F&S Campfire section on page 9,


" I just read the article about handgun hunting(The Huns is in Hand"Field Test) and I am disgusted that you put it in your magazine. People who hunt with pistols are showoffs, braggarts, poseurs, and hacks. They are not hunters. As hunters, we owe it to the animals to give them a clean kill and use the tools best suited for accurate shot placement. A pistol is not nearly as accurate as a rifle and, therefore, should never be used to hunt. This kind of disrespect for animals and foolishness is what gives the public the idea that hunters are a bunch of rednecks and cowboys. Save the pistols for the target range where they belong. Forrest Mize, Ventura,
California."

For "Captain" Forrest Mize contact info (publicly posted on his website) should you care to disagree,

http://www.fujicharters.com/
Captain Forrest Mize
Ventura, Calif
(805) 815-7655
captain@fujicharters.com

Email for F&S editors
FSletters@bonniercorp.com

There is more discussion on this here,
Gary Reeder Forum

I have already responded both to Mr. Mize and to F&S for being willing to print such a verbal attack.
I hope F&S prints what I wrote to the editors...

Preach on Mr. Ernie!

Here is my response to F&S.
I will not post what I wrote to Mr. Mize.

Dear Field and Stream Editors,
I just read the response of Mr. Forrest Mize of Ventura, CA to an article in F&S that you allowed to be printed:
" I just read the article about handgun hunting(The Huns is in Hand"Field Test) and I am disgusted that you put it in your magazine. People who hunt with pistols are showoffs, braggarts, poseurs, and hacks. They are not hunters. As hunters, we owe it to the animals to give them a clean kill and use the tools best suited for accurate shot placement. A pistol is not nearly as accurate as a rifle and, therefore, should never be used to hunt. This kind of disrespect for animals and foolishness is what gives the public the idea that hunters are a bunch of rednecks and cowboys. Save the pistols for the target range where they belong."

This is my first time to write a magazine in response to what has been printed.
The man has the right to disagree with the article, even though he is misinformed or just enjoys being cantankerous.
My biggest problem is with F&S printing it, since it was full of name calling.
Surely, you could have found someone who disagreed with the author without the name calling.

Mr. Mize made some all encompassing statements about any kind of handgun that is used for hunting and the people who hunt with them.
He was speaking about me since I do the majority of my hunting, varminting, and competing with handguns.
I do use revolvers some for hunting, but I primarily use single-shot specialty pistols.

Seeing that Mr. Mize wrote with such intensity I am sure he would not mind backing up his claim (which I assume would be with one of his big game hunting rifles) in a steel shoot-off contest witnessed of course by a Field and Stream editor using his most accurate big game hunting rifle.
As far as I am concerned, the F&S editor who chose to print this should grab his hunting rifle and shoot too.

How about square 10" to 12" steel plates painted white at 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 yards?
Or you can set the steel at unknown distances from 200-600 yards so the distances will not be even.
Paint a 3" red dot in the center, just for giggles.
Shooting cannot be done from the bench or off of a tri-pod front rest, but the hunter’s favorite field position.
One or possibly two shots on each piece of steel.
One point for a hit and two points if you hit the red dot.
Each shooter shoots the course of fire and then tally the score.
I have the steel and the location here.
Or maybe since F&S was willing to print Mr. Mize's catharsis they will pay for us to come to them or for us to come to Mr. Mize.
I know I am far from perfect, and I am not Quigley with a handgun but I am sure not what Mr. Mize described.
I am more than willing to put my shooting skill with a handgun in a public forum, which will be witnessed and reported by F&S.
How about you?

Based on Mr. Mize's words, all handgun hunters are "showoffs, braggarts, poseurs," but I do not know of any other way to show and or prove to Mr. Mize that there are handgun hunters who are capable of making clean shots on game since, "we owe it to the animals to give them a clean kill and use the tools best suited for accurate shot placement" other than for him to witness it, given his prejudices.
If this challenge makes me a show-off, so be it, but his words need to be challenged.

You were willing to print Mr. Mize's thoughts, I wonder if you will print and respond to mine?

Sincerely,

Ernie Bishop
Gillette, Wyoming

Contact info for the editors: Home phone 307-257-7431

PS If you do not post this, then at least consider not printing such name calling in the future.

Nice, I hope they take you up on that Ernie. One more thing, how about bow hunters? Surly a bow is not as accurate at 800 yards as Mr. Mize rifle.

Mr. Mize is clueless and his comments reckless. Just because you may like to sit on top of a hill and take long range shots with a rifle does not mean that's how all hunting is done.

As a friend of mine said on another forum "I mentioned to him that handgun hunters were serious about their sport and would rather spend the time in a stalk than sit on a hill like some of the young hunters do and take 800 yard shots. I told him the Encore handguns these days were just as accurate, if not more so, than a rifle up to 300 yards."

Mr. Mize does not even hunt at LR.
He is a short range rifle hunter.

Then I guess he considers bowhunting unethical too. IMO hunting with a pistol is just as ethical as bowhunting if not more so. Most of us take pride in our ability too make accurate clean kills with whatever weapon we choose. In the words of Ron White, the next time he has a thought he should just let it go.This guy is an uninformed mental midget who probably claims to know evrything about everything when in fact he doen't know his a## from a hole in the ground.

Excellant responce Ernie. It will be intresting to see if they print it and what their response will be.

Lefty372, I agree with you totally. Handgun Hunting is every bit as ethical as bow hunting. I've been a die hard bow hunter for several years and have taken several. But with the handgun calibers and load offerings of today. Handguns deffinatly IMO.

You were reading my mind!!

Wonderful response Mr. Ernie!!

Amazed! Good going Ernie.

Very well stated Ernie. I myself just being a hand gun hunter for a year or so. Take pride in practicing more and consider my self a better shot now. Most rifle hunters I know shoot 3 shots before season and go (Me Before). Ernie I hope they take you up on your offer. With a open mind. Cause clearly they are not now.

Thanks Ernie,excellent response.

I just tuned in, and this post immediately got my attention.

Question for all my bros and sis's out there in the handgun hunting world: (I would really like to hear from you Gary)

I am very willing to send Mr. Mize a copy of my handgun hunting video, "Handgunning Mule Deer and Pronghorn Antelope," free at my expense. The QUESTION: Do you think this would be a GOOD idea or a BAD idea? (ie. do you think that he would use it AGAINST handgun hunting, or...?

I already know my answer, but want to hear from you all.

PS: Way to go, Ernie, let us know if you get a response.

I think you're wasting your time on this tool as far as trying to educate him by personal contact. If he is a hunter, he clearly is so out of touch with the hunting and shooting community that he doesn't get the notion that we all have to be respective of other gun cultures, hunting methods, hunting cultures and hunting traditions. If someone doesn't recognize this then they are just more fuel for the anti crowd.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was basically anti-gun or anti-hunting or both. I think we naturally assume that if someone fishes then they must also be pro-gun/pro-hunting and I bet that this is a bad assumption.

I saw this and it pissed me off.

My friend that I hunt with thought the same way as that clown, but after 10 years and countless heads of deer he doesn't even think twise when he see the handgun come out and I have to use a 209x50 handgun to hunt deer.

I bring in as many deer as he does with his 12 ga slug

Oddly enough, because I don't read F&S, I thought I had a copy of the that issue with the handgun article he's talking about but I can't find it. If it is the article I'm thinking of, it wasn't very well written and it struck me that the author didn't seem to be very well schooled in the sport.

I agree that it would be a supreme waste of time and resources to get to this clown.

He gent is stereotyping. It would be like saying a 54 cal round ball can’t kill a deer. (A statement my Grandfather once told my Dad.) My Dad’s answer was simple, “well I guess our ancestors went hungry a lot.” (Kind of the same statement as bow hunting listed above.)

Unfortunately there are bad eggs in this hunting community. This one is very ignorant!

Mr Mize is very uniformed and trying to tell him anything is futile. I'm sure by now his e-mail is so flooded he has changed it or is deleating them in bulk. The person that needs to sit up and learn a lesson here are the editor of F&S. What was he thinking to print a very biased and uninformed letter against the very spots his magazine should be supporting?????

Now if it was printed in a section like the American Handgunner that showed Mr Mize as a whinner and shows the other side of the coin as an opnion that's OK.

We all should be sending our "opnions" to field and stream. And if we really wanted to be "proactive" be sending letters to the advertisers like Ruger and S&W and ask them what they thought of F&S blatent lack of judgement with published negative opnions to products they produce.

Hey, where is Uncle Ted?? I remeber when the writer said that "black" rifles were not a hunting tool. That was a whirlwind of activity and in the end he recanted his remarks and was educated.

Email for F&S editors
FSletters@bonniercorp.com

Uncle Ted educated Jim Zumbo over those remarks.
Now we have hunters writing articles in hunting rags that are leaning into anti-gun territory and the rag publishes it. Maybe all should boycott the rag.
I am proud of your responses, good job fellas!

Another Jim Zumbo type idiot suffering from foot in mouth disease.

Since I don't read F&S on a regular basis I have not seen these articles, would some one be willing to email me a copy of the original article? If so please pm me. Thanks

Tigger you are on to something there. Field and Stream is and always has been geared towards the hack, one weekend a year hunter with 2nd grade reading skills. You cant talk logic into them, they wouldn't get it, but their advertisers calling them and telling them that they are dimwitted morons that used to get their advertising dollars would get their attention...

Ernie, My hat`s off to you for your responce to the Capt.
Sincerly, James

Field and stream as well as outdoor life has more ads in them then they have atricals and the sad thing most are not hunting/ fishing related.

The only reason I still get them is because My father was sitting in a doctors office waithing cemo treatments, took the subscription cards out of some mags in the waiting room and ordered teh mags for me. shortly after he passed away from the cancer. As sick as he was he still thought about me and how I enjoy hunting and fishing. and I ahve renewed ever since and If it wasnt for this reason they wouldnt get any of my money.

Ernie, if they agree to the shoot off let us know so we can see it. Give the guy a chance and let him shoot with your son Eric. If he can't out shoot a teenager he needs to write a public apology. (I don't think he could EVER out shoot Eric.) That'll shut him up!

Erik would enjoy that opportunity:)
I am more interested in watching Erik shoot against the editor beyond 350 yards!!!
Still have not heard from them.

I think thier skeered:)