Deer Hunting SAFELY

Deer hunting is a national holiday in Arkansas. Every year there are small business owners that close up their doors and go hunting for deer. Customers are expected to understand.

Those who work for companies have their vacation set up to correspond with their favorite deer season and NO sudden developments shall interfere with that time. Everyone that can hunt for deer, heads out for the best deer hunting area they can access. For some that is a slice of some National Forest offering.

When deer day arrives deer country fills up with camps of 3 to 30 hunters. Smoke curls up from a central fire, tents greet the dawn. Coffee by the gallon is consumed and hunters sit around the fire talking about the deer they bagged, the ones they missed, and the ones they hope to bag. The ones who aren't still there talking are the serious ones, already out on their stand, eyes peeled, fingers tensed, bullets primed. Any deer trying to offer itself on the altar of sacrifice will get their scrutinous consideration.

The night before opening day is the time to decide if you are in the right camp. What you want to hear is: "I'll be on a rock face, up on the hill (a nod of the head in the general direction) to the east of here and facing north."

In other words:
don't aim my way when you start shooting.
In return, s/he won't be aiming your way.

Unless you have a desire to end up as unprocessed game you also want to watch the way your associates in the group are handling their weapons. If they are kind of hazy in the way they point the business end you'll want to associate with a different bunch next year. If they are downright stupid in the way they handle weapons in camp you can suddenly remember somewhere else you have an important need to return to. "I may not be back in time to hunt with you."

Do NOT trust to luck; these are the kind of guys that will explain in court: "I heard something in the brush and shot." That is MY emphasis on the word "something" as THEY are clueless. Not even two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter will make them any smarter.

Safe camps will be peopled with hunters in safe garb.
They will know how to maintain a fire, safely.
They won't be roaring drunk or trying to get that way.
There will be a first aid kit available in camp.
There will be potable water.
The bathroom "facilities" will be pointed out. "That tree on the left is where the area for women starts, and that tree over there on the right starts off the territory for men."

Women? In a deer camp?

Let me assure you,
them Arkansas women ain't there to wash the dishes.

Click on the title and read the rest of the story.

city links * city names * Birds of Arkansas * Mena * Hot Springs * Arkansas Humor * The Cossatot River Center * Flatside Wilderness * Charlton Water Resort * West of Oden * A Country Tour in Saline County * * The White House on Wilkerson * El Dorado * Eureka Springs * Geese to Hunt * Helena and West Helena * Cold Water Canoeing * Dining Out * Dude Ranch * Business in Arkansas * schools * The Old Mill * Arabians * Beebe Flea Market * Beebe Flea Market2 * Luckiest Diamond Finder in the World * Bathhouses of Hot Springs * The Fordyce Bathhouse of Hot Springs * The Lamar Bathhouse of Hot Springs * The Born Again Gangster in Hot Springs * The Maurice Bathhouse * * Raising Elk in Arkansas * The Rich Mountain Racer Man of many links * The Irish Cowboy * The Bootlegger * Waldron * Murfreesboro * Stuttgart * The Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie * Quartz Crystals * The Arkansas Waterfowl Tour * Click HERE for some great books about Arkansas *