Pushing Kids Too Fast.

I finally got to watch some hunting shows and Pig Man was one I've been hearing about so I tune in to the Cotton Mesa TX hog episode. Everything's fine until the dad wheels out the lil 6 year old and says he's gonna be using what appears to be an adult size high powered rifle. They don't show either shot the boy takes at a hog, probably because the little guy can't handle the rifle himself. Later when they find a hog they think is the one he shot at Dad is carrying the rifle.

Why do some dads insist on starting kids WAY to early with big guns? It's unsafe since the kid can't handle the weight and length of the rifle nor the recoil. Pushing a kid into a gun too big for their little bodies is also a great way to develop a flinch in a new shooter. I was tall for my age and wasn't allowed to carry a rifle other than a .22 until I was almost 10 years old. I can't imagine handing a small child a rifle and expect him to be able to control the muzzle like he should.

One recent instance of this nonsense I witnessed was at the trap range. One dad was insisting junior shoot dad's older shotgun and the poor kid couldn't even shoulder the gun correctly. Even when it was pointed out to dad that it was teaching the kid poor gun handling and shooting skills and also how unsafe it was for the kid to fumble around the shotgun, pop insisted on continuing their practice. Grrrr, sometimes you just want to shake people.

In many states youth hunters can't hunt big game until they are 12 years old like here in CA. I'd say that's about the right age but each kid develops at their own pace. When a young hunter should be trusted with a firearm should be up to the parent to make the right call, and PLEASE, leave all the macho BS out. Make the safe decision.

Between the gun safety nonsense I've seen on 3 "Wild Within" TV shows already and this it's gonna drive me back to Oprah and The View.

Are They Really Hunts?

I have to be brutally honest about these planted bird shoots that we've put on the past couple of years, JHO won't be participating anymore for several reasons.

1) The biggest reason is the safety issue. Every time I've been out on a planted bird shoot we've had issues with folks who are not aware of where their muzzle is pointing or had fingers on the trigger while walking. Even after warning the shooter we've had the same issue pop back up again the same day which puts in in a jam over kicking someone out of the shoot.


In these bird shoots we're also mixing small groups together that have never shot with each other and it's caused some strife. I know I've hit the ground a time or two over the past couple years when someone swung too far and almost blew someone's head off. I know 2 people who've been shot in the past 2 years while at pheasant shoots like this and I don't want any part in any shooting.

2) It's a canned hunt. I grew up chasing pheasants in the frozen cornstalks of Iowa and Missouri and these hunts, or shoots as they should be labeled, are just not my cup of tea. The dogs do get a work out but that's about it. You walk up and kick the pheasant out of sparse cover and bang! Wild pheasants are a completely different game, they use their cover to best many upland hunters. That, and many times a bird gets pounded by 3 or 4 shooters as it flies across field, leaving a bloody mess you can't even salvage for a bite to eat. Antis also use this type of canned hunt in their argument on hunting being called fair chase. I've always been for fair chase and these type of shoots do not make the cut for me.

3) The other issue we've had to deal with is dog owner's who have NO control what so ever over their dog or dogs. The last hunt we had a springer flushing out a pheasant from our field even before we walked out, the owner was no where in sight. Later, this same dog came back and we hollered for someone to reel in their dog and no one around responded. We never did figure out who was letting the springer run all over other fields. The hunt before that we had to ask one person to put their lab up in his truck after the dog ruined several fields by flushing birds out of them. Some folks who think they have control over their dog are completely oblivious to the whole program. This issue has also caused some heartburn between groups at these shoots as they watch a loose dog flush out birds they just paid to shoot.



The bottom line, just too many folks in tight quarters swinging shotguns around with many of them newbies or just way too careless for me. The California DFG youth hunts are more controlled in that they have several mentors around the kid and only hand them a shell when it's time to shoot. That's great but it's still a far cry from a fair chase hunt. One young hunter put it best to me after teaching him to shoot pidgeons at the local dairy in Chino. We were on his first planted pheasant hunt and after kicking the bird several times the pen raised bird finally flushed up and he shot it. The kid turned to me and said, "This ain't no fun, let's go shoot pidgeons." So we did, leaving our 2 other birds for another shooter in the next field to finish off.

I'm not trying to dis the DFG or the pheasant clubs it's just I have to be truthful on how I've always felt about these shoots. I tried to go along for the kids and group shoots for the comraderie but it's just not going to work for me.