Deerhunting Season is Here! - Safety Matters

Yesterday (Oct 1st) was the first day of deerhunting season in Ontario (Oct 1st to Dec 31st) so I am off to the woods to bag me a buck.

One of the things I do every year however is take precautions about hunting near other hunters (who frankly are sometimes morons who shouldn't even be allowed to touch a bow).

I see these morons all the time at various private and public ranges. They don't know the safety rules and/or they flagrantly ignore the safety rules.

Which makes shooting next to them dangerous.

Now imagine hunting in the same woods with such idiots that you cannot even trust?

Thus one of the things I do is when I go to my favourite places to hunt is I ask the farmer / landowner if they can give me singular written permission to hunt on their land. I carry a little contract which the farmer / landowner signs, and this guarantees that I am the ONLY person out there hunting on their land.

The reasoning is simple. If other hunters show up asking for permission the landowner just has to say they already gave permission to someone else - and that they don't want multiple hunters out there possibly shooting at each other.

I also get the landowner to draw me a map of their property with landmarks so I have a clear idea of which land is actually theirs and which belongs to their neighbours.

Then I scout out the area quietly, bow in hand, watch for footprints on trails leading to watering holes. Then I set up a blind not far from the watering hole in a location that has good visibility in multiple directions and wait for the deer to pass by. My favourite technique is to set up near where multiple trails meet.

Now imagine if idiots show up, making lots of noise, playing with their cellphones, behaving like fools. The younger they are the more likely they are to be morons.

Older hunters who know the drill I don't have as much of a problem with. They know how to be quiet and they know how to hunt safely. These young morons are the type that cause accidents.

You know, the kind of inexperienced morons that shoot themselves in the arm and pose a danger to others. These people often like to act macho and think they are invincible but I see right through them.