RECOIL Issue #34

I’m cramming in this note between morning and afternoon hunts, sneaking out of the backcountry to grab a little Wi-Fi time while I attempt to catch up with the hectic pace of life in the real world. After a long time of promising myself I’d take advantage of the incredible wilderness this nation offers its citizens, it seems that, even when you’re nine miles from the nearest paved road, work still intrudes. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I am, however, taking the opportunity to disprove a common myth perpetuated by various and sundry anti-gun politicians. An oft-repeated trope is that you can’t hunt with an AR, as if that made their possession less legitimate. Leaving aside the fact the Second Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with hunting, using a version of this nation’s service rifle in pursuit of game is a well-established tradition. Generations of Americans have headed to the woods each fall, equipped with Krags, ’03s, and 1917s, not to mention the Model 700s that have served as the base for issued sniper rifles since 1966.

There are also a lot of practical reasons to hunt with whatever your favorite semi-auto might be. They’re rugged, accurate, impervious to a little rough handling or inclement weather, and available in just about any caliber that tickles your fancy. They’re also usually the first rifle pulled out of the safe for a little range time, so there’s a very good case for using the platform you’re most familiar with.

And then there’s the opportunity to publicly demonstrate that, for the most part, politicians don’t know crap about firearms and shouldn’t be trusted to legislate on the subject. So go ahead, take your AR hunting. You may not always be able to put meat on the table, but you’ll be standing up for freedom if you do. Check out RECOIL Issue 34.