doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Does it belong?

I usually drink water during the course of a day hunting. After the guns are put away, my buddies and I will have a beer on the tailgate before setting off for home.
There is never more than one beer per person in the cooler. I don't drink hard liquor, and, oddly, none of my hunting buddies do either. My Father wasn't a teetotaler, but, he might as well have been-I remember him having about 4 beers over the course of his life, never before, during or after hunting or shooting, however. My Father's passing did teach me that I have very few hunting partners, something I wasn't conscious of when he was alive.
I witnessed things going way wrong in an alcohol fueled fashion at a shoot at a local club in my youth (that club doesn't exist anymore) and have pretty much sworn them off.
An old girlfriend gave me a ceramic hip flask, many years ago, that remains unused.
The thought was nice. I simply have no use for it.

Best,
Ted

Gentlemen, I much appreciate the thought out opinions and civil discussion.

That kit has travelled with on all kinds of hunts over the last 15 years. It has been well-used countless times, under roofs or dark skies, after the guns have been put to bed.

But to be truthful, it has also come out under blue skies and I can count those occasions on one hand. The right combination of a truly worthy occasion (not a mere excuse to drink) and the right kinds of moderate fellows for whom a small single ceremonial dose is enough, is a truly rare thing.

I'm taken back to a buck I shot 2 decades ago. The first to join me at the scene was the same Polish fellow who gave me that field bag. It was on that November morning that I experienced my first Old World twig ceremony, which was topped off with a single capful of cognac. My world could not have been more perfect.

Not by me it isn't! Sorry to disagree but I have picked up and left a dove shoot because the guy on my left was drinking beer. What others accept is their own business...Geo

Mea culpa, I must confess that many years ago in Tamaulipas State Mexico when my bird boy handed me a couple of those Coronas in the little bottles since there was no water, I chugged with the best of them.

From the posts, one size doesn't fit all. It appears the absolutely-nots are describing hunts or shoots where all are not known well to each other. I haven't met any here personally but intuitively I'd expect all to be responsible with timing of alcohol.

Geo, your Corona story reminded me of a provincial skeet shoot 60-odd years ago when I was two-man with Maritime skeet champion. He missed his second shot, broke 24, drank a large beer at each break and ended with a 99.

That's about it, KB.

Some of the comments verge on neurosis, i.e. an irrational fear.

Just remember...

"Alcohol and gunpowder don't mix. It gets all soggy and hard to light."

Geo,

I wouldn't sweat those Coronas. About as strong as near beer.

Firewater and gunpowder don't mix. Period.

After the shooting is over is another thing. And "over" would include a celebratory capful as described above because that day's shooting was over when the buck dropped. But, again, if someone has to drive home or any distance, limiting it to one and one only is probably the best way to go. Speaking for myself, I wait until I get to where I'm going to sleep - usually my home - and until I'm done with anything gun related before opening a bottle.

Fishing, OTOH, is an entirely different matter. My consumption there is only limited by maintaining balance in the boat and the need to be sober enough to pass a DWI test if I'm at the helm. But I'm not out in the ocean or exceptionally big water, either.

You can still drown, Dave.

They found a guy face down near his boat on Lake Saint Clair a couple years back... the water would have been roughly up to his waist.

BAC tested at something like .30%

He was, literally, too drunk to fish.

And, besides, you could put an eye out with one of those dreadful hooky things you torture the poor fish with...

Have you no morality or conscience or social responsibility?

My God man! Drinking and fishing!

You are absolutely correct - indeed, it would be rare not to be offered a small drink (often sloe gin), mid morning, and a glass of wine with lunch. In 40 years of accompanying shoots, I have NEVER seen this abused by 'over indulgence'.

He died doing what he loved. (And proved himself a real redneck by being too drunk to fish.)

The difference is, of course, that no one other than the dead guy was directly harmed by the dead guy's (over)indulgence. Ain't that way with firearms - pretty likely someone else will be harmed by the indulgent hunter. Which, I guess, is as good a reason for the distinction in the law. There's no drinking while hunting/shooting, but there's no law outlawing drinking and fishing, only no operating the boat under the influence.

And, as John in UK noted right upthread, on UK shoots you're likely to get "A" nip (of sloe gin) in the morning and "A" glass of wine with lunch. "A" as in "one". Which is, I guess, a sensible limit if alcohol is to be consumed.