Is PA Game Commission encouraging hunters to be anti OC?

**87th PVI** · September 24th, 2009, 11:51 PM

So I'm taking the hunter education course and I notice this (bold is mine):

http://www.hunter-ed.com/pa/course/2...hical_code.htm

Respect Non-Hunters
Transport animals with respect—don't display them.
Keep firearms out of sight.
Refrain from taking graphic photographs of the kill and from describing the kill in detail while within earshot of non-hunters.
Maintain a presentable appearance while on the street—no bloody or dirty clothing.
Be a respected and active citizen in your community.

I understand there are some people who are anti hunting and others who are anti guns and some who are both, and I'm all for respecting others and presenting a positive image for hunting but it just struck me when I saw the part about keeping firearms out of sight.
I though about how so many people say they are hunters/gun owners but do not agree with OC.
Why should we be hiding our guns? Especially if we are using them for sporting purposes!
Do baseball players hide their bats? tennis players hide their racket? hockey players hide their stick? Can't people be killed if beaten with any of those items? So why should we feel the need to hide our firearms?
Besides, my Benelli Legacy & my Henry Golden Boy are way better looking than any bat, racket or hockey stick I've ever seen!
It's like the Game Commission wants us to feel ashamed to take the gun out of the car if someone happens to be driving past the hunting area or if the neighbor sees us loading or unloading the car at home!
WTF? You'd think they'd want to make it more normal to the general public not something to hide. They are contributing to the "OC is bad" attitude & that bothers me. I understand that they don't want a bad image for hunting, but I wish they would have at least worded that some other way that doesn't make it feel dirty if the neighbor sees me loading the car in the morning.
Actually my neighbors would probably think it was odd if they didn't see me carrying a gun case &/or wearing a holster.

**t1m0thy** · September 25th, 2009, 12:13 AM

i just got douche chills

**RoyJackson** · September 25th, 2009, 05:06 AM

Sounds like some of Rendell's "politically correct" cohorts are writing the hunter education courses.
Pay no mind to this foolishness...

**Biggfoot44** · September 25th, 2009, 06:20 AM

It's not a PA thing per se. My daughter is signed up for H.S. in MD, and I looked thru her book, had exact same passage. Look farther and you will see that individual states don't all write their own text books. The publishing company write a genneric book, and just personalizes each states name and contact info on covers.
I expected the ' unload and case gun' part. The part that had me more upset was the part about hiding the animals.
But as with any textbook that the pubblisher hopes to sell in large numbers, they aim to please the most potentially obbjecting jurisdictions. Viva Capitalism .

**Poonie** · September 25th, 2009, 07:40 AM

Well, I for one won't skulk in the shadows, and hide my deer from view just so somebody doesn't get "offended". I'm not going to be made act as though I need to be ashamed of the sport I love. No sir, not doing that for anyone. Now I'm not saying I'm going to hang a deer off the side of my truck and ride though town, with horn blaring, in an ignorant attempt to draw attention. However, if I choose to leave the tailgate down on the ride home and some potential anti sees my deer, well then that's just too freaking bad. I'm doing nothing illegal and have nothing to be ashamed of, and as such won't act the criminal just to appease the public, period!

**87th PVI** · September 25th, 2009, 08:03 AM

I started this thread on the OC forum because of the Hide your guns statement & don't mean to get off track to the point this thread should have been posted in the hunting section, but...
Here's another thing I found that's odd:

They have this graphic:

Then in the review for that section, they ask the question, how many nonhunters are there in PA...

Last time I checked anti hunters likely don't hunt so that 10% would be added to the 80% nonhunters with a neutral attitude toward hunting...

I answered 90% & got it wrong.
The correct answer according to them is 80%

So we aren't adding the 10% antis to the 80% neutral non hunters why?

**CHEMICAL** · September 25th, 2009, 08:08 AM

.....................they just take it further and further every day, pretty soon we wont be able to eat at a restaurant in front of other people for fear they may get offended at the sight of us chewing a piece of steak or something!

**edstephan** · September 25th, 2009, 08:25 AM

It's called the Fudd Mentaltality.

An OC Activist and 1 of the 3%
Ed Stephan

**levib** · September 25th, 2009, 09:53 AM

You know, I've never seen a law about people having the right to not take offense to something others are doing. Yet it seems like every year that right is becoming more important than even the bill of rights. Makes me want to go out with the intent to offend people without actually breaking the law.