Beretta Blog

I approached the scene with extreme caution. The dispatcher had relayed the complaint of a man who had been drinking all day long and was now discharging his firearm inside his home. No other information was given, and the complainant wasn’t available. I stopped a block away and asked how long before backup would be on-scene and for more information. As the dispatcher verified that no more information was available, I noticed the second unit pull in behind my car. I motioned, and we both pulled up about five houses from the suspect home.

Neither of us had long guns available, and no more units were on the way. The sounds of gunfire erupted and we could hear yelling.

“Call in the choppers! I’ve been hit! I’ve been hit!”

I like crazes. They are fun to watch. It is interesting how many trends are driven by a desire to be “cool.” And quite often in the world of firearms, being cool means having the latest gear, the right firearm, and knowing all about the latest items coming off of the assembly lines. I’ve witnesses a number of crazes in firearms community during the last few decades. Some have stayed, others have faded away. I’m still waiting to see if the “Tactical” phase remains. It seems that everything is tactical these days. A good friend of mine likes to say that a company could double its sales of jock straps if it just calls them tactical jock straps. I laugh every time I think about it, but there’s truth in it.

When I first started duck hunting, we didn’t have layout blinds. It’s not that they weren’t available, we just couldn’t afford them. A pit blind was out of the question too, as where I lived, they were illegal. So we camo’ed up the best we could and pulled nasty old burlap feed sacks over our feet. Honestly, we did pretty well. Either we did a pretty good job of getting covered up, or we had dumb birds. Either way, it worked.

The other day a question was posed to me, “How do I convince my husband I need another gun?” I was perplexed by the question and had absolutely no immediate comeback.

I pondered and then empathized. How do I convince Hank that I need another gun? I answered my own question. I don’t. If I need another gun, I simply buy it. That’s part of being an independent, self-sufficient woman, right?

Here’s a bold statement.

When you fly the friendly skies, you’ll experience more invasion of privacy, groping and unwanted scrutiny when you walk through the TSA checkpoint than when you try to check guns in your baggage.

I fly enough that the majority of currently employed TSA agents are intimately familiar with every square inch of my body. But groping aside, I’ve found checking guns by following the rules to be a simple and straightforward process - as long as you carefully follow the rules.

The first rule I learned about waterfowl hunting is: be where the birds want to be. Good advice, but sometimes easier said than done. Scouting is a vital part of that and scouting locations early in the season and before is not only a smart move, but also a good way to keep you on your game year round.

1. Go high tech

Scouting now has gotten very high tech. Smartphone evolution continues to come up with new tools we never knew we needed before, but for some reason, now can’t live without. Apps for phones, tech-speak for programs, allow us to know weather updates, satellite images GPS information and all kinds of data that can either help you as a hunter, or bog you down, depending on your point of view. I for one am usually tied to my iPhone and use it constantly while hunting to check shooting hours, wind directions, etc.

Why do we hunt turkeys? Every spring I go after them, and every spring I seem to find myself using language that would make a sailor blush and vowing to give it up. It’s not as though I’ve never been successful at it, but they rank pretty high as one of the most frustrating birds to hunt.

But it’s the challenge that makes them worth it, isn’t it? If it was easy, it wouldn’t be as much fun. The wild turkey is a great symbol of our hunting heritage. If Ben Franklin had had his way, it would be our national bird, supplanting that the bald eagle. Each spring hunters from all over this great land head to the woods in search of a long beard. Some of us are motivated by a strong desire to spend time outside after a long winter. Others are after the thrill of the hunt. Me? I’m out for blood.

Challenge yourself and your ability when training, and competition will seem easy in comparison.

Most shooters are constantly striving to improve their skills and get to that next level.

For those of us who have been shooting for quite a while and in high quantities, improvement can sometimes elude us, especially if we get burnt out. As a new shooter, there is a lot of room for improvement, but as an experienced shooter we sometimes struggle to gain that extra bit we need to get to the next level. As you get to the highest levels in a shooting discipline, you’ll find that the things you need to improve on are very refined, and the concepts that you have been practicing for a long time aren’t sufficient to get you to improve. 

1. A fire extinguisher is a lousy self defense weapon.

No one seems to have an issue with folks keeping a fire extinguisher in the house, right? I mean, people don’t question your paranoia level even though there are fire departments just about everywhere. So I thought about just carrying a fire extinguisher for self defense too. I figured I could foam at least three people in the face before it emptied, and then it becomes an excellent impact weapon. After discovering that finding a concealed holster was near impossible, I gave up.