Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Water jug tests

Great analogy, that one really nails it.

Paintball guns are used in games where each player intentionally shoots at other people. And if you get shot, you just sit out and wait for the next round.

Yeah, that works.

You didn't answer the question.

Let me help you. There are paintballs that are intended to be shot at people and there are paintballs that are intended for law enforcement.

So are paint guns toys or tools?

omigosh - a highly enjoyable GAME that involves using firearms?

How scandalous!

Yes, there are plenty of competitions that use guns, whether it be bowling pins at your local range or national championships at Camp Perry.

If you think that means guns are toys, you're a bigger moron than I thought.

Guns are often used as and considered to be toys, like it or not.

I have a safe full of such toys.

I also have a bow. With the exception of one unfortunate rabbit decades ago, it has never been used for anything but targets and competitive games. Basically another toy.

Anyone who considers guns to be toys or calls them toys is a moron, like it or not.

I can't help what people do, or how they think. All I can do is point out the foolishness of considering guns to be toys, or calling them toys.

Especially on a public forum where youngsters can visit.

What denseheads like you fail to recognize is the terms 'firearm' and 'toy' and their plurals are simply nouns used to describe objects that meet certain definitions. Those definitions are not mutually exclusive no matter your claims to the contrary.

A firearm is always a firearm. It can also be a toy.

It's because of that spreadsheet.. remove it and the 2nd page will be readable..

A firearm is a tool... not a toy.. I do not consider my rifles toys they are tools...

I'll remember that next time I'm teaching a room full of 10 year-old's about firearm safety.

I'll grab a rifle, stand up in front, and ask "can anyone tell me what this is?" A few hands will shoot up: "a rifle?" Nope. "A bolt action??" Nope. "A Winchester?" Nope.

Boys and girls, it's a toy.

I hate the direction this thread has taken. What bothered me about this topic from the start has only gotten worse.

I’ll concede that Coyote Hunter’s range is a great layout for that type of activity. It actually looks to be the ideal place.
What has bothered me from the beginning of the post is that it’s not connected to elk hunting (it shouldn’t be), and doesn’t really represent shooting sports very well, et al.

IMO there are probably a tiny fraction of the worlds population entrusted with a high powered rifle and guessing <1% that are so lucky as to also hunt something as magnificent as an elk.
cui multa dantur, ab eo multa expectantur

Right or wrong I personally make a big distinction between elk hunting and shooting and even between elk hunting and other types of hunting. I hold this animal in high regard and try to set the bar a little higher when it comes to elk hunters conduct. Even hunters experienced in other forms of hunting should know that the conduct, responsibility, effort - it’s not really the same.

Even more than that … I think that for those of us for whom elk hunting is deep in our DNA have a particular obligation and responsibility to set a good example. That is particularly true on a public forum.

When I am faced with talking about elk hunting to someone who doesn’t get it I want them to know this activity is regarded as a privilege, a quest for one’s self as much as the animal, passed down from generations since pre-history, something few men can do well, … really fitting words are hard to come by.

Remember that a huge segment of the population isn’t really either for or against hunting – they just haven’t been exposed to it. – many are just somewhere in the middle and very impressionable. I would not want for someone curious about elk hunting to have this post be one of the first reads that they come across. Practicing marksmanship extensively can look like an obsession with killing to the outsider, but that excessive practice should be an effort toward giving that animal a humane death. In fact it is (hopefully) a kinder death than any natural one. When someone asks ‘Why do you hunt?’ there is often this natural reaction to react in an adversarial way, but many times it is simply an honest question and that person is an open book at that point. I cringe at the thought that this type post might be the first impression someone might get of elk hunters. Even someone who might hunt a pheasant or squirrel might give pause at the prospect of taking down something that is clearly a higher life form. Lot of responsibility there.

This kind of post is just a whole lot more appropriate on a shooters forum. At least there the spectrum of topics is a little more wide open.

I really don’t believe that terms like ‘fun’, ‘toys’, ‘targets’, or even ‘sport’ are doing us any favors. A lot of the common English lexicon doesn’t apply and careless words can really leave the wrong impression. Adding photos to those words goes even further the wrong way.

I shot some water jugs with my bow the other day.

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

Alamosa,

Earlier in this thread if you and another poster didn't respond like you guys did it would have died already.

I hunt elk because they have more meat on them than deer. They are no more special than a squirrel. You sound like you are almost religious about them.

The spreadsheet is now removed. As I said before, it is available to interested parties. PM to let me know.

Not so far off the mark.
I hike into remote areas and watch elk year round.
I keep cameras set to record them year round.
Collect and file way too many photographs of them each year.
My wife is a saint to tolerate the piles on antlers I have.

The more you learn about them the more special they are. I don't just feel that way about elk though. I think every bird is a miracle of nature (but I hunt them relentlessly when I get the chance.)

That is where I feel the anti's and tree huggers have little argument with me. I'll compare conservation efforts with them anytime.

I wouldn't do that either.

That doesn't mean when I have a firearm in my hands it doesn't meet the definition of 'toy'. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Regardless, they always meet the definition of a 'firearm' and are always treated accordingly, whether I am also using them for entertainment and enjoyment (i.e. a toy) or as a tool.

'Firearm' and 'toy' are not mutually exclusive terms.