iSnipe

Hunting season is here again fellas, guys n gals. Bad news about hunting mishaps are upon us once more. They always seem to be tragic; not so much in what happened, but that it could have been prevented with education and common sense. However, we can't govern someone's common sense, but maybe we can give each other reminders, "education" if you will, that we can all use to be safe out there this season.

I am hoping everyone will chip in and create a thread to remind and educate about being safe while handling weapons and hunting. Yes, one can visit a host of links on the web for this; it would be nice to create a custom knowledge base shared by each of us here.

So to start, I have a few tips we can either learn from or be reminded of. If you feel you know this stuff already, you should, but feel fortunate you do and help pass on the information to those just starting out.

- When someone hands me a gun, the first thing I don't do, like others, is to check if it is loaded. What you should first is to make sure when the gun is handed to you, that you point it in a safe direction, "then" check to see if it's loaded.

- When you have a weapon in your hand, whether loaded or not, is train yourself to be highly aware to always have the gun pointed in a safe direction.

- Prior to loading your gun, always check to make sure there's nothing in the barrel that can block it to cause a mishap.(do you "really" do this?)

- When climbing up to your tree stand or coming down, use a rope to pull up the gun or lower it. Make sure it's unloaded. Climbing with a gun attached to you is dangerous. Although it may be unloaded, you can climb better without it.

I have several more, as you do, so lets hear a few.

Thanks for your participation in spreading the reminder and educating those who may need it.

iSnipe