I was the NRA

[phantom power]

I didn't grow up poor, but I did also grow up learning to hunt, and eating what we killed. And I lived through the same early rise of modern "gun culture" in the 70s. Anyway, go forth and read the rest, it's a good story.

Depending upon the season, we hunted pheasants, dove, quail, and duck. When it wasn’t hunting season, we fished. On summer nights we walked the edges of the vernal pools that used to dot the parts of San Diego that are now suburbs, gigging frogs for their legs. They really do taste like chicken, as did the rabbits we hunted as they hopped up to those same pools to drink at dusk.

We did this, not for the sport — although there was an element of that –, but because it was a way to supplement what we ate.

And we did this for years, raising and breeding hunting dogs, spending hours in the garage at night reloading our own shotgun shells, hand painting decoys.

We felt safe in the field because the NRA had taught us how to be safe; to know where everyone else was when you pulled the trigger, to keep your weapon pointed at the ground, to open the breech and extract the shells if you weren’t hunting, to keep you finger off of the trigger unless you had reason to pull it.

As I grew older I began to notice a different breed of hunter; men who showed up with multiple shotguns as if they were golf clubs needed for specific shots. While most of us wore jeans, t-shirts and hunting vests, these newcomers dressed like they were going on safari, wearing bush hats, shooting jackets (in the 100 degree heat), and cargo pants with more pockets than there existed implements to fill them. You would see them walking the fields; shotgun draped over one arm, can of beer in the other hand. We learned to stay away from them.

For these men hunting was a manhood thing, a way to get in touch with their alpha male, a way to prove they weren’t soft city dwellers and what better way to do that than to get together with some buddies and shoot some guns at whatever moved.

It was no coincidence that, at this same time (this being early seventies), the NRA changed their focus from hunting programs to promoting gun ownership and defending the 2nd Amendment from imaginary enemies.

Each trip afield meant running into more men concerned with the idea of shooting but unburdened with any concept of the etiquette of hunting. For an adult, all you needed was the cash to purchased a gun and a hunting license and you were good to go forth and kill.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/25/i-was-the-nra/

[trocar]

1. Scary sad story

I have never been a gun owner, but have had previous pleasant hobbies ruined by uninformed zealots who had no idea of the rules. I am sorry that you lost a part of your life ruined by fools.

[dem in texas]

2. Yes, My Husband has seen the same thing

My husband grew up in rural Tennessee in a hunting family, always practiced gun safety. He hunted until he got too old. He had a lease and hunted for deer and turkey here in Texas for many years. He commented on how these guys are now out in the woods, knowing nothing about gun safety, loaded with every type of gadget under the stars and shooting at anything that moved.

One year, we had to go out to San Angelo right before the opening of deer season and we laughed at all the trucks on the Interstate, pulling trailers loaded full of hunting equipment. It is all about how much "Stuff" you can get before you go out for that one deer.

[Drahthaardogs]

6. It is now about how many inches of horn an animal has. It is a rich man's sport.

Our farm produces some tremendous deer and elk due to location. Dad started leasing it a few years ago. He makes more money off of the hunting than he ever did selling alfalfa. Guys will pay upwards of $15,000 for a big bull elk. It's stupid.

Growing up, I was never allowed to shoot the big bulls or bucks. Dad would tell me "You cannot boil the horns and make soup". Instead he would make me shoot a yearling cow elk because the flesh would be tender and good. Eating an old bull elk is kind of rough unless you grind the whole thing up.

[Enthusiast]

3. I have a similar background, without the NRA part.

I cannot stand the slob hunters, poachers and cheaters. If someone lacks ethics in their hunting it is my experience they have no ethics in their business and personal life either. Think Dick Cheney. I'm just saying.

The ODNR only has to set up a large antlered buck decoy in the field at night to nab any number of passing "hunters". These guys think they are hunters. They don't even have the slightest sense of fair chase. They also line the banks of the Maumee River "fishing" for walleye.

[Hoyt]

4. Now those alpha males seldom hunt, but they carry guns when out in public. Some form militias

and rally at the Bundy Ranch or hold maneuvers preparing for some political upheaval.

True hunters are fine with me, as is some guy who keeps a gun or two at home for self-defense. Anything other than that should be out-of-bounds.

[aikoaiko]

5. Classic Fudd.

There are unsafe yahoos in every area of recreation where money can buy advantages in lieu of those that were earned threw training and experience. His concern about hunters is true of every recreation. Look at Mt Everest climbers these days.

But like a lot of hunters, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with registering, banning, or confiscating firearms that aren't the one they use.

[Old Codger]

7. I too remember

Al that from much earlier than the 70's in Minn.. We always had guns in the house, we were taught gun safety by professionals through the boy scouts and at school. We had shooting teams and had meets same as track and football and all that.. we also knew how to treat guns, they were tools made to do a specific thing and while hunting we were always quite aware of our surroundings and where anything was that could be harmed by a stray shot. Never shot anything that we didn't eat and made sure that anything we shot actually died...As an adult after moving from Midwest to Cal. I hunted some but as noted in the OP I started seeing men who really had no sense of gun safety or hunting protocols, it became dangerous to be in the woods during hunting seasons so I just quit, I do not consider myself anything such as a great hunter, provider of sustenance for my family. I enjoyed the mountainous areas of the Sierras so continued camping and enjoying that. Now that I am retired and actually live in the mountains my daily life is like camping out only with a few more comforts... I could in fact get all of the big game I desire right off of my back porch, I do not have any interest in doing that anymore, would much rather allow the animals to live and continue to provide me with the pleasures of watching a new born fawn or elk calf walking around and playing in the fields. I still have guns and I still shoot but now just to keep myself proficient and able to protect myself and family from any dangers that may arise in the form of wild animals such as bears or Cougars or supposed civilized animals of the 2 legged variety if need arises ( I sincerely hope that that day never comes to pass for either).

[kmlisle]

8. Lived in rural N Minnesota for 20 years

The local people all hunted and used every part of the animal from brains to blood sausage to cracking the marrow and eating the heart and liver first. But come hunting season everyone hunkered down as the clowns with fancy guns from the Cities came out and shot sea gulls for geese and one farmers registered Holstein for deer (that was an expensive kill as a registered cow is worth thousands of dollars!). Everyone hid their livestock in the barn and hoped they would leave soon. Some did get an actual deer which they proceeded to carry around on the top of their SUV until it started to stink. Then they dropped it off at the dump.

My impression of the NRA is that like our government they represent the gun manufacturers and big gun dealers rather than their average joe members because that is where the big money is.

[Hekate]

9. I'm curious to know if DU hunters as a whole have dropped out of the NRA because of its toxicity

I don't -- as I've said many times -- have any objection to those who eat what they kill, as I am aware that as long as I eat meat, something has to die first.

But so far those in this thread have concurred that the changes in the NRA have meant changes in who shows up to hunt, with bad results.

Not to mention what the NRA has become politically.

So -- have you left? chosen to never join? opposed their politics in any substantive way? Or just hunkered down and waited for the faux-hunters from the City to go away and stop shooting at your cows?

[rustydog]

11. We don't need the NRA, it does absolutely nothing for the average

American gun owner, shooter, hunter, gun enthusiast...NOTHING.
The NRA is only concerned about the sales of even more firearms to a broader range of people.

No one in the NRA shed a tear over any of the mass shootings, the incidents of children finding loaded weapons in the home and killing themselves or a sibling...THEY DO NOT CARE about Americans, they care about GUN SALES. pure and simple.
Fuck the NRA. It is time it simply dies as an organization. It serves us no useful purpose.

[NickB79]

12. I got tired of the scare tactic mailings I always received

I was in the NRA as a teenager back in the 1990's. I was given a free membership for a year after taking my hunter safety course (taught after-hours in our high school, let's see that fly today!), and afterwards kept it up until I went to college because I enjoyed the free hunting magazine subscription that came with it.

Then, I started to notice all the political mailings I kept getting, all the solicitation for donations. And they were nasty, paranoid, nutjob types of messages in these mailings. Shit like the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was a prelude to the UN and their black helicopters taking over the US and installing a one-world-government with Al Gore as our dictator kind of stuff.

Even then, over a decade ago, I could see the loony, shit-smeared writing on the wall. I let my membership lapse and never looked back.

I still hunt and target shoot today (though now I'm mostly into high-powered air rifles due to the price of ammo and the fact I can safely shoot in my backyard), but the idea of ever re-joining the NRA is repugnant to me.

[rustydog]

10. Yea, I dropped the NRA in the early 80's

My wife dropped out in the 90's.
The NRA is simply the propaganda arm of the firearms industry. If you look at donations vs membership in the NRA...It is the gun lobby that speaks loudest. (remember, money is free speech, my friends)
edit: spelling!

[Thinkingabout]

13. Wow, great reading. Post from great hunters who have been taught gun safety.

This is a very good thread. I used to hunt in my younger years and I still love being given game. I would venture to say there are many more sensible safe gun owners than the radical nuts. I don't understand if there is 85% being polled who wants gun control laws which are sensible they do not pass. I would not be afraid of registering my guns personally. In 2000 I worked with census gathering information and at one house a guest ran up to the homeowner telling him I was going to ask how many guns was in the house and the gubermint was going to come and take them away.
The big brave souls who are scared by the NRA needs to tell NRA to jump off a cliff.

[Avalux]

14. Same upbringing as you; my dad has taught hunter's safety for the state for 35 years.

He has disowned the NRA and thinks they're a bunch of idiots.