The American Spectator

p> AIMLESS HUNTING br> Re: Clinton W. Taylor’s Museum Pieces : /p> p>Clinton Taylor’s imagined dialogue on front-stuffer technology and market forces was a screaming hoot — and so, so true. Keep those coming. I’m thinking I need to buy a Lyman trade rifle just for kicks — in honor of Mr. Taylor. br> — Paul J. Foreman br> Birmingham, Alabama /p>

Clinton W. Taylor hit the nail on the head, or rather, the primer on the cap. The rifle season should be extended to include what is now muzzle-loading and archery seasons. If it’s ok to kill a deer in September or October with a muzzle loader or bow, then why not also with a rifle?

He’s right that the rules are driven by elitism. The “primitive” weapons snobs think they are entitled to the first crack at the trophy bucks and to have the woods to themselves during the most pleasant part of the season. Then, when rifle season comes in the weather is cold, the season is short, and the (antlerless) deer that remain have been educated by the smokepole and pointy-stick crowd. Besides, the bow hunters already have exclusive access to the happiest and most accessible hunting grounds of them all: the wooded suburbs. And muzzle loaders have it almost as good, once you factor in all the military bases and other special properties on which they are allowed to hunt and rifle hunters are not.

And there’s a potentially serious unintended consequence to this issue. The short seasons that result force rifle-hunters to all be in the woods at the same time during what can be a very narrow window of opportunity. Surely it would be better to allow us to space ourselves out a bit more?

p>Is the Cato Institute aware of this government-regulated encumbrance upon freedom? Has Milton Friedman been briefed?