Monday morning the tally will be in. We will see how many people were killed. In most cases, it will be by family or friend, they will have shot each other with a high powered rifle. A father killed his son, a friend killed his partner in a tree... most, if not all, will never be prosecuted, that is unless they failed to purchase a license
or weren't wearing the required bright orange clothing.
This weekend, the Minnesota deer hunting season opened. It will be the most dangerous weekend of the season. Besides a license requirement in the more populated parts of the state, only a shotgun with slugs are allowed. A slug is one piece of lead, and its accuracy can be described as less than a musket. Shotgun slugs are short-range. It's why they are used in populated areas. Rifles, on the other hand, are very powerful. Most have been fitted with a scope for the quarter-mile cornfield shots. Lookout! These rifles are 308s or 30-06. Most hunters feel that a 30-30 old, lever-action, cowboy gun lacks the power. Not true.
I used to hunt with my Dad. That “Old Timer'' only allowed one round in your rifle: If you shoot where I taught you to, that deer will drop. Nowadays, the urban hunter is armed with a high-powered, semi-auto, scope-sighted rifle and believes he can drop a 250-lb deer a quarter mile away. If he misses with the first shot, he has 4 more. He will not be able to use his scope because the deer is running, so he usually fires the last four rounds in the deer's direction, and woe to any hunters on the other side of this cornfield- that's how they get killed.
This action is called “BUCK FEVER”, which means loss of all reasoning or sense. I have witnessed this phenomenon among deer hunters, but also green troops or FNGs, new guys in their first firefight. It's why the Marines hate automatic weapons.
I have also lived on two reservations in northern MN and have hunted with both Indian and non-Indian. There is a big difference. The first one is, I never heard an Indian call hunting a sport. Most call it a need, I need to get a deer this weekend to feed my family. I've known some to kill an extra to sell to that “Whiteman” who had sat in that bar all weekend. Choice of firearms... Most of the “Shinobs” I've hunted with use that old family heirloom, an open sighted 30-30 lever action. I hunted with this Marine Vietnam veteran, who had fired Expert year after year in the Corps. He used what most people would never consider- an open-sighted long rifle 22 calibur. He said if you wait for the right shot...I saw him bring down three deer, along with a moose, which he used a 60-year-old 30-30. He could make the head shots. It was why they called him Hawk!
Anyhoo, these are just a few hunting stories. Stay tuned, you will hear more. Rat
No comments:
Post a Comment