Sponsored by International Shooting Supplies Ltd.
By Scott Carpenter
I used to write about this topic a fair bit when I was younger. It was part of a naval gazing exercise that hunters who write do in general. But as I’ve aged the novelty surrounding the process has worn off. I’ll admit I enjoy writing about the activity itself and how it relates to life in this world but trying to explain to others (especially nonhunters) the ‘why’ of it all has gotten old for me.
By Scott Carpenter
Prologue:
I wrote this piece back in 2001 for Martin Masse’s Le Quebecois Libre. I have left it unedited – although there are a few things I would change today I don’t think I knew just how relevant it would be to today’s society ‘way back then’.
I was 11 years old when my parents gave me my first real firearm. It was a Lakefield Mark II .22 caliber repeater that I still own. It’s killed a lot of squirrels and grouse in the last seventeen years and in the process I’m convinced that it — with a little help from my father — saved my life.
Of course, it never downed a charging grizzly or wounded a marauding thief. Nope. All it did was keep dad and I busy on the weekends filling the freezer with grouse and slaying errant pop cans. But those activities coupled with the sense of responsibility the ownership of such a tool entailed were enough to keep me out of a lot of trouble that other kids — mostly friends of mine — seemed to have an easy time finding.
To all of our valued customers, friends, and family we here at International Shooting Supplies Ltd. would like to thank you for your continued patronage and fellowship. We wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year.
Rod and I talk about potential land closures in the Peace Region of BC, Gun Control and other issues in the CCFR Podcast. Spoiler alert – they’re all related.
