opening day eve

[hoythunter]

This evening at 8 pm I observed 2 guys purchasing slug guns at gander mountain. The clerk said there bore sighted, should get you on paper knowing full well that in less than 12 hours these guys will be in the woods. Nice to see they put there time in at the range. Good luck all.

[Doc]

Your suspicions may very well be correct, but sometimes we jump to incorrect conclusions. Yesterday, I was buying a deer rifle that I won't be using for hunting until next year (at the very least). I would imagine that anyone watching the transaction might very well conclude that I will be out there with it this morning. They would be wrong. I will be dragging out my same old 37 year old 12 guage Ithaca shoulder mangler for what I hope is the last year.

[verminater71]

spend a little time at any store and you will be scared to death to go in the woods

ever go to wal mart the night before...SCARY...

a couple year ago some guy had a melt down....because he wanted 2 1/2" slugs...those 2 3/4 are to big for his gun

[hoythunter]

Well doc,I was hoping that was the case but my curiosity got the best of me. I asked and it was confirmed.these fellas were with there buddy and the two had never been in the woods deer hunting but were to join there buddy for a hunting trip. It made me wonder if any hunter safety course was taken. I live going to hunting stores the day before deer season to watch all the unprepared scurry around. I'm also the guy that loves black Friday shopping. Not to shop but to watch the show around me.its great.

[13BVET]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. I had worked at Wal Mart, and Dicks in sporting goods. It's amazing the insanity you run into. I had people wanting to buy guns that didn't know what ammo they took, or, for that matter, how they functioned, or where the ammo was loaded into the gun.

I remember when I had these two guys come in looking for "smoothbore slugs". I told them that they needed rifled slugs, which were designed for smoothbore barrels. They acted like I had two heads, saying that rifled slugs were not what they needed, and swore up hill, and down, that they had to specifically use "smoothbore slugs". Needless to say, there was no explaining it to them.

[Doc]

Well doc,I was hoping that was the case but my curiosity got the best of me. I asked and it was confirmed.these fellas were with there buddy and the two had never been in the woods deer hunting but were to join there buddy for a hunting trip. It made me wonder if any hunter safety course was taken. I live going to hunting stores the day before deer season to watch all the unprepared scurry around. I'm also the guy that loves black Friday shopping. Not to shop but to watch the show around me.its great.

It is unfortunate how many guys take up hunting and are totally unprepared. Even with the hunter safety training and all the info that goes along with it, apparently there are people that slip through the cracks, and don't really understand what is being told to them about necessary pre-season preparation. And yes, that all assumes that they actually took the course and were not just handed a certificate from an instructor friend. But it is true in all forms of education .... You can tell people what they should be doing, but you can't force them to do it.

Keep your head down and your back to a big wide tree this season ....lol. You never know when one of these guys will be hunting in your neck of the woods.