The upland game season is upon us and hunters are taking to the field for rabbits, pheasants, quail and partridges. Here are a few reminders to help keep you safe this season no matter what you’re hunting.

  * Most if not all states require hunters to wear a solid blaze orange hat or cap, vest, coat or jacket. Check the regulations in your state before going afield. Find a link to your states DNR at http://www.backwoodsbound.com/stgamedepts.html.

 * Hunters should stay in a straight line while pushing a field. They should also stay in communication with each other and know where each other is at while hunting. There have been incidents where hunters have been in a semicircle and shooting towards one-another when accidents have happened.

  * Before heading out, talk about the hunting plan. How the hunt will take place, each hunter’s role in the hunt and where each person will be at all times.

 * Know exactly where standers will be located, especially when hunting standing corn or tall switch grass. Too often the standers get shot by the pushers as they near the end of the field and the birds begin to flush. They too need to be wearing blaze orange.

 * Make sure your gun is unloaded when crossing a fence or other obstacle to avoid it accidentally discharging.

  * Properly identify the target and what is beyond it. This will be especially important when hunting in standing corn or tall grass.

  * If hunting with a dog, never lean a loaded gun against a fence, tree, vehicle, etc. Hunting dogs are usually excited to be in the field and could knock the gun over causing it to discharge.

 * Take someone new along to help keep our hunting traditions alive.

 * Remember to have fun but stay safe. Safety is no accident.

 These tips were compiled with the help of an article from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Visit their site at http://www.iowadnr.gov for information about hunting and fishing in beautiful Iowa.

  Hunting season is upon us and youth season this weekend has resulted in a lot of new hunters venturing afield, taking deer for the first time in their lives. Walker Lovell has taken deer before. He has taken wild hogs before, but nothing except for his dad’s advice prepared him for what happened this Oklahoma Youth season here in Haskell County.

  Walker is the 7 year old son of Weston and Kristen Lovell. Weston’s hunting values is the values of a hunter who loves and respects the animal he chases and the manner in which they are taken. He is a steward of wildlife, not just someone who is there for the kill. He is teaching his sons those values, just as he was taught by his dad.

 October 16th started at 5:50 AM as Weston and Walker got up and dressed from carefully laid out clothing, Weston decided to hunt from his dad’s blind on San Bois Creek. Walker was excited and his demeanor reminded Weston of those sleepless nights he had before season started when he was Walker’s age.

 The temperature had cooled off for the night and as cool as it was at home, San Bois bottom is always 10 degrees colder than that. Think of the coldest place in Alaska at the same time of year and that is how it feels in San Bois bottom!! Parking high above the blind, father and son walked in to the blind and got seated.

  In a conversation with his little brother, Gunner, the day before, Walker and Gunner had been playing the child game of, “This is my deer” while looking at game camera pictures. Walker made his dad chuckle when he made the very honest comment that he would most likely shoot the first deer that came in with horns regardless of what they were seeing!

 Walker had been part of preparing the blind and the area they were hunting. The morning was just starting to come alive as they settled into the blind. Walker was fully prepared to take a hog or a deer, whichever showed up first.

 A fork horn buck showed up and Walker wanted to shoot it, but Weston talked him out of it. Walker had been true to his word and wanted to take the first deer to arrive, but Weston told him to hold out for a bigger buck. Shortly 6 does came in and there was two smaller bucks dogging them in the distance but didn’t come in close enough for Walker to shoot. Walker was focused on the biggest doe of the group and when she presented a good shot, his rifle roared and that big doe hit the ground.

 Excited, Walker and Weston walked to the big mature doe and Weston stood out of kicking distance and pushed on the doe with a long walking stick.

  She was dead!

 Walker helped his dad get the deer loaded, wanting to take it by his pawpaw’s house to show it to him! Gerald Lovell is one of my mentor’s and I consider him an Uncle even though there is no DNA that connects us, but he and his are family. The picture he took with his deer and Pawpaw says it all!

 This could end here. A conservation kill of a mature doe by a young hunter, but it doesn’t end there. It starts again that evening, Weston suggesting they hunt Walker’s blind behind the house and try to take a nice young eight point they had been seeing on the game camera. Walker was all for it!

 That evening father and son made their way to the blind behind the house, hoping to ambush a nice young eight point that had been a regular on the game camera. Parking the 4 wheeler among the cows, they were in the blind by 5 PM. Walker was set up and Weston was helping him watch outside.

  Nothing showed up, but the cool evening air was relaxing when they saw the big buck moving through around 6:20 PM. It was over 125 yards away and never presented a shot that was reasonable for a 7 year old. Walker has killed deer and hogs before, putting every shot behind the shoulder out to 80 yards, but Weston felt his range needed to be limited to less than 125 yards and held to it as they let the buck walk out of sight.

 Walker was disappointed, but less than 15 minutes later a young 5 point came out and gave him a broadside shot within his range. Weston assumed Walker would shoot it, but his son turned toward him and asked, “Do you think the big one will come back?”

 “Maybe,” Weston told his son and watched as his young protégé watched the little buck graze.

 After watching it for 10 or so minutes he decided to shoot it and for the first time in his life, missed a deer! Somehow, he bumped the tripod rest just as he squeezed the trigger and completely missed that deer. He missed it so far the deer just ran a short distance and started grazing again and Walker made a nice scope ring cut above his eye! Bleeding or not, Weston got him out of the blind to go check for blood. Weston and Walker didn’t see it grazing until they got close to where it had been standing and the little buck trotted off! He was unhurt!

  Double checking to make sure there was no blood, Weston told Walker they had about 15 minutes of legal shooting light left. Walker headed for the blind. Weston got in with him and started texting his wife to tell her about the hunting trip results. They had not been there for 5 minutes.

 Walker said he seen a deer coming fast and it was the big one! Unable to see the deer, Weston knew it was in a bad spot for him to be able to say anything and then Walker shot!

 The buck dropped in his tracks!

  Walker went super happy, almost tearing the blind down getting out of it to race to the buck. Weston said he walked up to the largest whitetail buck he had ever seen on the hoof. The buck green scored 183 7/8ths and easily topped the whitetails Weston himself had taken. Needless to say this young man is a hunter who understands patience pays off. It also means he will be a hunter for life!!

   When you’re out on a hunting adventure not only should you know some basic first aid you need to know the warning signs of someone having a stroke or a heart attack. Here are some things to look for. It could save someone’s life or your own.

 For a stroke just remember F.A.S.T. What does F.A.S.T. stand for?

 F – Face drooping. Does one side of the person’s face droop or numb? Do they smile evenly?
 A – Arm weakness. Is one of their arms weak or numb? Have them raise their arms. Does one drift downward?
 S – Speech. Is their speech slurred? Can they speak or are they hard to understand? Have them repeat a simple phrase like “The grass is green.” Do they repeat it correctly?
 T – Time to get help. Call 911 and tell them “I think my friend is having a stroke”. The quicker they get help the better off they will be.

 A few warning signs of a heart attack include:

 Discomfort in the chest that lasts more than a few minutes. It could go away and come back. The pain can feel like something is squeezing your chest or putting pressure on it.

  You could have pain or discomfort in other parts of the upper body. In addition to pain in the chest you may have pain in one or both arms, the neck, back, stomach or jaw.

 If all the above wasn’t enough you may experience shortness of breath. It may occur with or without chest pain.

 And lastly you could break out into a cold sweat, experience nausea or get lightheaded.

 So stay alert if you or one of your buddies experiences any of the above symptoms. Don’t worry about being macho or looking like a fool. It’s better to error on the side of caution and get help immediately! You want to be around for the next hunting season.

 Thanks to the American Heart Association for some of this information.