First time shooting

When Patricia found out that I own guns, she started begging me to take her shooting. Finally we went shooting on Saturday. She loved shooting my Ruger 10-.22 because it had a scope. I suspected that we would be at the shooting range for few hours, but it turns out that we were there from 11:30am to 5:30pm! She did not want to stop shooting. I would shoot one 10-round clip, and she would shoot 3. By the end of the day she could shoot 10-round groups the size of a silver dollar at 25 yds. I did not think that that was too bad considering she just learned how to shoot. Also she wants to buy her own gun because she is tired of having to share my gun. By the end of the day Patricia was bouncing off the walls because she was so excited from shooting guns all day.

Now she wants to go hunting, especially for birds. She hates anything with feathers. Now that she is learning how to shoot, she says that she loves birds... loves to kill and eat them. When we go hiking, she takes my binoculars to look at birds. The first time she was looking at birds I thought that this was rather strange, considering her dislike of birds. Then I heard her softly making the sound "bang, bang, bang". She then asked me if she could put crosshairs on the binoculars, so she can act like she is shooting all the birds. I guess whatever it takes to get her to go birding.

Ted said that he would take her duck hunting. If she wants to go, she has to learn how to shoot a shotgun well if she wants to go. She was so disappointed when I told that she would have to use a shotgun (and not my .22) to hunt birds. She would like to use a rifle with a scope instead of the heavier shotgun. She asked me why she could not just shoot the ducks sitting on the lake. I told her that it was illegal and unsportsman-like. She didn't like these reasons. I guess that she likes the idea of shooting little ducks as they swim peacefully on the lake. She'll just come with my .22 and blast them all. Thank goodness that there are laws on which birds and how many you can kill because she would depopulate all of south Florida if she had the chance.

Her friends and family freaked out when they heard that she shot a real gun. In Brazil guns are only allowed with a license that is difficult to obtain, so seldom does anyone ever shoot a gun, let alone own one. Her mother was exasperated when she heard that Patricia actually shot a gun and now she wants to hunt and kill something. When she told everyone that she went shooting, they all asked the same thing, "You shot a real gun that shoots real bullets?" It seemed so normal for me to go shooting, but for them it was so strange.

The place in central Florida where I will conduct my research has wild pigs, and they are a nuisance. I have permission to hunt them with a bow. I can't wait till she shows to her family and friends in Brazil pictures of her with her first pig that she killed with a bow. They will go nuts. Her parents will really wonder what is happening to their little daughter here in the US.