Today is Opening Day

There are a bunch of idiots tramping around outside carrying rifles. This worries me immensely.

It's not that I have a problem with hunting in general. But today is Opening Day and it seems like quite a few people out there are determined to make some very bad decisions. I won't lay the blame completely on "city people" (or Flat Landers to use the term that is more common here) but I would be willing to bet that not a single car parked by the side of the freeway belonged to a local.

Here's the problem: I just drove into town and over the course of the ten mile drive we passed at least a dozen trucks full of hunters. They had stopped on the side of the interstate (because now they're in the country) unloaded their guns and binoculars and were waiting for the deer to cross the freeway. I have to wonder if they really plan on firing a rifle at a deer on a freeway (this seems like a recipe for incarceration and disaster) but I can't think of any other reason to flock to the freeway.

Locals have spots where they go and those areas are deep in the woods.

Today I saw hunters with their guns looking for deer in a subdivision, next to houses, and another group standing with binoculars looking into someone's beautiful green backyard for any bucks that might be hiding there.

These specific hunters by the freeway all have large shiny trucks (and with all the dirt roads local cars are seldom shiny here) and brand new camo gear. And the lack of common sense tells me one very important thing: these people should not have guns! In fact they don't seem to have the judgement necessary to operate a motor vehicle.

These hunters don't seem to understand that, while they have left the city, they are still in town (or next to a major area freeway) and that that is not the wilderness! It is not a safe place to hunt. There are people here! I can only imagine how busy the poor game wardens are trying to keep all of these people from killing each other.

At least the locals go far enough out that when they mix booze and hunting they aren't likely to shoot anyone innocent bystanders!