Elmer Fudd Needs Hunter Education

He is one of the most famous hunters in the world, with his many hunting trips broadcast to TVs and movie theaters around the world—for more than 75 years! Though it’s true that he began his on-screen hunting before hunting education began, we think he especially could benefit from a bit of safety education.

Elmer Fudd, sir, perhaps you should take a hunter safety course. Here are a few reasons why:

1)   Wear enough blaze orange to be safe.
While it appears you do wear at least a token amount of blaze orange on the side of your hunting cap and at the neck of your collar, that’s nowhere near enough to be truly safe!

State regulations vary, but it’s generally recommended that you wear a daylight fluorescent orange had and daylight fluorescent orange outerwear, such as a shirt, vest, or jacket. This makes it easier for other hunters to see you, helping minimize accidents (you seem to have a lot of accidents!).

2) Watch that muzzle!
You’ll have fewer accidents if you follow the four primary rules of hunting safety:

• Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times.
• Treat every firearm with the respect due a loaded gun.
• Be sure of the target and what is in front of it and beyond it.
• Keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you’re ready to shoot.

Not to be disrespectful, Mr. Fudd, but you regularly violate these essential rules almost every time you appear on screen. A hunter’s education course will help you really understand why these rules are so important!

3) Practice safe field carries.
While you’re in the field, in order to follow that first rule of firearm safety (keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times!) you need to have good control of your firearm. Hunter safety will teach you several safe field carries. As you often carry a break-action rifle, perhaps you would be comfortable with a cradle carry?

4) Know your quarry.
Undoubtedly you have a lot of experience pursuing that big rabbit (and sometimes that mouthy duck), but how well do you really know your quarry? For example, a rifle isn’t usually the right firearm for hunting small game such as rabbits and ducks. (And dynamite is never appropriate!) Granted, you are hunting much larger-than-usual animals, but putting more time into researching your quarry before the hunt will greatly increase your odds of success.

5) Research hunting seasons before the hunt!
While it’s clear that you’re up against some wily prey, you probably ought to take a little time to research the hunting season for your area. Don’t just depend on the sign on that tree, since we know that both the duck and the wabbit you hunt are tall enough to change the sign on you! If you research beforehand and have the proper licenses, you won’t be fooled by this gimmick.

6) Sight-In Your Rifle and Become a Good Marksman
It appears you have missed your target—even when it is right in front of you! You may need to properly sight-in your rifle. If that’s not what is determined to be the problem, perhaps you need to do some target practice—off the field!—so that  you can know your accuracy limits. Hunter education can help with all of that.

See, Mr. Fudd? There’s a lot you can learn with a good hunter education safety course—and you can even take it online! Now that you’ve reached the end of our list, there’s only one thing left to say: