I joined this group to learn more about LRH and I am learning alot. Sadly there will always be people who see or read something and say that is easy. They go out lets stick to hunting in my example and buy a bow or rifle practice for a week and they are good to go. Now some of these guys quickly learn they need way more practice and do. Alot quit this gig was tougher then it looked I'm out of here. Then there are the ones we need to rein in that continue on with their one week of practice made me a pro attitude. These are the people that hurt our sport. They are the ones the bunny huggers use to depict all hunters. Now we all know they are a very small portion of us. The hard thing is reaching these people because they already know everything. They also become easily offended and usualy leave in a huff. These people are scary to meet in the woods because they are usualy walking accidents looking for a place to happen. As an example years ago I was out Elk hunting and met this guy on a trail we talked a bit. Somehow we got talking about reloading He told me how he exceeded loads in the manuals by 3 or 4 grains to get more velocity out of his rifle. As I walked away all I could think was I would not want to be around when he is shooting. Somehow these kinds of people seem to survive and carry on but it makes the rest of us look bad.
I think LRH is great but there will always be variables in people we can not control. Hopefuly the ones that are not serious about this will weed themselves out.
I got my first bow around age 12, and wasn't allowed to hunt with it until my dad and uncle thought I was ready. After I had spent a whole year shooting 50-100 arrows a day (depending on how long football practice went) into a target at 30 yards away, they saw my groups were stacked in the bullseyes on the target. They finally felt I was ready to hunt a live animal with a bow.
I spent years starting around age 2 in the woods with my dad while he was hunting, just watching and learning how to hunt, then around 5 or 6 I was allowed to shoot squirrels and stuff with the .22. Then as I got older, I graduated up to the .30-30 Win, then the 7mm-08, then by the time I was 16, I jumped up to the 7mm RemMag and then the 7mm STW, and been stuck there ever since.
Like I said, I worked at a gun/outdoors store in high school, and yes, I saw more than my fair share of people buying super high-end guns and scopes, then I had to mount and setup the scopes, bore-sight them, and then take them to the range Sat morning and with their choice of ammo, sight them in. We'd call them and tell them their guns were ready, and then these people would come pick up these guns, and would have never shot that gun before, and take them on $30,000 hunts just trusting that everything was on and perfectly setup for them. They had no concept that eye relief, scope height, comfortability, etc... all play into how accurate you will be with the gun. Example, I have a buddy, that every time he shoots one of my rifles, his groups are like 3" to the left or right, but perfect elevation. It's because my guns are setup for me, and not him. However, I can shoot his, and still shoot bulls, because I shot and sighted in so many other people's guns (at the gun store), I know how to adjust myself to the weapon system, and not rely on the weapon to be adjusted to me. However, all my personal guns, are all setup for me.
