Stay out of the fields this weekend

I have a deer hunting opener preview coming out Friday and spoke with DNR big game coordinator Lou Cornicelli at length about what standing corn will mean — at least for this weekend. Because we ran a piece from the DNR earlier this week about safety concerns that many have because of standing corn, I didn’t include the safety angle in the preview, but it is worth nothing.

If you don’t think hunting in a field of standing corn is dangerous, go out to a field, walk in about 50 yards and imagine trying to shoot a deer. Not only would it be extremely difficult to even get close enough to a deer because of the noise you’d make, it’s plain stupid. If you rustle a few stalks, who’s to say some other hunter won’t get excited and blast away in your direction?

There are plenty of places to hunt that won’t put you in harm’s way — either in a deer stand or on some public Wildlife Management Area.

Besides, chances are there will be plenty of combines in the fields this weekend, and those should drive out any deer making a corn field a temporary home.

Might even steer them right to you.