Weekend Camping Trip

[GREY OWL]

Got home late last night, from camping at our property. Little Owl shot over 450 rounds from his single shot .22. He was shooting into a wood pile at empty beer cans and pop cans, comical as hell, he brought home a piece of wood and dug out 79 lead bullets. He's shot in this same wood pile before, there must be hundreds of rounds in there. Now when I start a fire it'll be firepit slash smelter.

Took the boys scouting on quads, saw a decent buck in velvet, just the one my son can shoot this fall, for his first ever deer. He's definetly ready for deer season, we went for a walk down our road , Little Owl asked if he could peck off some little birds on a limb. Although I don't make it a practice of shooting birds I don't intend to eat, I said " go ahead " likely won't hit one anyway. WRONG, he nailed not one but three birds, 3 out of 3, I'd say the wood pile taught him good.

Deer season is fast coming, 4 or 5 days ago the temperature went down to + 1 degree Celsius, during the night, damn near freezing, not good for tomatoes.

Take care boys, get the cameras ready.

Grey Owl

[A.W]

Sounds like you had a quality weekend.

[GREY OWL]

I certainly had a good time A.W. Thanks for your response. I'd rather be looking at trees than traffic.

Grey Owl

[guest]

Interesting,very interesting...........

[ComfyBear]

Sounds like you had some good quality time with Little Owl. It's great to hear that your son enjoys the outdoors and makes the effort to practice and sharpen up his markmanship skills.

I'm sure you'd like Little Owl to grow up into a responsible, safe and ethical hunter. That is why a couple things concern me.

You wrote: Little Owl asked if he could peck off some little birds on a limb. Although I don't make it a practice of shooting birds I don't intend to eat, I said " go ahead " likely won't hit one anyway.

Shooting a .22cal into a woodpile is one thing, however shooting it into the air without a suitable backstop is dangerous, not to mention the unethical part of shooting at game that one has no intention of consuming.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you how to raise your son, I'm just stating my opinion for what it's worth.

[GaryL]

Sounds like a very good time fer all GREY OWL, should have your son melt down all that lead and make some fishing sinker's

[GREY OWL]

Your right, Comfy Bear, that was wrong shooting those little birds. To be 100% perfect in life is almost imposible, except if your God.

At 12 years old, my son is very anxious to shoot something, anything, so I let him take a crack at those birds, I never thought he'd hit them. But after the first two I should of put a stop to it. My reasoning for that was to show him what its like to shoot something for the fun of it. I wanted him to experience the empty feeling of shooting an animal or bird with no reason other than a ego. If I wasn't there, and say he's 16 or 17 years old and hunting by himself, I'm sure he would shoot more than just 3 small birds. This way I was coaching him the in's and out's of responsible shooting. Everyone must, everyone has, and everyone will one day shoot something for the fun of it, or for no reason what's so ever. After that happens its up to you as a person, or hunter to decide if that made you feel good or not. I'm sure everyone on this forum has at one time shot and killed something for no real purpose. I thank you for bringing this up, and maybe other people can take note and learn something from this.

Before I leave I want to say this, although my son has shotten these birds, he did a few times after want to do more shooting. I told him absolutely no way, not on our property or anyone else's, ever. He had a hard time with that concept. By you know something, that day he grew a little more closer to being a man.

You also mentioned something about shooting into the air with no real back stop. Where we were hunting on our property, it doesn't matter where you shoot a .22 there's no one for miles away. Were fairly deep in the bush, with the closest farm being almost 2 miles away. My son also just finished his hunter safety, believe me, he's very cautious where his gun is pointing and shooting. This youngsters coming out of this class have more respect and fear of firearms than veterans I know.

I hope this all makes some sense to you and everone.

My practice is for every tree I cut, I plant 100, every animal I shoot I feed many more. Our property is very well managed for all wildlife. I've always said if your good to nature, nature is good to you.

I'll promise you this ComfyBear, this will never happen again as long as I'm hunting with my son. Now he knows.

Take care buddy!!

Grey Owl

[Spring]

I wouldn't get too worked up over the Tweetie mass murder. As Grey Owl pointed out, and I would wager every one of us has done this or something similar. That does not mean it is right. What is signifigant is it is one of the stages of becoming a hunter. Its a natural progression.

We start hunting being optimistic and incompetent.

Next most, not all hunters develop competence but not at the same time as wisdom. Regrettably some of us never get past this stage no matter how old we are. For the ones who never progress beyond this stage we kill for killings sake. We can laugh about it. We have no respect for the game we hunt. And we have to kill in order to have had a good time and to boost our ego. And often we waste what we kill. This goes a long way toward explaining "slob hunters".

The third stage is where competence and wisdom are in synch. We develop ethics. We enjoy the hunt far more than the kill. We don't need to kill to have treasured the experience. We don't need to kill to feel fulfilled. We respect game. For some, the kill is an anti-climax. We look forward to returning to the field again and again. We are hunters, but we are also conservationists. Most of us stay in this mode throughout our hunting life.

Some reach a stage where they can no longer kill. They quit hunting. For some that comes early in their hunting career. For others its toward the end.

My hope is that Grey Owl's son passes through the kill for fun stage having spent as little time there as possible. The way I see it, that stage is necessary and natural in his development as a hunter so to me, its not the end of the world. If he is about to become one of us I'd say "Welcome aboard".

As for the firing a .22 above the horizon. I've been to Saskatchewan. You could fire a howitzer above the horizon and not hurt anything.


Cheers!

[chris4570]

Shooting a .22cal into a woodpile is one thing, however shooting it into the air without a suitable backstop is dangerous.

I hunt squirrel and shoot them while they are in trees, other than more trees there isn't much of a backstop while hunting squirrel.

[ComfyBear]

Grey Owl, all I have to say is WOW. I neither expected, nor was it necessary for you to explain or justify your or Little Owl's actions, From all your previous posts, it would appear that you are a decent fellow, and I don't doubt for a minute that you're a great dad too. Having said that I'm glad you took the time and made the effort to explain. In my mind, that further reinforces the fact that you're the type of person that anyone would be proud to know and have as a friend.

BTW, don't feel bad about Little Owl plinking those birds. I'm sure it wasn't in vain. Like you said: I'm sure everyone on this forum has at one time shot and killed something for no real purpose.

Your absolutely correct, I'll be the first to admit that, while growing up, I've done it too.

[ComfyBear]

Shooting a .22cal into a woodpile is one thing, however shooting it into the air without a suitable backstop is dangerous.

I hunt squirrel and shoot them while they are in trees, other than more trees there isn't much of a backstop while hunting squirrel.

Chris, you're absolutely correct, alot of hunters use .22 to hunt squirrel out of trees, and do it safely.

Personally, I've never done it, as I know even a lowly .22 can travel up to 1 1/2 miles. I feel that one can't be too careful, I heard of a couple incidents where residents of a nearby Gun club have found bullets lodged in their garage doors, because either the berm/backstop was too low, or some individual wasn't deligent enough. So I'd rather err on the side of safety.