorized vehicle, but it is dangerous. I often tell my children the story about my friend Larry who was hunting with us once back in the good old days. We were all in our teens and were out jack rabbit hunting on a cold day. We did our field walk and were about to get back into our vehicle. I asked the question, “Are all the guns unloaded?” Larry, who was approaching the vehicle did not break the action on his gun and as he entered the vehicle he solidly set his gun butt on the running board of our vehicle (Yes, there were such things as running boards on the side of the vehicle in my day) and it (the gun) discharged.
I was already in the vehicle and fortunately the gun was pointed up and blew off the rain channel on the side of the vehicle. Inside of the vehicle, the discharge sounded like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Needless to say, this was one of the last times Larry was asked to go hunting with us in part because after my dad found out about this incident the broken rain channel was the least of our concern.
So be safe and watch the direction of that weapon. Remember, if you shoot something, your hunt is over. Hopefully, it’s for the right reason that it’s over. But look at the positive side of passing on a questionable shot, “You can go hunting again tomorrow.”
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