DescentBB

Reading some of the other threads about guns, a question comes to mind. How many of you had to take a hunter safety course in junior or senior high school? When I was 14, my high school required that all male students take a N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission-approved hunter safety course as part of the 9th grade P.E./Hygiene class. As I recall, you didn't have to pass the official exam, but you did have to attend the lectures and take the exam. The completion of such a course is (or was) a requirement for getting a hunting license in N.C.

A hunter saftey course in High School? Uh, no. I went to school in California. Guns are the root of all evil there.

nope...I grew up in Mississip' so I'uz totin' a gun ba'time I'uz 10

i grew up in australia. i have never even touched a gun, and only ever see them in real life in the holsters on cops' belts.

In the 8th grade over here we had to take hunter's safety course. I would never lay a hand on a shotgun again...
Me being the small person I am, fell back to the ground when I pulled the trigger. My stances were correct and everything, but it's the force of the shotgun that pushes me back to the ground everytime...
I was never one to have any upperbody strength anyway

Thanks for the replies.

Kiran - I had similar experiences firing handguns and shotguns as a kid at gun club-sponsored picnics. I remember my whole shoulder being black and blue.

I had never really thought before about how pervasive guns have been in my life. Both my father and stepfather were members of the local gun club at one time or another, and I remember going to gun-club sponsored events that included range shooting for the whole family. Both my father and stepfather have been lifelong members of the NRA. When I go to the local barber shop, the guy who owns the place has a separate room for his barber chair that is filled with shooting trophies and plaques that he has won over the years. As I write this, there is a .22 rifle propped against the wall behind me that my dad gave me over 30 years ago which I have not fired for probably 25 years.

I lived in Alaska for over 5 1/2 years, and I was continually amazed at how many people that I worked with in the IT industry hunted for big game (both male and female). I learned to fish for trout with dry flies as a kid, but I only went fishing once in Alaska because I didn't care for the idea of having to carry firearms in order to fish, particularly by myself. Only an idiot would go fishing without a gun there given the probability of running up against a bear and what would happen as a result.

heh, it was part of the "Wildlife Management" elective that I took as a filler course when I was in high school. Got a certificate and everything....though I don't know where it is! Part of the exam was skeet shooting. Nailed one, winged another, and missed the last one completely. I got the chance to fire a live M-16 when I was 11, so I knew how to brace when I fired that shotgun.

Though what was funny was when one of the resource kids got his turn to shoot....dumbass held the gun level (damn thing was loaded) and EVERYONE scattered! Needless to say, he didn't hit a damn thing.

I aced my hunters safety course and now have 7 firearms.

I got two .22's, a 30-0-6, a .357 snubnose mag (my baby), a .44, a .45 mag, and a .38 special.

I am proficient in all their uses and can diss-and reassemble them all in standard military time.