huntn2
Senior Member
Alphamax10
Member
I hate to hear stories like this! I have to say, it sounds like this guy was very unclear to what he was shooting at. I would like to think it could have been an avoidable situation. Anyhow still a tragedy...
What a damn shame. I know accidents happen, but I've never understood how someone could shoot another hunter. It's one of the very first things taught in hunter education... IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET. I've never once mistaken a person walking through the woods for a deer or other animal. I just don't get it.
x2 bro.
I don't have any idea what goes on in peoples heads when they make this mistake but I can just about imagine what goes on in there after they pull that trigger. Fuggin shame for sure.
swantucky
The Crew
I was maybe 18 and had gotten drawn for a doe permit. (yes youngsters back in the day you had to apply and be drawn to be allowed to kill a doe, I got one of 50 in my county). If I saw a deer in 25 hunts I was happy, a fresh track was bonerific!! It was my first year out of high school and I was able to take off work to hunt, with time and a doe permit I knew I was going to get one!!
I sat in the am and saw nothing. I decided to check out a 3-4 acre thicket 15 miles away. It was thick and sat in a low area. I thought watching there midday might pay off. If not I was going to stomp my way through and hunt em like rabbits I could shoot ANY deer that jumped up with my permit, no need to check for antlers, just start shooting!!
I no sooner get settled and I see movement at the far end of the thicket. It is 2 guys in blaze orange fixing to push the thicket right towards me!! I had heard of driving deer in books so I looked for any posters and did not see any. I thought to myself these guys are gonna jump a doe and not be able to shoot it and it will go right by me!!
I am pretty excited because I just KNOW a deer is going to come out!! So these guys start busting the brush heading my way. It is long and narrow so they are quite a ways away from me. They get to within 100 yards of me and maybe 80 yards in front of them and 40 yards from me something starts heading through the waist high briars and weeds. I can see flashes of brown, I get all giddy-uppie and shoulder my beaded borrowed model 12.
Thoughts of killing a deer when NOBODY did around here danced in my head, ANY deer!! I eased the safety off as the brown slowed, any second now the deer will pick its head up and I can see what it is. It kept moving ahead of the drivers to where I had almost convinced myself in the excitement that I should shoot NOW! before it broke cover and really hauled ass!!! I KNEW it was a deer, it HAD to be, brown, head down in waist high cover, staying just a safe distance in front of the drivers hell as sneaky as it was it HAD to be a big buck!! SHOOT NOW!!!
I never "saw" the deer, but it had to be, right?? Something about making SURE of my target kept me from pulling the trigger. A guy in faded carharts who had been crawling on his knees, with no orange stood up about 2 seconds after I had lowered my gun. I almost puked, then I got pissed!!
I gave the guy hell!! I was scared as fuck, I had almost killed someone. I had been hunting for 4-5 years by then but had little sucess and mostly learned on my own. I almost gave it up after that, pretty sure I still have that doe tag.
In the heat of the moment people do goofy things. Its tough to draw many conclusions from what little info the news had posted about the recent story.
I sat in the am and saw nothing. I decided to check out a 3-4 acre thicket 15 miles away. It was thick and sat in a low area. I thought watching there midday might pay off. If not I was going to stomp my way through and hunt em like rabbits I could shoot ANY deer that jumped up with my permit, no need to check for antlers, just start shooting!!
I no sooner get settled and I see movement at the far end of the thicket. It is 2 guys in blaze orange fixing to push the thicket right towards me!! I had heard of driving deer in books so I looked for any posters and did not see any. I thought to myself these guys are gonna jump a doe and not be able to shoot it and it will go right by me!!
I am pretty excited because I just KNOW a deer is going to come out!! So these guys start busting the brush heading my way. It is long and narrow so they are quite a ways away from me. They get to within 100 yards of me and maybe 80 yards in front of them and 40 yards from me something starts heading through the waist high briars and weeds. I can see flashes of brown, I get all giddy-uppie and shoulder my beaded borrowed model 12.
Thoughts of killing a deer when NOBODY did around here danced in my head, ANY deer!! I eased the safety off as the brown slowed, any second now the deer will pick its head up and I can see what it is. It kept moving ahead of the drivers to where I had almost convinced myself in the excitement that I should shoot NOW! before it broke cover and really hauled ass!!! I KNEW it was a deer, it HAD to be, brown, head down in waist high cover, staying just a safe distance in front of the drivers hell as sneaky as it was it HAD to be a big buck!! SHOOT NOW!!!
I never "saw" the deer, but it had to be, right?? Something about making SURE of my target kept me from pulling the trigger. A guy in faded carharts who had been crawling on his knees, with no orange stood up about 2 seconds after I had lowered my gun. I almost puked, then I got pissed!!
I gave the guy hell!! I was scared as fuck, I had almost killed someone. I had been hunting for 4-5 years by then but had little sucess and mostly learned on my own. I almost gave it up after that, pretty sure I still have that doe tag.
In the heat of the moment people do goofy things. Its tough to draw many conclusions from what little info the news had posted about the recent story.
The news is reporting the person shot wasn't a hunter and wasn't wearing orange. They are still investigating.
See IMO, that is almost as ignorant as the guy pulling the trigger. I'm not saying that the hunter is not at fault, nor should we blame the victim. But seriously, Carharts and a white hat in gun season?!? You have to be a little smarter than that, especially if you are walking in a wilderness area...
Boone
*Supporting Member*
What a tragedy. x3 identify your target and what is beyond that even.
Swantucky, that had to be scary. I don't get hunters not wearing orange during the gun seasons, it could save your life.
Swantucky, that had to be scary. I don't get hunters not wearing orange during the gun seasons, it could save your life.
saddlepants
Member
That is scary. I always warn all my friends to stay in or wear orange during the gun seasons but I see many idiots out there who are oblivious even with the sound of gunfire all around. Even seasoned hunters. I heard someone behind me day before muzzy season shooting whatever. BANG BANG BAng all morning. Dont know who, dont know where, dont trust any of it. I then watch my neighbor haul a ladder stand out back in that direction to put up (alone). Really? Are you that stupid to go climb in a tree Not to mention not wearing orange when you have no idea what there shooting at back there? Hell I wouldnt even take my dogs for a walk that day back there. I keep my horses in those weeks as well. Many horse (and other pet) ppl are just as dumb and then bitch when there animals get shot by some moron who shoots brown and down.
Saw a Guy wearing g orange yesterday cutting firewood... thought about that for a minute and figured the Guy was using his head.... can't be too careful....
And Jesse couldn't agree more with your post....
And Jesse couldn't agree more with your post....
Sad story! The shooter had no business being in the woods hunting. Victim should have been wearing hunter orange. This was totally avoidable!
Randy, I even felt alittle queezy after reading your story. Bottomline, you still heldoff till you identified your target. Well done! I would have called the dumbass everything in the book...............then tell him how lucky he was that he wasn't shot for being so stupid.
Randy, I even felt alittle queezy after reading your story. Bottomline, you still heldoff till you identified your target. Well done! I would have called the dumbass everything in the book...............then tell him how lucky he was that he wasn't shot for being so stupid.
Educating hunters is good, but educating non hunters is necessary. If you are out in the woods during gun seasons, you MUST wear hunter orange. It could save your life. Also, many hunters were not required to take hunter safety courses due to being grand-fathered in, correct?. I'm glad I was.
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Some people take it overboard too. LOL.. Back in the spring I called and told the landowner I was going to shoot some GH in the back bean fields. I was a good 400 yards from the house and shooting the other direction. She called me not 2 minutes after the first shot asking if I was shooting at her house... She said it sounded like I was shooting right at the house and she was in the basement.. Really? WTF? The more I look back at that property I'm glad I don;t have to deal with hunting there anymore.
saddlepants
Member
Do they ask for proof of hunter Saftey courses? I took mine in another state and all they did was ask - I said yes. Ive heard others tell people to just say yes and they got their lic. That was years ago - do they have to show proof now??
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Nope.. You just have to state you did... Or that you did somewhere else.. Or that you held a license in another state.