I came across this article yesterday about an 89-year-old man, who thinking he saw a deer, shot a white horse while it was being ridden by a 12-year-old girl.
Not being a hunter, I’m curious, when getting/renewing a hunter’s license, do you have to take a vision test like you do for a driver’s license?
If not, why not?
Not in Missouri!
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In Florida you can renew your driver’s license over the phone. I guess if you can dial, you can drive.
[/slight hijack]
Driving is a privilge, firearms is a right
Not to start a GD, but there may be a legal distinction between ownership and hunting with said firearms. And as a life NRA member I’m certainly with you on the “right” part.
For example, I’m not aware of any requirement to have a drivers license in order to own a car.
There is no vision test in Arizona for a hunting license but minors must take an approved hunter safety course.
“firearms” is a noun. The right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional right I won’t argue about here but I don’t think you’ll get any pro-gun rights dopers to defend the “right” of an unsafe shooter to endager people.
I was just pointing out a basic difference between firearms (and bearing them) and driving in a legal sense (not that I’m a lawyer).
This certainly explains people in cars that T-bone other cars in intersections and back up into other cars in parking lots and claim that they never saw the four door bright blue Buick they just hit, even with their tested vision.
This doesn’t seem to be a case of mistaken identity, but a case of a dipshit that gives all hunters a bad name. That he attempted to shoot something with a shotgun slug at 200 yards speaks of his irresponsibility as a hunter. That he actually hit the horse speaks rather admirably of his marksmanship, which tells me that he isn’t suffering from poor vision, but that he’s an idiot.
But to get to the OP, in many states, it is harder to get a hunting license than it is to get a driver’s license. I was hunting everything from rabbits to elk and bear since I was 8 years old. While I was in the service, I went back home to hunt many times. After 20 years of hunting, I decided to hunt in CA. I had to go through a 16 hour hunter education class before I could get a hunting license.
Meanwhile, while in the service, my expired drivers license that I got when I was 16 was valid in any state, for as long as I was in the military. And as a civilian now, I do my driver’s license renewals by mail. No vision test required.
>>which tells me that he isn’t suffering from poor vision, but that he’s an idiot.
got to agree.
in some cases one must identify doe/buck - with or without antlers. basically got to id the sex of the deer. having to do this first and then making such a mistake!?!?!?
could not find anything in the md hunting guide about vision.