Reply #12: Another columnist calls her more dangerous than Cheney [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

Although some of my critics won’t believe it, there is no political agenda at work when I make this bold statement: As a hunter, Sarah Palin is a greater menace in the field than Dick Cheney.

And I have a feeling that real hunters among my readership will back me up on that. Fact is, Sarah Palin gives hunting a bad name, and it has nothing to do with the whole cruelty to animals argument, which I’ll leave for someone else to hash out. It’s based entirely on the fact that she’s so clueless and incompetent behind a gun that she ought to trade her rifle in on a tactical nuke, which doesn’t require the pinpoint accuracy a hunter needs to make meat without causing unnecessary suffering among the game population.

I came to this conclusion after a friend told me that as a former hunter, shooter and avid outdoorsman, I had to watch the episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” where she and her dad go into the backcountry after caribou. I’d never watched an episode of that show, for obvious reasons, but I dialed that one up just so I could discuss it with my buddy. And I was horrified.

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• Before they leave for their hunting camp (hundreds of miles away by plane), Sarah’s dad tells the camera crew what a great shot his daughter (whom he always curiously refers to as Sarah Palin, not just Sarah) is with a rifle. But then he says that he’s bringing two guns on the hunt, a big game rifle for him and a “varmint” rifle for her, because she doesn’t like guns that kick.

That was the first red flag. A competent hunter knows that your rifle has to have a big enough caliber to bring down the game you’re after. That’s a humane consideration. Use the right caliber and place your shot carefully, and you can fill your freezer without causing the animal undue suffering. Use a caliber that’s too small, and unless you make a perfect shot, you run the chance of just wounding the game. That’s never good, and a prospect that gives competent hunters nightmares. Going after a game animal like a caribou, which can weigh as much as 700 pounds, with a varmint rifle isn’t just asking for trouble, it’s real cruelty in the making.

http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2010-12-16/Greg_Bean's_Column/Duck_and_cover_because_Sarahs_locked_and_loaded.html