By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

The survey is broken into five sections:
The Guns You Shoot
The Guns You Like Best
Your Thoughts on Today's Guns
Your Shooting Habits
Your Principles and Politics

You can click on one of these section names to visit that section, or just keep on reading to start at the beginning. And as you'll probably disagree with most of these results, voice your opinion by clicking on the "comments" link located all the way at the bottom of the page.

Section 1:Your Guns
You have plenty of good guns on your rack, but here’s what you take down most often

1. What is your primary whitetail gun?
Remington 700 15% Ruger 77 7% Winchester 70 7% Remington 870 5% Browning A-Bolt 4% Marlin 336 4% Winchester 94 4% Savage 110/111/116 3% Remington 742/7400 3% Remington 760/7600 3% other 45%

2. What is your primary whitetail gun’s caliber or gauge?
.30/06 20% 12 gauge 14% .270 13% .30/30 9% .308 7% .243 5% 7mm Remington Magnum 5% other 27%

3. What is your primary big-game rifle?
Remington 700 22% Winchester 70 11% Ruger 77 8% Browning A-Bolt 7% Savage 110/111/116 6% Weatherby Mark V 4% Mauser, commercial or converted military 4% Remington 742/7400 3% Remington 760/7600 3% Marlin 1895 3% other 26%

4. What is your primary big-game rifle’s caliber?
.30/06 30% 7mm Remington Magnum 10% .270 9% .300 Winchester Magnum 9% .308 6% .300 Weatherby Magnum 3% .300 Winchester Short Magnum 3% .45/70 3% .338 3% other 34%

5. What is your primary waterfowl shotgun?
Remington... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

With all the news and hubbub surrounding Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, many hunters are concerned that the safety of our sport may also come under fire. But, as this Casper StarTribune.net story details, hunting accidents have declined by more than 40 percent in recent years and our sport is in fact safe and getting safer, thanks largely to hunter-safety education courses.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/02/15/news/wyoming/be2d3dd74a6bfc4b8725711500078758.txt [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Doug Pike is a Field & Stream contributing editor who covers the outdoors for the Houston Chronicle. He wrote an article for us on Monday about reports of a so-called "Texas Protocol"  suggesting that bird hunters in Texas follow different gun safety rules than bird hunters anywhere else. Here's what he has to say about the Vice President's appearance on Fox News yesterday evening.

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News' Brit Hume, Vice President Dick Cheney shouldered full responsibility for his South Texas hunting accident.

"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger," the vice president said. "That's the bottom line."

In the interview, Cheney laid out details of the Saturday-afternoon incident in which he shot 78-year-old Harry Whittington during a quail hunt.

"The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said.

Cheney drank a beer with lunch. It's good that he admitted to it, but the consumption took place hours before the shooting. It's a nonissue, much as this whole incident should be soon. (For the... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Forty-three years ago there were only 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the contiguous US. Now there are more than 7,000, and officials say the bird could be removed from the Endangered Species List within a year. Unlike other recent proposed delistings, there seems to be little debate over whether the symbolic bird is significantly recovered. In fact, it’s delisting was first proposed in 1999 under President Clinton. What’s been the hold up? According to this Associated Press story, “snail-paced government bureaucracy.” Click here for the story [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Doug Pike is a Field & Stream contributing editor who covers the outdoors for the Houston Chronicle. Here's what he has to say about reports suggesting that bird hunters in Texas follow different gun safety rules than bird hunters anywhere else.

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Upland bird hunters everywhere knew exactly what had happened when word spread this past weekend that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a quail-hunting companion in South Texas, but some media reports made it sound as if the victim were to blame.

A quail flushed. Vice President Cheney swung his 28-gauge shotgun on the bird and tugged the trigger. His 78-year-old buddy, Austin attorney Harry Whittington, took a piece of the shot string in the upper body and face. Luckily, they were about 30 yards apart, far enough that pinhead-sized quail shot did minimal damage.

Reports from the owner of the ranch where the VP was hunting that Whittington violated some sort of ``Texas protocol'' requiring hunters to make formal announcement of their comings and goings in the field were a bit misleading. Everywhere that upland... [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Of course, you and I know that a hunting accident is no laughing matter. But lots of other folks seem to think Cheney’s is pretty funny (even if they don’t know the difference between birdshot and buckshot). Letterman , Leno, countless bloggers, and even Las Vegas odds makers are getting mountains of milage out of the incident. Check out the link below for a mere sampling of the current barrage of jokes and spoofs.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060214-9999-1n14veep1.html

What do you think: Are they tasteless or funny? [ Read Full Post ]