Recognize wildlife species and follow game laws!

In the cartoons, Bugs Bunny can retrieve a cannonball shot from Yosemite Sam's cannon and shoot it back. In real life, hunters do not have that ability. Once the bullet has left the barrel, it is too late to think about target and animal identification.

Each year, a few people embarrass themselves and all hunters by shooting the wrong animals. Statements like "I just thought that moose was a really big deer" or "How are you supposed to tell one duck from another?" have caused some people to demand that hunting be abolished. Fortunately, the vast majority of hunters study wildlife identification, so they are competent hunters. EVERY hunter needs to know how to identify native species and even non-native wildlife that might have escaped.

Even without antlers, do you know the difference between elk and moose, between mule deer and white-tailed deer or between ducks with different bag limits? You must know these differences to hunt legally and follow game laws.

Copyright, International Hunter Education Association, Inc. 2002