Posted on 09/19/2012 11:46:20 AM PDT by Joseph Harrolds
To hunt in the state of Texas, if you were born within the last 30 years, you need to have passed an approved hunter education class and carry the proof with you. Unless you pay $10 for a one year deferral, like I did last year. Unfortunately that deferral is a
Let me back up a second here. The term “Fudd” is derived, of course, from the Elmer Fudd, the hunter in the Looney Tunes cartoons. And in Pennsylvania, it’s used to describe a certain kind of person. Specifically, one who believes the only purpose for firearms is hunting, that the only acceptable type of rifle is the kind their pappy gave them in the 1960s (and that all others should be illegal) and is generally intolerant of change. In other words, a crotchety old fart.
Perfect example from back in Pennsylvania: I was with my shooting team at a state game lands range (which used to be free) sighting in our AR-15 rifles for a coming 3-gun match. It was just us, and an older gentleman who was hoovering up all the brass from the range and putting it in a bag to take home. We were being perfectly safe, following all of the rules, and even being downright courteous to the old man who was picking up our brass the second it hit the ground. But no more than five minutes after he left the police arrived, saying they got a tip that people were shooting machine guns and destroying the range.
That, my friends, was a Fudd. He called the police because he didn’t like the way our guns looked and wanted to get us arrested.
Fudds suck, there really is no two ways about it.
They’ll gladly toss gun owners under the buss as long as they can keep their hunting rifles/shotguns, yet non-hunting gun owners will back all gun owners no matter what.
Fudds don’t realize that once they have made other firearms illegal, theirs will be next.
I’m not just saying this as a gun owners, I’m saying it as a hunter also who predominantly use a bow when hunting.
Ping for later.
Whenever I shoot my AR15s, I always save a loaded mag for one or more of the old timers that started and maintain our club. They hear a lot of rapid fire and some become concerned, as we’ve had range vandalism in the past.
After going through a mag of ammo, they’re right on board and I never have issues.
There’s on excuse for Fudds, though.
There’s been some high-profile Fudds: Bill Ruger and Zumbo come to mind. With Fudds for friends, who needs enemies?
I find a post about “Fudds” by a fellow named “Leghorn” quite amusing :)
Used to be that whole NRA was run by Fudds. Believe it or not, we have Bill Clinton to thank for our current upswing in the popularity of black rifles. His immensely stupid “assault rifle ban” caused people to grab as many semis as they could find and this popularity shook up the ranks of the Old Guard. Funds can’t be trusted to be in power.
Don’t worry the bows will be on the list in the future too.
As for handing off to the oldtimers, the only time I tried that the jackwagon tried to force the selector into the (nonexistant) auto position, so convinced was he that I had an illegally modded weapon.
I shoot at a private club, but you’re right.
I used to shoot at a DNR range south of Indianapolis, but it became a hassle when they stocked it with you’re standard semi-retired DNR “officer”-type.
As soon as you get out of your car, he comes running up asking to see your ID and concealed weapons permit. I told him it was none of his business and drove off and never went back.
In my home state of Michigan, the DNR had a “one round” rule. One round in the gun and magazine at any time. Really a pain in the ass and just stupid.
The old timers at my club are pretty decent. They’ve procured a lot of NRA and DNR money to rebuild all the ranges and it’s one of the best clubs in Indiana and has won the NRAs club of the year award.
Where I live in MD we are down to one private club range. The rest have been zoned or sued out of existance. Unfortunately, the remaining club has a "deal" with the State Police that has filled the staff with current and ex-LEOs who expect to see only fellow LEOs handling modern weapons. They also enforce a "3-shots-a-minute" policy for members while the LEOs get to chew up the equipment with full auto M4s on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
But it is still better than the public range.
Where in MD? I used to shoot at the Col. William Batargis Memorial range near New Market.
That was in the 80’s and I can only imagine how it’s changed in MD.
Not one who shoots “black”, the Fudd complaint is very similar to “mughoggers” 4X4 runners.
Back before any of the 4X4 idiots were running wild and tearing up every trail or backroad in the woods, most of us never had a problem hunting on anyone’s land. Then here come the “mentally children with 4X4 pickups” who had some need to prove how destructive they could be to both land and their machines, didn’t take long before no one wanted to allow anyone to hunt on their land.
Whether or not you shoot full auto or tear up the ranges or trash the places, you are now seen as part of the ones that do. Thank the idiots, not the old dudes.
Revenge came on a busy Friday evening in the form of a Mosin Nagant M44, a spam can of acrid combloc ammo and a numb shoulder. The LEOs were all thinking "he'll be on his knees after ten rounds." They were oh so wrong. By the time I was finished I was nearly alone. Even the range officers had retreated to thier little office. ;-)
It's not the 80s anymore here. It was nice to be a shooter here back then. Not so much now. Darn few gun shops left, too. But there is at least one club considering opening a new range, so there is hope.
The M44, the king of muzzle blast! I stood by a guy firing one once and it was like getting whacked with board every time he fired.
I still have family in Easton.
I’m very fortunate here in NM. The headquarters of the Single Action Shooting Society is 6 miles from my house in the mountains, and they have both pistol and rifle ranges open to the public, as well as a sporting clays range.
Very similar to a west-side Indianapolis range (Eagle Creek) that I lived near. It was posted as OPEN certain days of the week, but you’d show up and some cop would meet you in the parking lot and tell you to “turn around”. The cops would show up and confiscate the range on days they weren’t scheduled.
None of that bullshit at my private range.
At the ranges I shoot at here, we welcome all shooters as long as they are safe.
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