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News From
By
Charley Gillham
WESTERN-WINCHESTER
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Several of the more progressive state fish and
game departments have been making a study of
gun safety. Youth groups have been trained in
the handling of firearms and their later progress
in the field has been noted. The kids just don’t
cause much trouble.
Recently I saw a letter from Sweden in one of
our national outdoor magazines. It stated that in
a country of 7,000,000 inhabitants, 170,000 are
active riflemen. Many of them are between the
ages of fourteen and eighteen. Every school has
its own rifle club. The students compete with the
teachers. There have been no accidents due to stu
dents handling their rifles carelessly. This has
been reflected in the field.
I have long been an advocate of youth training
in the use of firearms. In Alaska my kids shot on
a school rifle team, and by telegraph or letter they
competed with other schools. Girls were as pro
ficient as the boys and one did not need be a
muscle man to make the team. One year a girl
was the champion.
Some states have recognized the importance of
Youth training. In California a bill sponsored by
the Associated Sportsmen was passed. It provides
for training of young hunters seeking their first
hunting license. New York state has had a similar
law for several years. Maine had a bill introduced
making it mandatory that students be taught the
safe use of firearms. It required two hours in
struction annually and this to include nomencla
ture, safe handling and firing of not less than 50
shots from a rifle at targets.
Why rifle training has been passed up in the
high schools in the United States is a mystery to
me. Most colleges have teams but the high school
students have in most part been neglected in this
most necessary training. Not only will hunting
accidents be held to a minimum by such instruc
tion, but equally important, we could retain our
reputation as a nation of deadly riflemen. We
enjoyed such an honor at one time. I think we
could learn a lot from Sweden.
You have heard a lot about using retrievers to
save crippled game that might otherwise have
been lost. That’s just part of their value. They
are equally as good in finding those birds that
fall in heavy cover. Because of the protective col
oration of such game as hen ducks of all species
and the various members of the grouse family,
they are very hard to see.
Game birds shot down, even though centered
in the shot pattern, seem to have the faculty of
falling into the autumn foliage that conceals them
almost perfectly. Here the dog is invaluable. Don’t
think for a minute a retriever needs to see the
bird to find it. Often their noses are as keen as
any of the pointing breeds.
If sportsmen only knew the value of a retriever,
or any kind of a hunting dog trained to find fallen
game the kennels of this country could not supply
a tenth part of the dogs that would be in demand.
Saving the game you knock down not only puts
something in the pot but chances are better that
you are leaving some for the other fellow. That
person might be yourself, or, more important, it
might be your own son when he grows up. Good
dogs are a very important part in conservation.
* * * *
I often wonder just how many of the thirty odd
million hunters and fishermen really appreciate
the work that their respective state conservation
departments are doing to keep game in the fields
and fish in the waters. The average sportsman
seems more prone to criticize his department for
game and fish scarcity than he is to applaud them
for the shooting and fishing that they do provide.
Gone are most of the silly rules and regulations
that made up the so-called game codes of yester
year. Today, seasons, limits and all regulations are
based on facts—on knowledge gathered by com
petent men. The majority of them have made
wildlife management their careers.
Fish and game departments have developed into
the greatest sources of outdoor information that
is available. They no longer deal chiefly with en
forcement and the collection of fees for the taking
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