Saturday, September 10, 2005

Ah, smell the smell of sweet, sweet black powder.

Today was the first day of hunter's safety. Tomorrow's the second and last day. I had fun. Well, the second half of the day anyway. The first half was just explaining all about how to safely carry a gun and store it and what to do and not to do blah blah blah. Nothing that I didn't read in the Hunter's Education Manual. It started at 8 AM and went until 12:15, then we had lunch for about forty-five minutes. I hung out with some people I knew from Vestaburg. We cracked a lot of jokes like if you could hit and kill someone with a bow in Saginaw, then there's no way you couldn't kill them with a fricking gun. ("Yeah, you'll be leaning out the window of a three storey building, pull the string back and TWANG! off goes their head!") I almost fell asleep a few times while they were talking about bow safety. Couldn't keep my eyes open half the time... After lunch anyway, we were divided into five different groups(I was in group five) and sent off to different areas. The first station we were at was the first aid one. We learned mostly about how hypothermia is a big danger while you're hunting and to look for the signs of it and how to avoid getting it. Frostbite, gunshots wounds, cuts, back injuries and whatnot were a few other things we discussed. Next we headed over to the archery range, learned a little about how to shoot the bows and then lined up. We got to shoot three arrows per turn and had about five or so turns before we had to leave. I hit the heart and lungs on the target two or three times but really didn't get any other kill shots(a few leg hits, shoulder and breast and one or two that barely missed the deer). Next was the shotgun range. The group was split up a bit at that point. Half of us went down to learn how to clean a shotgun or any other kind of gun while the other half shot at clay pidgeons. I was in the group that went to watch the guns get cleaned first. Nothing interesting to talk about for that really. We got to shoot five times at the clay pidgeons and I hit one of them.(I need more practice with the shotgun) Then we headed over to the rifle range and had some instruction on how to operate them. We were given ten bullets and a target to shoot at. All ten of my bullets hit the target, with five of them in the black, two in the white, two outside the target circle, and one in the bullseye. Next was learning about how to climb over a fence when you're hunting. I already knew how to do it from reading the Hunter's Education Manual, but only one person got to try because we were running low on time. The muzzleloader range was last. Learned about how to load a muzzleloader(it takes a minute or two) and such. We got to shoot twice; once after one of the instructor's showed us how to load the gun and gave it to us to shoot and then the last time after we demonstrated to them that we knew how to load it. I'm not sure where I hit on the target with the muzzleloader; mostly because I can't remember which target I aimed at and people were sharing targets anyway. (One girl I was talking to said she was just claiming all nine shots on the three targets we could aim at, saying that if it really came down to it she was going to say she shot the one's that were right on the edge of the bullseye. I laughed.) And then the day was done. It was 5 PM, hot as hell and my feet were sore so I was glad to be getting out of there. So, today I ended up shooting a 16 gauge shotgun(semiautomatic), .22 rifle(bolt-action), .50 caliber muzzleloader and a compound bow. (The only actions on a gun I haven't shot with are lever and break now) Mmm. With hunter's safety today everything else from the week has kind of been forced out of my mind. I don't really feel like saying anything about school anyway *shrugs* S'not worth it, really. Kayla's quiz of hunter safety: 1. What are the three most important parts of a gun? 2. What is the most important rule when handling a gun? 3. Where should your gun be facing at all times? 4. Who are the safest hunters? 5. Who are the most dangerous hunters? 6. If a deer is standing on top of a hill, should you shoot it? 7. What should you always ask before taking a gun from another person? 8. What should always be on when a gun is not in use? 9. Is the safety on a gun foolproof? 10. And finally, what is the best safety? Take it if you want. Leave your answers in the comment box. Don't cheat; if you really don't know then just say you don't. I'll post the answers as soon as I can or give them to Xio and have her post them for me. By the way, I have sub-chapter V of La Cosa Nostra all ready to go and stuff(HTML is all in its place), it's just that it's on my laptop(which is not with me at the moment. I'm at my dad's house until ten). I'll put it on my files CD and get it up next weekend. Ta-ta. -DDG Naruto: EPISODE 1 AND 2, TONIGHT AT 9:00 AND 9:30 PM, REPEATED AT 10:00 AND 10:30 PM, AS WELL AS SEVEN TIMES THROUGHOUT THE NEXT WEEK! DON'T MISS IT! Oh, and my birthday is in four days. ^_^

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