Gone Huntin'

I have wanted to blog about this for so long! But 15 hours of hunting class education in one week took all my free time!

In Hawaii, one of our favorite hobbies is hiking up the green beautiful foothills behind our house. The land is owned by Parker Ranch, making it private property. To get to the state land just yonder, you have to trespass. If caught, you could face a felony for trespassing UNLESS YOU HAVE A HUNTING LICENSE. Why a hunting license? The state is afraid of poachers. But who is more likely to accidentally (or intentionally) poach a Parker Ranch cow? A hiker enjoying the sights, or a HUNTER with his truck, guns, and pack of hunting dogs? Rather than attempt to fight the state and county for hiker rights or a hikers permit (which doesn't exist), Alex and I signed up for Hunters Education. This 15 hour class took place this week on Mon/Tues/and Thursdays from 5-10pm with our exam last night. No, we did not get to shoot guns. And there is a one year wait list for this hunters education class!

In class, after several hours, I started to get bored. So I skimmed through the book at my desk. Just then, I happened to read the sentence "The only weapon without a built in safety is the revolver". JUST THEN, the teacher asks "Which weapon doesn't have a safety?" and some tough hunter raised his hand and rattled off the wrong answer. So I raise my hand and proudly say "The Revolver!" (I almost said "What is the Revolver. Guns and Safety for 300 please") and the teacher (looking stunned himself) said "That's correct!" It was then when about 30 pairs of huge Samoan hunter eyes turned around to look at me like "Who IS this little white girl wearing pig tails and an orange hat covered in buttons!"

So last night we took the exam and we both passed. You needed a 75 to pass and I got a 92 (and Alex got a 97). Now that I think back on the test, it would be SCARY for someone to only get 75 and be legally eligible to hunt with a gun!

So in conclusion, now we can legally hike!