This Saturday, Oct. 15, is the opening day of the modern firearm general deer hunting season. First, no matter your hunting experience and expertise, remember the most important three words when hunting: Safety, safety, safety.

First-time hunters

Use extra care, if you are going out with a first-time hunter. A friend told me about his routine when taking a person, young or old, male or female, for the first time on a deer hunt.

He places his rifle over his head and across his body. The rifle isn’t readily accessible, but he isn’t interested in notching his tag at this time, but, rather, helping the novice learn to hunt and shoot a deer.

Next he walks directly behind the person, who will remain well within reach. This way, he can stop any ill-conceived notions or mistakes about to happen.

Think about it. If a new hunter is 10 yards to the left or right and the new hunter makes a mistake, such as shooting a doe he/she thinks is a buck, this is difficult to stop. If the new hunter is close enough to reach, the bad situation is averted.

Remember, it doesn’t matter if the new hunter is 12 or 23 or 65, new hunters can become so excited, they make mistakes. An example of such mistakes happened a few years ago in a neighboring state.

A new hunter was hunting elk with others. He came upon horses and thought they were elk. A helper, standing directly behind the shooter could have averted this mistake.

The situation is controlled to a finer degree if hunting ducks or geese from a blind. Still, the novice could be the only one hunting, for it is a great day for them, to be hunting for the first time.

There are stories, horrific stories, about one hunter jumping up to shoot ducks or geese when the second hunter shoots, with the first hunter, well you can guess the results. I don’t want to think too much about this situation, because nightmares creep into my sleep when dwelling on such subjects.

Lost hunters

Every year several columns in this space are devoted to people who are lost. If you didn’t read or pay attention to the info put out before, the main idea is to stay put and don’t move from your current location. Keep improving your survival camp, but stay put. Discuss this survival idea around the campfire at deer camp.

Portable gambrel

The word gambrel has a couple of meanings, such as the hock of a horse or similar animal or a frame of wood or metal shaped like a horse’s hind leg, but hunters know a gambrel as a device used for suspending carcasses of an animal, such as deer and elk.

I recently came across a portable gambrel. It is easy to use, doesn’t take up much room and is carried in my Ram in case needed in a remote location. This piece of equipment is made by Hunter’s Specialties. It has two straps attached to two loops, which also have two steel hooks.

Two separator bars are used spread the loops and hooks to accommodate the hind legs of the animal. One separator bar can be used for small animals and two for larger animals. The deer we have around here need both bars. Mine has held one mule deer so far.

My hunting group has four gambrels already, but the Hunter’s Specialties gambrel will be used when working on an animal away from the regular hunting area. This could easily be used in a tree to skin the animal.

Crossbow

A Browning OneSixOne crossbow is now in my possession. A broken right arm, from an accident years ago, has kept me away from traditional archery equipment. A crossbow is not legal during the archery season, but can be used during the turkey season and the modern firearm season for big game. My goal is to use it for turkey.

The Browning people were called to help with putting the device together, as some assembly is required. Learning how to use the rope to cock the bow is a process. There were a couple tries and then it worked just fine. Now it can be cocked with little effort.

An arrow target was purchased and used to sight in the crossbow at 20 yards. Two arrows or bolts were fired and the second, while not going into the end of the first one, destroyed it taking off the nock and shattering the shaft.

The arrows went part way through the target and were easily removed by pulling them out. The target was then placed at 30 yards and two arrows fired. They were higher on the target and imbedded deeper. It was as if the arrows had more force at 30 yards than at 20 yards.

Last Sunday three turkey tags were notched, but they were taken with a shotgun. My confidence is not at the point to take the crossbow on a hunt. Perhaps on the late turkey hunt in November and December.

Last thought

Always remember the three most important words when hunting: Safety, safety, safety. I wish you a ton of luck. As always, when in the great outdoors, have fun, but be careful out there.