When I lived up north, opening day was a legal absence day, for anyone that went hunting. If you did not get a deer opening day, the administration would turn a blind eye to up to 3 more days. This was a poor rural community and a deer or two in the freezer went a long way to preventing a skinny Christmas.
@verga @Hoodat I have mentioned before that when I was going to high school,I would go duck hunting before school began,and then walk into the school carrying my 12 gauge double barrel shotgun and lock it away in my hall locker until school had ended.
AFAIK,nobody even paid any attention to either me or the shotgun.
Granted,it was a rural school where pretty much every kid in the counter knew every other kid in the county,as well as their mothers and fathers.
Just accepting responsibility without even thinking about it was normal for rural kids. They also piloted boats and operated heavy machinery. It was just a part of normal life for them.
City kids might have gotten away with pointing toy guns at other kids and shouting "bang,bang,you're dead!",but that's because they didn't have real guns. Rural kids had real guns,and lived in fear of somebody telling their mother they had been pointing them at someone. They knew not only would their gun be taken away,but they also knew their mama's would just fry their asses at random times with no warning if they caught them playing games with their guns.
BTW,I got that 12 gauge from my father by winning a bet on who would be elected President,Eisenhower,or some Dim loser. I picked Ike,and got a 12 gauge out of it.
