LB,

I tried to inject a little humor to soften the blow in my post (and obviously failed).

I can see having to make that horrible decision and the split second you have to decide if you can safely retain the gun or wether you're GOING to get shot if you don't let it go. None of us were there. none of us KNOW. The established training is: "Be careful, be thoughtful, suck it in and HOLD ON TO THE GUN". We all get comfortable, we all get involved, sometimes it's stories like yours that serve as a reminder to everyone else that they too could run into this. If it helps others to stop, think, and procede deliberately, I'd chalk that up as a good thing.

I almost edited my original post to add the above. Oh well, Kharma is a real pain. By heaping it on you I've made my chances of a firearms fall more likely I bet. Time to step real carefully

It would be interesting to note that we have two stories being commented on in this thread ... The Deer hunter sight in where he almost shot his buddy and yours.

None of us is perfect, but when I do something unsafe I expect to hear about it. If I don’t I get lazy about gun safety or if I didn’t realize what I was doing was unsafe, how else can I correct it. I became a DNR instructor to learn to be more safe myself and then pass on that knowledge to others.

I don’t think you are some rotten terrible untrustworthy person, you reacted, and we believe that there is a safer way to react. I would suggest taking the DNR safety course. It is not expensive ($15.00) and you may learn a few things. I know every time I help teach the class I learn new things. I think it is worth taking again as it is hard to absorb it all in the time given.

Accidents can and do happen, last summer I fell in a parking lot on my Glock (Broke two ribs, but the Glock was fine). My left leg just didn’t want to move and I had already shifted my weight. Life happens and we move on and try to learn from what happened.

I (and I believe everyone here) just wants to help you improve your safety when you are hunting, we would miss your contributions to the forum if something bad did happen.

When I'm walking to/from stand, my safety is usually on unless we are doing a "push". Typically, when I'm on stand, my safety is off and my weapon is "hot". I don't walk very well, especially through tall grass or dense brush, so it's best to have the gun safe just in case I do fall down. Even then, I NEVER throw my gun away from me. I usually carry my shotgun or rifle at "port arms" and tend to roll and hang onto my weapon.

As "someone" suggested, it gets pretty scary being out there with people that only shoot one week a year or so.

Come sit in on my MCPPA class.

One of the first things I hammer on is gun safety. I also ask my students to watch me like a hawk as I am the one most likely to do something stupid on the range.

Common fact that instructors tend to be the leading cause of gun accidents. We get complacent too easily. Part of the reason I am looking to start using a blue gun on the range when teaching.

Not trying to beat you up either. Just don't want to read about it in the paper. If something is broke, just get it fixed.

A $3 gun part is not worth someone's life.