Firearm Deer Season: Safety First!

Firearm deer season begins this Friday in Illinois.  Most hunters have been through a hunter safety course that covers basic gun safety and deer stand safety, but there are other hazards out there that most people don't know about.  Much of the good deer habitat in Southern Illinois is abandoned farmland, and in the not-too-distant past, much of Southern Illinois and other parts of the Midwest had a home on every 40 acres.  Every home had at least one well or cistern, and there are still lots of them out there trapping dumb animals that don't know to look out for them.  I have been lucky, because the worst ones I've seen weren't the first ones I saw.  This one, for instance, has a sandstone cap with a hole too small for a human to fall through.  It's the exception to the rule.  Many have water and straight sides, so if you fall in you might climb out.  I have seen many that are bell shaped, deep, and dry.  If you fall in one of those you are a goner.  I was out with a buddy one day, and he stopped suddenly after he had dodged around a tree.  If I had been following too closely I would have run into him, and both of us would have fallen down a 20' deep well with a dry bottom.  Anyway, as you go to your favorite hunting spot in the dark pre-dawn hour, be on the lookout for dark spots that don't seem to have a bottom.  The main trick I use to spot these hazards in my part of the country is to look for walnut trees on upland sites.  Most homes had walnut trees planted around them, and now the descendants of those trees still mark the old homesites.  Your part of the world may have its own signs; learn them and stay safe!