Alex Walker, 2006 Essay Contest Winner
Why Starting Young in Hunting Helps to Create a Safer Hunter in the Future? by: Alex Walker
Picture yourself going hunting with your best friend. You are just wanting to have a good time out in the middle of a field with no worries or no problems. Right?
You and your friend are having a blast. You had a great time. Until you are walking back to your truck. You never realized it, but your hunting buddy forgot to put the safety on his gun. You are walking ahead of him, just about to step into your truck, and he trips over a twig and drops the gun. You feel pain rush up into your leg. You fall to the ground, in pain and agony. You can no longer feel any movement going on inside your leg. Your friend is screaming, he is so sorry for this, he hopes you are okay. Telling himself he is stupid, and asking himself “how could I have done this to my best friend?”
You, however, are rushed to the emergency room. You find later that you will be okay, and that you have only had a minor gun shot in your leg. Relief rushing through you, you hear doctors telling your buddy to be careful next time and that he should be lucky to have you still here. You start to wonder if this accident could have been avoided. Maybe if your best friend would have taken his hunter’s safety test when he was younger, he would have known how to use the gun properly.
Learning the do’s and don’ts of hunting is very important for any hunter, young or old. For their safety and others. These days hunters are starting to go out into open fields all alone with no supervision when they are younger and younger. Some who have had no adults teach them proper gun usage at all. All they want to do is kill an animal, then come back the next day and tell everyone about it.
Parents are the only one that can make the system safe or unsafe. From the time kids pick up a firearm, they become part of a system over which they have complete control. They are the only part of the system that can make a gun safe or unsafe. As young hunters learn the skills of hunting, they must also learn how to keep themselves and other hunters safe at all times.
Most young people consider guns mysterious. This itself is the beginning of trouble; kids should be allowed to handle guns under the direct adult supervision. This is a fine guarantee that they won’t be playing with guns. As long as they have some access to guns and some sensible guidance and education, why in the world would they ever need to mess with the guns even when they are by themselves?
All kids are different, and only parents can decide when a particular youngster has the maturity and responsibility to go on their first hunt. By giving a person, young or old, the opportunity to experience the rich heritage of hunting, you can give a gift that will shine far into the future. An old proverb says that if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. A similar principle holds the truth for hunting. By giving a young person a chance to go hunting, not only will you help develop memories that last a lifetime, you could accomplish more for the sport.
Almost anyone can enjoy a good hunt. But there will always be a slight chance that an accident could occur, or something could go wrong. Knowing the safe way to hunt can be a way to feel more comfortable and reassuring that if something were to go wrong, you could handle the situation properly, and no one will be put in the situation where they could be severely hurt or even killed.
If people would start off getting to know how to hunt at a younger age, the future of hunting could be much safer. They would learn everything that there is to know on how to hunt safely and responsibly. By the time they have hunted for a while, sooner or later they will be great hunters. And the hunters can go on enjoying their hunts.