hunter saftey Question
- Thread starter jmac
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henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
@jmac - Definitely YES!!! But you will not be purchasing a license here without anything period (and they do require proof - can be acquired pretty easily online from most states if you took the course within the last 10-20 yrs, usually accessed with a simple SS # - except for one of the technologically inept state game dept's like PA, in which case you will have to call/go thru the antiquated circus/then wait on snail mail - I searched up and printed out copies of mine & my sons' Hunter Safety cards in 15 mins from NM on the game dept's website)...
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
Please don't take this personal - it is not in any way aimed at you! But I am a huge fan of Hunter safety - I don't think ANYBODY should be allowed to hunt EVER without having taken a course!!! The scariest people I have ever met in the woods by far have been long-time-hunting old geezers, not kids...
HHR,
I think Your Right. I Took Hunter saftey In the boy scouts, I just dont have a cert, to prove this, so I can buy a license, in states that require them. I have a couple of guys that hunted quail with me last year. I will never hunt with them again....... b/c they scared the heck out of me.
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Actually most states that I am aware of take Hunter safety cards from other states. My 11yr old son will be taking his hunter safety course next month at Sportsman's and I am very excited for him.
He has been studying his manual and asking questions...it is pretty cool.
Greg
He has been studying his manual and asking questions...it is pretty cool.
Greg
FCSpringer
Moderator
I tell ya those coarses are good but you can also take gunning seminars after that, from professinal gun folks that shoot in various competitions. Safety is even more strict at these and teaches saftey and gun handeling over and above the typical coarse. It will in fact improve your shooting as well. I have seen on TV shows where people are very unsafe without even realizing it. One was even an olimpic trap shooter.
I have not been hunter safety certified in the traditional sense, more like apprenticed from a young age, as game bearer carrying an empty gun,and being lectured along the way on the right way of doing things. I'm 56, by the way. My daughters and wife, took hunter safety training two years ago. I sat all day and watched, it was in a phrase, ass-numbingly boring. A lot of archery, muzzzle-loading, tree stands, to fill out an entire day. No actual discussion of what to do about low flushing birds, a personal hot button issue with me, for both dog and hunter safety, and the chief violation among the non dog set rookies,I've been around. Did cover landowner relations quite well. I guess I would have been more impressed with more small game discussion, but I suppose since I'm in Missouri where we have been consumed by the deer and turkey people, I shouldn't be surprised. My girls all got 100%, frighteningly enough there were people, ( adults and kids), who flunked! My point is that I have hunted with a number of both Hunter safety educated, and non educated, and no amount of training or lack thereof, can change a knucklehead into a sportsman. My motto, if I suspect your a numbnuts in everyday life, I'm not hunting with you to find out, with or without a certificate. Same logic applies to drivers, all of whom are supposedly safe, according to the state.
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
jmac - You got that right, Gawd I've had some hairy experiences over the years with long-time hunting adults who were supposed to know better...
As a teenager, I had an uncle swing & level on me down the fencerow in a dove field. All I could do was barely manage to hit the dirt just as he squeezed off the shot at a dove flying eye-level right on the other side of me - a few choice words were exchanged, I left the field & NEVER hunted with that flesh-&-blood relative again!
Had an 80 yr old man just across the property line from us in PA who had been hunting 50-60 yrs...My kids would crawl down out of their treestand shaking in their boots any time that guy was in his. If a deer happened to run across the field between you & him (which happened quite frequently), you could bet that guy would level down & fire away looking right down his barrel at all that head-to-toe hunter orange he had just been observing for the last hour or two glowing like a pumpkin...One time when the idiot had wounded a running deer & we were all trying to help him track it down, he managed to point his rifle at everybody in the circle while we were all standing there talking - it almost cost him his gun smashed in two against a tree!
Another guy named Walter in east TX finally got his tan-deerskin (N# S#) DEER-SNEAKING jacket cut in two with a bowie knife, handed back to him in parts & replaced with something more appropriate by a buddy of mine who is quite the character! DUH, what are some people thinking...
On a not so funny note much closer-to-home - long ago & far away I was hunting a HUGE buck one time that I had been scouting over several hot-scrapes & a fresh fighting/scuffle scene in the sweet potato patch right beside that looked like two mack trucks had plowed up the field and been spinning donuts the size of a football field...Got settled in well be4 daylight. In the low early-morning fuzzy twilight I heard noise & looked thru my scope to see a brown mass + what looked like white tails being shoved back & forth, and one of the scrape bushes right by the previous fight scene shaking around & moving like crazy...Had my finger on the trigger, heart pounding in my throat, watching thru the scope just waiting to see antlers & make out a clear body shape...When it all settled down & clear daylight came, guess who was sitting on the ground right-smack in the middle of that scrape bush??? WALTER in his favorite tan buckskin jacket & highwater pants with white socks!!! After I just about hyperventilated & passed out from the experience, that's when Walter got his little sermon/what-for & forever lost his proud/trusty little deerskin hunting jacket! I then went straight down & bought a pair of binoculars and I have NEVER looked around or done my scouting thru a rifle scope again! QUESTION: How many yea-hoos are there out there who would have possibly pulled that trigger???
One more true story (both funny & scary as ____)...A guy took his wife along with him deer hunting for the first time, they were sitting together in a nice comfy double-blind. He shot a buck & got down to field-dress it, leaving her in the comfort of the warm blind. When he came back for her he said, "Oh Honey, you've gotta come see this - he's a huge one!" To which she instantly replied, "I know darling, I've been watching you clean it thru the scope the whole time!"
So yeah, MAYBE not you & me anymore - but there are lots of folks running around out in the woods & across the prairie who need a serious edumacation just-in-case (like defensive driving if nothing else)...
I drilled this stuff into my kids & all of their many friends who I took thru Hunter Safety until they practically hated me for it & rolled their eyes when they saw me coming (but only ONE regrettable can't-take-it-back mistake & you are done when it comes to hunting)! GOOD NEWS: I could already trust my well-proven older son all alone in a red-hot dove field at 12 yrs old under all that mind-boggling excitement, leave him in his own in-sight spot & turn my back on him without a care in the world! Now the younger one, he took a little longer (at 12 I wouldn't have put a gun in his hand if I was holding the other) - but he finally did get it at his own pace & my two sons are now my MOST-TRUSTED hunting buddies!!!
Don't know why I tacked all this onto a simple answer to your question, but maybe there's a youngster or a newbie out there in UPH-land who needs to hear it! Hunter safety classrooms & textbooks are one thing - but things can get awful exciting when roosters are suddenly spraying in every direction & a fellow can lose his head real easy if not extra careful...
As a teenager, I had an uncle swing & level on me down the fencerow in a dove field. All I could do was barely manage to hit the dirt just as he squeezed off the shot at a dove flying eye-level right on the other side of me - a few choice words were exchanged, I left the field & NEVER hunted with that flesh-&-blood relative again!
Had an 80 yr old man just across the property line from us in PA who had been hunting 50-60 yrs...My kids would crawl down out of their treestand shaking in their boots any time that guy was in his. If a deer happened to run across the field between you & him (which happened quite frequently), you could bet that guy would level down & fire away looking right down his barrel at all that head-to-toe hunter orange he had just been observing for the last hour or two glowing like a pumpkin...One time when the idiot had wounded a running deer & we were all trying to help him track it down, he managed to point his rifle at everybody in the circle while we were all standing there talking - it almost cost him his gun smashed in two against a tree!
Another guy named Walter in east TX finally got his tan-deerskin (N# S#) DEER-SNEAKING jacket cut in two with a bowie knife, handed back to him in parts & replaced with something more appropriate by a buddy of mine who is quite the character! DUH, what are some people thinking...
On a not so funny note much closer-to-home - long ago & far away I was hunting a HUGE buck one time that I had been scouting over several hot-scrapes & a fresh fighting/scuffle scene in the sweet potato patch right beside that looked like two mack trucks had plowed up the field and been spinning donuts the size of a football field...Got settled in well be4 daylight. In the low early-morning fuzzy twilight I heard noise & looked thru my scope to see a brown mass + what looked like white tails being shoved back & forth, and one of the scrape bushes right by the previous fight scene shaking around & moving like crazy...Had my finger on the trigger, heart pounding in my throat, watching thru the scope just waiting to see antlers & make out a clear body shape...When it all settled down & clear daylight came, guess who was sitting on the ground right-smack in the middle of that scrape bush??? WALTER in his favorite tan buckskin jacket & highwater pants with white socks!!!
After I just about hyperventilated & passed out from the experience, that's when Walter got his little sermon/what-for & forever lost his proud/trusty little deerskin hunting jacket! I then went straight down & bought a pair of binoculars and I have NEVER looked around or done my scouting thru a rifle scope again! QUESTION: How many yea-hoos are there out there who would have possibly pulled that trigger??? One more true story (both funny & scary as ____)...A guy took his wife along with him deer hunting for the first time, they were sitting together in a nice comfy double-blind. He shot a buck & got down to field-dress it, leaving her in the comfort of the warm blind. When he came back for her he said, "Oh Honey, you've gotta come see this - he's a huge one!" To which she instantly replied, "I know darling, I've been watching you clean it thru the scope the whole time!"
So yeah, MAYBE not you & me anymore - but there are lots of folks running around out in the woods & across the prairie who need a serious edumacation just-in-case (like defensive driving if nothing else)...
I drilled this stuff into my kids & all of their many friends who I took thru Hunter Safety until they practically hated me for it & rolled their eyes when they saw me coming (but only ONE regrettable can't-take-it-back mistake & you are done when it comes to hunting)! GOOD NEWS: I could already trust my well-proven older son all alone in a red-hot dove field at 12 yrs old under all that mind-boggling excitement, leave him in his own in-sight spot & turn my back on him without a care in the world! Now the younger one, he took a little longer (at 12 I wouldn't have put a gun in his hand if I was holding the other) - but he finally did get it at his own pace & my two sons are now my MOST-TRUSTED hunting buddies!!!
Don't know why I tacked all this onto a simple answer to your question, but maybe there's a youngster or a newbie out there in UPH-land who needs to hear it! Hunter safety classrooms & textbooks are one thing - but things can get awful exciting when roosters are suddenly spraying in every direction & a fellow can lose his head real easy if not extra careful...
bobeyerite
New member
As an old Instructor, I strongly agree. Hunter safty is a must. I think any new hunter any age should take one just to learn the do and don't of hunting..........Bob
jnormanh
New member
More than fifty years ago I took a firearms course (safety and marksmanship) which was taught by off-duty police officers at the pistol range in the basement of the Sioux Falls police dept. The range and backstop were adequate for .22 rimfire which is what we were trained with. I went every week for most of a year, and to this day I can pick up a rifle and shoot accurately, and I've never come close to causing an "accident".
Last year my long term hunting pal and I were hunting quail. He is a self-taught hunter of considerable experience, and a responsible man.
I'd gone behind some trees to retrieve a bird, and when I stepped out from the trees, he had his gun pointed at a quail which was flying right towards me. I hit the dirt and he killed the quail right over my head. Never saw me, he said.
I am a firm believer in professional safety training. Dad may be a great guy, but I wouldn't trust him to teach me how to fly either.
Hunting accidents never are accidents. They are always the result of carelessness and poor training.
Last year my long term hunting pal and I were hunting quail. He is a self-taught hunter of considerable experience, and a responsible man.
I'd gone behind some trees to retrieve a bird, and when I stepped out from the trees, he had his gun pointed at a quail which was flying right towards me. I hit the dirt and he killed the quail right over my head. Never saw me, he said.
I am a firm believer in professional safety training. Dad may be a great guy, but I wouldn't trust him to teach me how to fly either.
Hunting accidents never are accidents. They are always the result of carelessness and poor training.
just a dumby
I guess I'm just a dumby. I just can't comprehend how an eight hour class, where half the participants sleep through, and includes a curriculum of a bunch a personal annecdotal war stories by the instructors,include no actual gun handling, shooting instruction, situational drills, has any real effect on safety in the field. I did all that with my girls, dry fire excercises, loading and unloading of various types of weapons, starting with tin cans and bb guns. where's the personal responsibilty? I'll wager a good number of us are in the "to much government camp", Intrusion on the individual? How does this fit? As far as learning to fly, I wouldn't want to take flying lessons from your dad either, especially if it was without a plane! how bout drivers ed, with no car, just classroom? I say either make the commitment to do it right on a state level, with meaningful education, or get the lip service politicians out of it and leave it to the adults, if there are any. I do agree that upland bird hunting is the most potentially dangerous pursuit, making it even more incumbent upon us to be rigorous in our training of our youngsters. I shudder to think of the newly minted " safety nimrods" of any age, and no experience beyond the manual, out on opening day of pheasant season on a multi-man drive with dogs and blockers.
I guess I'm just a dumby. I just can't comprehend how an eight hour class, where half the participants sleep through, and includes a curriculum of a bunch a personal annecdotal war stories by the instructors,include no actual gun handling, shooting instruction, situational drills, has any real effect on safety in the field. I did all that with my girls, dry fire excercises, loading and unloading of various types of weapons, starting with tin cans and bb guns. where's the personal responsibilty? I'll wager a good number of us are in the "to much government camp", Intrusion on the individual? How does this fit? As far as learning to fly, I wouldn't want to take flying lessons from your dad either, especially if it was without a plane! how bout drivers ed, with no car, just classroom? I say either make the commitment to do it right on a state level, with meaningful education, or get the lip service politicians out of it and leave it to the adults, if there are any. I do agree that upland bird hunting is the most potentially dangerous pursuit, making it even more incumbent upon us to be rigorous in our training of our youngsters. I shudder to think of the newly minted " safety nimrods" of any age, and no experience beyond the manual, out on opening day of pheasant season on a multi-man drive with dogs and blockers.
bobeyerite
New member
Old and New, I don't know about your program but ours is nothing like that. We get out and shoot. We teach the students go over fences and to do all sorts of real field problems the proper safe way. I also disagree upland birds is the most dangerous. I have gotten shot at a lot more big game hunting. That is why I don't do it anymore. I don't think the political comments were necessary either. Political stuff like that has no place on a hunting forum of any type......Bob
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I applaud the program and instruction you describe. Lucky the students who have that opportunity to take it. The program I describe, which is the multi-state minimum, I believe, is a 8-10 hour course taught in a classroom at a local school, in one day! As far as political commentary, I don't consider advocating personal responsibility to be a political issue, nor the exclusive position of any political party. If it was offensive, I apologize. Big game as apposed to upland, I concede that due to the leathality of the arms used in each application, much more potential for death with big game, I have also heard the whine of overhead projectiles, I quit too! Big game seems to bring out the worst of the numbskulls. I still believe there is potential for great injury for "green" hunters in quail cover, or certain pheasant styles of hunting, as it is incumbent upon the idividual, to know instantly, where everybody is on the occassion of a wild flush, as well as a responsibility to be where you are supposed to be, in relation to where others in the party expect you to be! Part of the nuance of the sport, really requires a certain amount of experience. As I said I would be whole heartedly in favor of, and supportive of the type of program you describe, the other not so much. I would even support a refresher course for us old farts, every so often, since we know familiarity breeds casualness and posibbly carelessness. Keep up the good work.
Gove County Britts
New member
old and new as a young Instructor I also agree it should b taken in our class the first day is drab and repetitive not alot of WAR stories only ones with meaning behind them the second day is full of a morning of clays and shooting this year we added some live birds and dog work so we could show as well as tell about lowflying birds and how to watch the dog for alot of things fatigue and heat stroke bieng one of them we have our class at the end of August first of september if you are interested next year
I think I would enjoy that, I have one more junior to go, but she won't be eligible for a few years yet, only 7. Might bring the other two though. Go through the course myself, in case I want to hunt in Colorado before I die, my kids of course are desperate to go to Colorado, because they are legal, and they envision I would have to take the ass-numbing course I signed them up for! Post it on here about a month out, my guess is you'll get some takers in addition to us.
Gove County Britts
New member
whereabouts are you located
bobeyerite
New member
The hunter safety programs are up to the state Game departments to design. I think it depends on the director and his staff how good a program you get. I have taught in 3 different states and Those programs were all excellent programs. Most of them ran 2-3 hours a night for 5 nights plus 4 hours on the Saturday field training. Which included the fence crossings, various gun carrying and shooting some clay birds.......Bob
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