Boom - You're Dead.

OK,  I have to admit that I caught myself congratulating a grandson on FB for shooting a huge doe and then rethought it.  Heck what am I doing? I know he is proud of his sportsmanship but how can I condone this hunting culture that puts an armed weapon in the hands of a child?

I have always had an issue with guns.  Just look at my upbringing where my brothers weren't even allowed to own 'toy' guns.  Of course that didn't stop them from picking up sticks and pretending that they were shooting at things... Maybe someone once gave them a super soaker one year but it did mysteriously disappear. Hmmmm. My parents were sending a message that it is not ok to use guns as a plaything.

Yet today's parents let kids watch inappropriate violent movies and play those video games where the kids shoot at anything that moves... Now there's a comforting thought. Why then would we be shocked at the increase of youth deaths caused by firearms?

" Children in the most rural areas of the US are as likely to die by gunfire as those in the biggest cities, a new analysis of nearly 24,000 deaths finds. Not surprisingly, murders involving firearms are more common among city youth. But suicides involving guns and accidental fatal shootings level the score: they are more prevalent among rural youth."

If you have to wait until you are 18 to vote/ drink/ heck fight for our country then what in the world are we doing as a society putting a loaded gun in the hands of a pre-pubescent person/ even leaving weapons in the house? Have we gone completely mad?

Oh yeah, I know they have to take a gun safety class. A friend teaches these classes and they are always full with wanna be hunters ages 10 years and up.  A kid with limited sleep/ inexperience that throws a fishing line in the water doesn't bother me quite the same as having a 'loaded' weapon.

Yep it is definitely a different culture living in 'hunting' country where bow season leads into all the other seasons... .. kids are taken out of school/ too tired to make it to back to school after hunting. Don't expect me to understand the rite of passage of a Dad taking little kids hunting/shooting.  I know it's 'tradition' and a 'male bonding thing with even girls wanting to be part of the activity. Yeah, maybe Moms are relieved to not have their guys underfoot for long stretches of the hunting days. Gee, look at all the different hunting seasons that they could be out of the house!

Deer
Black Bear
Water Fowl
Wild Turkey
Small game- rabbits. squirrel
Other Game Birds- pheasant, grouse, partridge, crow, woodcock, mourning dove
Furbearers- coyote, wolf, fox, beaver , mink, muskrat, bobcat

As light entered the End of the Rainbow Saturday, it wasn't long belong before the first shots resounded marking the last day of deer hunting season... I pray that the guns are being locked away along with the ammunition hidden elsewhere and keys placed where only an adult knows their location. I don't think I would sleep very well otherwise...