On Monday Dec. 7th, I posted the following on the shooter to shooter thread:
"Gentlemen,
I manage a small farm in central Kansas, or the Great American Desert as it were, for my wife and her sister. I have spent an inordinate amount of time and effort in the past 8 years educating myself to optimize the balance between land stewardship, profit, and natural balance. I have sought help from Government and Private advisors and have had to also balance that input. I guess in a nutshell, it ain’t easy! Mother Nature probably was hatched from the same gene pool as that Murphy guy only she can be……., enough said as she may read this forum and we just came out of a 5 year drought!!! Trying to harness the environment may be equated to harnessing lightning, probably aint gonna happen till something smarter than us comes along.
I have also made some pretty good enemies of some in the neighborhood by posting the ground for hunting by “written permission only”. Boy howdy, if my mother only new what trash she brought into the world. The reason for restricting access was not because I wanted it all for myself, but primarily for safety. I have studied terminal ballistics and while not necessarily pretty in animals, it is downright ugly in humans, especially friends. Last year I received 3 incoming rounds, one within about 20 ft. from one group of road hunters, and 6 rounds from a handgun off the road at 600yds, the closest was a wee bit closer than 20ft. Intentional? I guess that’s irrelevant at this point, I can’t even prove it happened. Two days ago, a road hunting party cranked off 12 rounds at a sky lined buck on our property and over the hill at me, (I don’t know how close they came but at least there were no holes in the blind), and I felt unbelievable anger and fear all balled up into what was probably less than 1 minuite. (Don’t tell me how brave you are and what you would have done, bullets really don’t care who you are or how bad you think you are!). I figure that if I decided to shoot back, several bad things might happen and they would probably land at 10 to 1 against ME! Plus some local lawyer would probably extract around $100,000.00 from my retirement fund. (I would make damn sure he didn’t get my Shiloh!!)
The gentlemen that I hunt with are the ones that show up around the place to help when there’s work to be done. They are all hard working professionals, two local firemen, the manager of a local golf course (Who is also a volunteer fireman and EMT) and a local cement contractor. Five bucks and more does off of 640 acres is about max for this neighborhood so between relatives and guests, and the fact that most of us just love to hunt I am pretty well maxed out. I wish I owned enough land so I didn’t have to turn anyone down if they asked, and believe it or not I really do feel bad about it, but that’s the way it is.
“The gentlemen that I hunt with are the ones that show up around the place to help when there’s work to be done.” Do I need to repeat that? Just a hint. Nothing worthwhile is FREE, But I don’t charge them a thing to hunt or fish.
I am aware that this is a big country and I live in just one tiny little part of it, and things are different in different areas. That being said, figure it out for yourself or give up, get the full cable package including the outdoor channel, and become resigned to your fate.
Thank you for letting me ramble on. Just thought I might present a different viewpoint and stimulate some more thought.
Thanks also to Shiloh. You’all are the BEST!
_________________
Gary M."
Well, it has happened once again, I quote this from the Hays, KS Daily News.
I suppose it's one thing to listen to an old man harp about road hunters. But Dammit, this kid was one of the people we are counting on to carry on the tradition.EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) -- An Emporia State University freshman died after being shot by someone in a passing vehicle while he was hunting for geese.
The Lyon County Sheriff's Department said Beau Arndt, 18, of Americus, and two friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a farm field Saturday and were lying in the snow waiting for incoming birds.
Arndt's companions said a pickup truck stopped along a nearby road and fired a rifle shot into the decoys, but hit Arndt instead. The truck left the scene slowly after the shot was fired, Arndt's friends told authorities.
Arndt was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sheriff's Department is looking for a late 1970s orange and red Ford pickup that is believed to have Shawnee County plates.
Shooting waterfowl with a rifle is illegal in Kansas, and it's also against the law to shoot from inside a vehicle and or onto someone's property without permission.
Though there typically are gunshot accidents each year during hunting season, Arndt is the first person killed in a hunting accident in Kansas since 2005, said Wayne Doyle of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
"So far this year I think we've had 11 (nonfatal) accidents reported," Doyle said. "When you consider how much time's spent hunting, that's a very insignificant number, but it's certainly not insignificant to those involved. This is sad. It's tragic."
Word of Arndt's death spread quickly around Americus, a small town near Emporia. Randy Smith, a friend of Arndt's family, said hunters are upset that Arndt was killed by an illegally fired bullet.
"It's being called a hunting accident, but that bullet was fired by a poacher," Smith said. "Hunting had nothing to do with it. There's no way it should have happened."
Doyle said most of the state's hunting fatalities are the result of careless gun handling, though two in the past 15 years involved unsupervised children carrying firearms without permission.
He said the Department of Wildlife frequently gets complaints about poachers who drive back roads and illegally fire at animals from their vehicles.
Smith described Arndt as an avid hunter.
"You couldn't ask for a better kid," he said. "He was big into waterfowl hunting, fishing, deer hunting. Outdoors is where he always wanted to be. He had a really bright future ahead of him."
I have had enough. I am in the planning stages of a campaign to deal with the lawbreakers that decide what rules they will obey and whose life they are willing to risk to shoot a damn deer or in this case, a goose!!
We have to address this problem or Parents will no longer support their children engaging in a "dangerous sport". The rules are there for a reason and we have got to deal with them or we WILL LOOSE BIG! Hell some folks can get 200 lashes for "Being Raped". Whereas we probably should, but won't be allowed to give lashes, we can refuse to call these lawbreakers hunters, we can refuse to have anything to do with them, we can kick them out of any hunting organizations, we can approach our lawmakers and local judges to refuse them hunting privleges, we can turn up in court and support the prosecution side, we can look in the mirror and make sure we are not guilty, we can become active and persue a better and safer activity for ourselves and our children.
Maybe this is a local problem, maybe not, but we are all hunters and something needs done. I'm looking for help and ideas. Don't need any war stories, got my own. I need ideas worthy of presenting to an unknowlegable public that only see's a young man shot for no reason, which. by the way, is exactly the way we should feel.
Ideas
Gary M.
