Cheyenne [10/19/2004]

By Cheyenne

Are you old enough to remember when we had to put our arm out the window of our automobile to signal a right or left turn? If you said yes, then you are older than "hunter orange." Hunter orange, now mandatory in many areas, started as a safety device for "rich" hunters around urban areas. Bird hunting around marshes or pheasant hunting in high grass fields could lead to "lead poisoning" if hunters could not identify each other when within range of each other.Some locations require two pieces of hunter orange clothing in the field, and now others requre three pieces of orange, including a hat. For safety's sake.Common sense is not so common anymore. In hunting, safety comes first. No loaded guns in the vehicle. Those of us who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon know we have to take extra precautions; no live rounds under the hammer in a revolver, no live rounds under the hammer in an automatic pistol. When we get in a bad situation, the safety goes off and the hammer is back. Hunter orange can keep us from making a very grave mistake.Oh yes, every anti-hunter gets all a-flutter, "he's going to shoot." The same people who go to a nightclub, drink a dozen gin and tonics, and then say, "Oh, hell, I'm all right to drive, I do it all the time." That is a live round behind the wheel. Don't kill one, kill a bunch. If we are going to the woods, hiking, biking, bottle diggin', we wear hunter orange, not because we are going to shoot anything, but we know that there are a lot of inexperienced people going out there in the woods with a hunting license, from the city, hoping to get a "big'un." In one area a little further south, I got stopped by a conservation officer. He demanded to see my license. I did not have a license."I am not a hunter.""Why are you a-wearin' that thar orange hat?" the officer asked."Because they sell them at the store, and they told me if I was going in the woods, the law says I got to wear an orange hat." "Well, what are you going into the woods for if you are not going hunting/" he asks."I aim to go up on the hill and cut some oak posts for Mrs. Walker's front porch that I'm a-buildin'," was my answer.If a hunter is required to wear hunter orange, why isn't every person in the woods also required to wear it? We see every pooch that goes for a walk in the woods with bright collars and blaze-colored stringers on them. What about the owner?Years ago, we were bringing a deer out the Davis path in Hart's Location. Around 2 p.m., we met a lady well seasoned with years, in khaki pants and a light grey sweater. I asked, "How far are you going?""Resolution Shelter," was her reply.After looking her over a second or two, I says, "A lady your age should know you need some more clothes and some supplies to go that far with snow on the ground."Well, mister, I found out who was the old one and not. That lady got me straightened out right smart.You think about it. Low, quarter-high hikin' shoes, plain khaki britches, an open sweater, no extra socks, five and a half miles up a rugged mountain at 2 p.m.? On snow?If a bear got her, he didn't get much. Wow.Yes, and now moose season is on. Some friends got a moose first thing in the morning, on the first morning. We met at the checking station at the national forest building in Conway, on the Kancamagus Highway.N.H. Fish and Game Biologist Julie Robinson mans (or womans) the station, very efficiently. She knows what has to be done and gets it done, quietly and quickly.During our conversation, she mentioned that the state was considering dropping the familiarization meeting before the moose hunt license is issued. The moose seminar, dropped?For myself, "Cheyenne" thinks that would be a major mistake. That meeting explains to the out-of-state hunters just what our new rules are. Taking that forum away would be unfair to all of the out-of-state people. My own personal feeling is the only reason it would be considered is because law enforcement, the department, wants to be able to have more violations and go-to-court convictions for violations to make them look good. It sure as hell is not for safety or the public well-being. Or good public relations with non-residents.