Learning to hunt

I have just completed the CORE Course (Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Exam) which allows me to get a hunter number and buy hunting tags. Again, not having grown up around guns or in a hunting family, it is all very scarey for me and not ‘second nature’. So, I’m being choosy about who I get to teach me. I want someone that will understand that I’m not very comfortable with guns, nor am I comfortable about being in the bush on my own.

So, today I stopped in to ask my friend Clarence to teach me to hunt this fall. This is a man who has been held captive as a POW under Hilter for 263 days, raised a large family, buried his wife and more than one child, hunted mis-behaving cougars for more than 40 years, and is still doing this at 83 years of age. This man is experienced. I’m thinking, he’s my man. I mean, who better to learn to hunt from than someone who has been working with guns for longer than I’ve been alive?

He’s already gotten his moose tag (a limited entry hunt) and is ready for the year. This will allow him to hunt one moose between November 1st – 15th. I’m hoping to go out a few times between now and then! Today, he gave me another shooting lesson in his back yard. It was a 22-250. ‘Big enough to bring down a mule deer’ he said. Apparently, we’re starting with deer. I was thinking grouse but the look on his face when I suggested it said everything. Deer is the starting point with Clarence.

Once I shot off a few rounds, he went to check my accuracy, “dead centre, six o’clock low” he said while walking back to me. As I watched him as he crossed the muddy and uneven field with alarmingly rapid progress, I began to worry about how well I will keep up with him on an actual hunt despite the fact I’m less than half his age…Will keep you posted.

My first shot with my own gun:

Here I am shooting my new gun, a Ruger 22.

Clarence teaching my sister Jeanine how to shoot:

Always keen to pass on knowledge, Clarence coaches my sister how to shoot.