Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Happy Hunting

Hunting season is here again.  To my fellow hunters, I wish you good hunting and pray that God will protect you and keep you safe. 

As with any sport, it is useful to review the basics from time to time.  Here are a few suggestions that will help you have a safe and successful season. 

Review the information published by your state’s Game and Fish department.  Familiarize yourself with the laws and regulations that apply to hunting in your state.  Make sure that you follow all laws and regulations. 

Some states do not require blaze orange clothing.  Wear it anyway, whether it is required or not.  You may live longer, and the deer will see it as gray. 

Hunt ethically.  Good hunters respect their game and follow the principles of fair chase. 

Be sure that any shot you take will result in a clean kill if you hit the target.  If you think you missed, go to the place where your game was when you shot at it.  Conduct a thorough search of the area to be sure that you didn’t accidentally wound it.  Remember that animals may run for quite a distance, even though they are fatally wounded. 

Obtain permission from the landowner before you hunt on private property.  Ask the landowner how they want you to leave any gates you may pass through.  Don’t shoot near their residence or outbuildings.  Be careful not to disturb or harm their livestock. 

Stay current with weather forecasts for the area where you are hunting.  Take tire chains and cold weather clothing.  The Forrest Service, Bureau of Land Management, County Sheriff's Department, and others have better things to do, and don’t need to spend their limited resources extracting you and your vehicle if you get stuck in bad weather.  Getting towed out by a recovery vehicle can cost you a lot of money.  If the weather goes bad, everything else can get bad in a big hurry.  Take enough gas, food, and water to last a few days longer than you intend to stay. 

The same thing is true about getting lost.  Be familiar with your hunt area.  Get some good maps.  Remember, you may not have cell phone coverage.  Take a polished metal signal mirror and an emergency whistle with you.  A tourniquet and emergency first aid supplies are a good thing, too. 

If you are in rugged terrain, be sure you have an exit strategy before you climb steep, precipitous slopes, boulders, cliffs, rockslides, ice and snow fields, and the like.  Others will have to risk their necks to recover you, whether you are alive, broken, or dead. 

Make sure you put your fires dead out. 

Always obey the rules of gun safety.  Treat every gun as if it were loaded.  Always unload your gun before setting it aside or storing it.  Never carry a loaded gun in your vehicle.  Never point any weapon at anything you do not wish to destroy.  Be sure of your target before you shoot.  Be sure that the round will not kill another animal after it passes through your intended kill.  Never shoot without a backstop.  Always be sure the area around your target is clear before you shoot.  Don’t shoot across roadways.  Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to discharge a round.  Do not use alcohol and drugs when handling guns and other weapons.  Leave your distracting thoughts and worries behind and concentrate on using your weapon safely.  Always keep your weapon pointed in a safe direction.  Clear your firearm before handing it to someone else or field dressing your game.  If you shoot someone accidentally, you will wish to be able to undo it over and over again for the rest of your life, but you can’t. 

Call home when you can.  Your loved one will be worried about you.  Keep someone at home informed of the area where you will be hunting and your vehicle license plate number and description. 

Leave God’s country the way you found it.  Pack out your trash.  Pack out the trash others have left behind if you can.  Please don’t rut out wet, muddy roads with your vehicle.  You don’t need to get to that promising hunting spot so bad that you contribute to erosion and ruin the roads for everybody else. 

The anti-hunters are going to complain about us anyway. Please don’t give them additional material to slander us with.  Hunting has a prominent place in the management of wildlife, the economy, and conservation.  We can hold our heads high if we hunt the right way.  Let’s all do our best to mentor and encourage new hunters. 

If I missed anything, do that, too. 

Good luck.  God Bless.

 

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Why do Terrorists Take Hostages?

On October 7, 2023, Hamas loosed armed insurgents into Israel from the Gaza Strip.  They murdered about 1,200 Israelis and others in the most brutal ways imaginable.  The dead were mostly civilians, and they included men, women, children, infants, and the elderly.  During the attacks, Hamas took 251 persons of various nationalities hostage. [1] 

Why do terrorists take hostages?  There may be any number of reasons.  These present themselves to be obvious to any observer with a brain that works.

Terrorists take hostages to use as a bargaining chip.  The families of the hostages are desperate.  They want their loved ones released at any cost.  Humanitarian groups, the press, the UN, organized protest groups – you name it – all pressure Israel to agree to anything in order to bring about the release of the hostages.  While the desire to bring the hostages home is understandable, giving in to the demands of the terrorists only plays into their hands.  It motivates the terrorists to take more hostages in the future. 

Terrorists like Hamas commit atrocities and take hostages to terrorize their enemies.  It is what they do.  They are TERRORISTS.  Now that some of the hostages have been released, we are learning that Hamas brutalized them while they were in captivity. 

The BBC reports that the female hostages were starved, intimidated, kept in underground tunnels without outside contact, and used as forced labor. [2] 

CBS states that medical examination of the released hostages found that they were suffering from PTSD, kept from knowing about their loved ones who were also being held hostage, starved, physically abused, psychologically abused, sexually abused, denied medical care, branded, and kept in restraints. [3] 

Reuters relates that the hostages, including minors, were burned and branded.  Female hostages were sexually abused. The hostages were tortured, physically and psychologically abused, starved and medically neglected. [4] 

The knowledge that the hostages are being mistreated and dying in captivity increases the pressure to agree to concessions to obtain their immediate release – regardless of the long-term adverse consequences to the safety of the Israeli people.  Hamas mistreats their prisoners because terrorists are vile, immoral criminals. 

Hamas is a terrorist organization.  They want to divide and discourage Israel.  They want to make Israel’s government appear to be heartlessly ignoring the plight of the hostages and their families.  They want to do everything they can to turn the nations of the world against Israel. 

They are TERRORISTS. It is what they do.  They know they don’t stand a chance in a stand-up fight with the IDF, so they hit below the belt – in ways that are the epitome of evil. 

The charter of Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel.  It is their ultimate goal, and they will not stop – will not stop – until they have achieved it.  Or, until they die trying. 

It is a humanitarian tragedy, for the Palestinian people, for Israel, and for the entire world.  We support President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to end this mess.  Let us pray that he can get it done without allowing Hamas to continue in its terrible barbarity.