North Dakota Deer Hunters Don't Shoot Yourself! I Did...It Hurt.

The first rule of gun safety- don't rely on your gun's safety.

You can't shoot a bullet from a rifle if there ain't a bullet in the chamber. A simple thought that will prevent you from blasting a hole in your foot like I did back in the early 80's.

It was opening day, and my dad and I were just hitting the fields outside of Benedict, ND. I was going one way around the trees and brush and my dad would go the other way around. As I worked my way through the brush, my lever action Marlin rifle got caught on some brush behind me. A quick little tug and it was free. At the same time, I heard someone take a shot. But, wait didn't my arm just kind of jerk? Very odd. So there I am looking around trying to figure out what was going on. I happened to look down and notice the laces on the top of my right boot were busted. Also odd.

Putting two and two together, I thought l should take a peek at the bottom sole of that boot. Lifting it up, I could see the bottom sole of the boot had a big old hole blasted through. That's called an exit hole. Realizing the situation, I started hollering for my dad who came a' running. By the time he got there I was laying on the the ground holding my head and yelling I was shot. So he thought the worst. Turned out it was one of the better places to shoot yourself with a 30-30.

The bullet went through my pants leg twice on the way to blowing up the metatarsal of my second toe and cracking a bunch of other bones. It was a long ride back to Minot. After a bunch of screws were inserted and months of extreme pain endured, I recovered just fine.

So, I could explain why the safety didn't work as designed and use that as an excuse. But what's the point? If I didn't have a bullet in the chamber, I wouldn't have shot it through my foot.

My suggestion? See the deer, then chamber the round.

Then you won't be the featured news story statewide on opening day. Nobody wants that.

Stay safe y'all.