A request to hunters, and those who know a hunter ...

[Warpigs]

I oversee the outdoors section of The Daily Item newspaper in central Pennsylvania. Worked on a special package talking about hunting safety since PA's main rifled deer season starts Monday. Ran the package yesterday in the Thanksgiving paper and got some really good response from readers who suggested that I share the story and overall message with as many people as possible. So, I posted the story and a pretty cool picture on Bleacher Report and wanted to get the word out.

If you have a few moments, please check out the story and let me know what you think. If just one person reads this story and thinks twice before pulling the trigger this hunting season, than I'll consider it a success.

Thanks so much, and happy hunting.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/297389-fundamentals-the-bedrock-of-hunting-safety

[Omaha Red Sox]

Nice article WP. Thanks for sharing. I'm not an avid hunter by any means, only get out a few times a year for small game usually, but know quite a few die hards that I'll share the article with. It's probably not something they're unaccustomed to seeing, but reminders are important to keep us from getting complacent. It is certainly on the forefront of my mind since my kid's getting to be about the age where I'm introducing him more and more to firearms and will likely be getting him his first .22 rifle this Christmas. He's always been around them so there is a solid familiarity there, but you can bet I've beat those 'old cliches' into him repeatedly. On a related note, I've begun working with my dog, right now just to get her used to the sound of the gunshot. She did great the other day till I was standing right over her and fired. Didn't care for that too much. So I'll continue to take it slow.

[Warpigs]

Nice article WP. Thanks for sharing. I'm not an avid hunter by any means, only get out a few times a year for small game usually, but know quite a few die hards that I'll share the article with. It's probably not something they're unaccustomed to seeing, but reminders are important to keep us from getting complacent. It is certainly on the forefront of my mind since my kid's getting to be about the age where I'm introducing him more and more to firearms and will likely be getting him his first .22 rifle this Christmas. He's always been around them so there is a solid familiarity there, but you can bet I've beat those 'old cliches' into him repeatedly. On a related note, I've begun working with my dog, right now just to get her used to the sound of the gunshot. She did great the other day till I was standing right over her and fired. Didn't care for that too much. So I'll continue to take it slow.

What kind of a dog do you have? We raise Brittanys and love how versatile they are in the field and yet lovable in the house with the kids. Sad to see my best bird dog ever continue to age and be retired from the field. She'd still try to run through every thicket in a five-mile radius if I let her.

[Omaha Red Sox]

She's a lab mix. Mixed with pit is what we think. But absolutely just loves fetch and is so incredibly focused when she plays I figured it was the best time to 'distract' her from the gunshots and get her used to the noise...maybe even get excited like she's supposed to when the gun is fired. I tried training another dog using the fishing pole method...now you can't take the dog fishing because she goes nuts.