I’m not much of a hunter. When I was in high school deer hunters often met in our house. The sun was barely up, it was cold, sometimes snowing, and I was always happy to go to school rather than into the woods. I hunted a few times, but I never saw a deer, probably because I made too much noise and scared them away.
Nonetheless, I absorbed some lessons from my dad, an excellent deer hunter. First, always be sure of your target. If you are not absolutely sure, don’t shoot. Yesterday a woman was killed in Western New York by a guy who shot a pistol at what he thought was a deer, after sunset. It is illegal to hunt after sunset, and obviously the shooter could not see what he was shooting at. He knew something was wrong when he heard a scream.
Another lesson was never put a loaded gun away. Always make sure it is empty of bullets. When I put away my 22, I always pumped it once, pointed it to the ceiling, and pulled the trigger just to make sure it was empty. One time it wasn’t, and I shot into the ceiling, but better into the ceiling than into a person. Yesterday a three-year-old kid in Philadelphia shot herself with a gun that was put away loaded.
My dad was a wise man.
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