This Blog Is Full Of Crap

Some jackass at the Chicago Tribune bitches about Mike Huckabee blasting a shotgun over the heads of some reporters hanging around him on a hunting trip, maybe in some attempt to parallel his actions with the Cheney incident:

Perhaps Huckabee missed hunter’s safety classes – Arkansas only requires them for hunters born after 1968 – but the etiquette on this point is clear.

“Never point a firearm at yourself or others,” the International Hunter Education Association declares in its Basic Safety Rules. Later, it adds, “Never point your firearm at something you do not intend to shoot. Make sure you positively identify what you are shooting at and know what lies in front of and beyond it.”

The photo I saw on Drudge shows that only a soundman with a boom microphone is wearing an orange vest.

Let's head over to the IHEA Site and see what they say about clothing to be worn while hunting:

- Don't wear tan, brown or white clothing when hunting, even while wearing hunter orange, as these colors are associated with game species. - Never do anything that could make someone mistake you for game, such as putting a deer over your shoulders to carry it out of the woods. - Hunter orange requirements vary depending on your location and the kind of hunting you are doing. Always check and follow the regulations for the area you intend to hunt.

How about we head over to Iowa's Wildlife site to see what's shaking... hrm... found something on deer hunting season. Not quite bird hunting, but public officials tend to say the same thing no matter what you're hunting, right? Deer, birds, votes...

With a nontraditional mixture of bow, muzzleloader, shotgun and handgun hunters in the field at the same time, everyone should use extra caution and practice safe hunting. Iowa law requires deer hunters who hunt with a gun to wear external, solid blaze orange that covers the torso: a vest, jacket, coat, sweatshirt, sweater, shirt or coveralls.

"Wear plenty of blaze orange, not simply the minimum, and that includes bowhunters," says Steve Dermand, with the DNR's law enforcement bureau. "The sandwich-style blaze orange vest does not show much from the side. You want to be seen from 360 degrees. Adding a hat helps in deep cover. The more blaze orange you wear the better chance you have of being seen."

As I said before, the only person wearing orange in that photo is a guy with a boom mike. The rest are in dark clothing. No orange at all.

Now that's not just bad form, but stupid.