Hunting Safety Rules

Deer season for firearms opens on Saturday. Hopefully I will be in woods. However, safety MUST be on everyone’s mind. The NRA has a great list of safety rules for gun handling. Review them here. While all the rules are extremely important, while hunting perhaps the most important is “Know your target and what is beyond.” I have hunted for over forty years across North America including Alaska as well as been privileged to go on three safaris in Africa. Yet I still get excited when I am getting ready to shoot. I have to constantly remind myself to look beyond the animal to be sure if I miss or the bullet goes thru the animal it doesn’t hit something it shouldn’t. In Africa often you are picking out one animal from a group and hitting another animal can be both expensive and illegal. While deer hunting there are many hunters in the woods at the same time. Every year someone gets shot, why? Due to a violation of this very rule.

Know the hunting rules and regulations. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has an excellent website at http://www.state.tn.us/twra/ . Contained within that web site are the hunting rules and regulations at http://www.state.tn.us/twra/pdfs/huntguide.pdf . Wear orange even if it is not required. Don’t trespass. Don’t use a tree stand without a safety harness. Unload that gun BEFORE climbing into a stand.

I am looking forward to a great day in the woods. Shoot straight and be safe.