The glory and stupidity of upland season opening day

by Larry S. Moore

I celebrated yet another wonderful opening day of upland game season in Ohio. Upland game season remains the traditional day of fellowship and celebration for me. I think that is because, of my age, the hunting traditions to which my father, uncle and cousins introduced me was upland game. The 1960s offered limited deer hunting and no turkey hunting in Ohio. It was squirrel season and then upland game (rabbit, pheasant, quail) that signaled the real start of hunting seasons.

I've been blessed to witness at least 45 opening days in my lifetime. This one was every bit as special as the previous 44. I hunted with good friends and my son joined us also. Family, both sons and daughter, will join me in the field throughout the season.

However, the personal celebration is saddened by recent hunting incidents. Earlier this year a young hunter died from a self-inflicted gunshot in Michigan. Here in Ohio, a deer archery hunter was shot in the back at Buck Creek State Park on November 4.

Hunting is an extremely safe sport. Buckeye Firearms readers are well informed, so I don't need to repeat the statistics. Anyone wishing to plow through statistics can find the Ohio hunter injury report here. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and NRA have additional information online.

Such incidents always involve either violations of hunting regulations and/or a temporary lapse regarding the 10-rules of gun safety. These are stressed in Ohio hunter education classes and in classes across the nation. They are stress at every Ohio Hunter Education Course and NRA firearms course.

I started this piece before leaving for opening day. I thought the Buck Creek shooting a simple hunting incident with perhaps a violation of a regulation or a gun safety rule. Returning home after celebrating a wonderful day afield with family and friends, I find the shooter in this incident had a blood alcohol level of .12 - well over the legal limit to drive and far beyond any possible amount of reason for touching a firearm let alone going hunting.

Outrage and disgust are the main emotions I am feeling toward the shooter, who the Clark County Deputies have identified as Bobby J. Fawcett. I know nothing else about him or his hunting partner other than what has been identified in the news reports. I'm relieved I don't know him and his name is not on any roster where I've taught hunter education.

What can I say or write to make such people think about what they are doing? Sadly probably no spoken word will convince the next idiot who might be drinking that driving and/or hunting is not a
responsible activity when alcohol is involved. I've been an Ohio Hunter Education instructor over 20 years. I've been a firearms rights activist and pro-hunting activist for at least that long. Volunteers for Buckeye Firearms spend untold hours supporting candidates who support gun rights and sportsmen.

One unthinking, uncaring act by an intoxicated idiot keeps the image of the beer drinking shooting at anything that moves slob fresh in front of the non-hunting public. How dare you tear down what so many have promoted for so long? I refuse to call you a "hunter". Hunter is a noble term. Thousands of hunters were out today and this weekend across Ohio enjoying the out of doors. They were doing so responsibly, safely, ethically and obeying the law.

Yet the only one that made any news, that gives the public any symbol of what hunting is, was this drunken idiot. How dare you smear the image of all the good hunters of Ohio?

While many venture afield this fall and winter, let us remind ourselves and those we hunt with that safety is first. Everyone should be thinking safety first. It is a lifestyle in the woods. There must always be an awareness and an attitude of safety.

If you chose to drink, then stay home or got to your favorite watering hole to enjoy the adult beverage of choice. Don't drive, don't involve firearms and don't go out hunting. Leave the hunting and the driving to those who are not partaking of alcohol. It's the least you owe your fellow hunters. The real tragedy is the people that need to be paying attention or to hear the words, are not the ones reading this piece or the safety rules.

Outdoor writer and hunter education instructor Larry S. Moore is a long-time volunteer leader for Buckeye Firearms Association and winner of the 2005 USSA Patriot Award, the 2007 League of Ohio Sportsmen/Ohio Wildlife Federation Hunter Educator of the Year and the 2010 National Wild Turkey Federation/ Women in the Outdoors Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.