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There should be a one-strike-and-you're-out rule regarding accidental shootings. Shoot someone by accident once, you lose your hunting privileges for life and you lose your right to possess something with which you might accidentally shoot someone again. Again, for life.
But that won't happen, because we coddle reckless hunters who do this sort of thing. Often, no charges are filed. When charges are forthcoming, they are rarely felonies.
Stern looks? Check. Grave observations that it's not good to shoot a person by accident? Check. Actually consequences? Not so much...
...especially if you happen to be a Vice President.
Given the depiction of events being sparse but the words "freak accident" being used, I have no way of gauging the situation.
They no doubt would have checked the hunter for booze, it was 12:30PM but the hiker went into an active hunting area posted by the DNR until 1PM.
They take these incidents VERY seriously in most states and will bring charges if the guy acted recklessly.
That being said (and my father hunts turkey), I cannot determine how to feel about this as there is insufficient information to go off of.
It may be that what occurred doesn't warrant criminal charges but civil penalties would be *substantial* just in medical costs. Hope the shooter has good insurance or the house, car, boat etc.....*poof*.
There should be a one-strike-and-you're-out rule regarding accidental shootings. Shoot someone by accident once, you lose your hunting privileges for life and you lose your right to possess something with which you might accidentally shoot someone again. Again, for life.
But that won't happen, because we coddle reckless hunters who do this sort of thing. Often, no charges are filed. When charges are forthcoming, they are rarely felonies.
Stern looks? Check. Grave observations that it's not good to shoot a person by accident? Check. Actually consequences? Not so much...
There is an assumption of risk involved when going out on public lands and hunting with others present.
A totally different issue if out of season, on your own land etc.
There is a whole lot more latitude in those situations (public hunting) than if you are showing off your guns and kill the limo driver (NBA player years ago) by accident or shoot the guy nextdoor through the wall.
I've found a number of instances of reckless hunters hit with serious charges:
This is why they sell camouflage underwear and camouflage toilet paper. Some hunters will shoot at anything that's white. Probably should put some self-tanner on your butt, too.
I have 3 favorite "stupid hunter shooting the wrong species" stories from many years ago:
1. This one is probably an old wife's tale. Mule deer season in S. Oregon. CA hunter with an out-of-state tag shoots a rancher's burro grazing in a field. OK, it was grey and had big ears...The burro's owners saw the guy dragging their pet up onto his car from a distance. Instead of confronting him they called the state troopers. Highway patrol caught up with the hunter a few miles down the road. After "educating" the idiot and issuing all sorts of citations, they told him he must leave the burro tied to the car until he crossed back over the state line 100 miles away. He got an escort to make sure. Hopefully he was completely mortified every time another driver caught sight of it and passed him howling with laughter.
2. I worked for a local state game management area during a waterfowl hunt assigning blinds, checking licenses, checking for lead shot, and gathering data from the birds they brought in. You can imagine the stupid human tricks I got to witness. Sleep-deprived, bone chilled guys slogging through half frozen marshes, slugging beer or laced coffee while carrying guns...what's the worst that could happen?
Anyway, had a late arrival show up at the station long after everyone else had trotted out into the field, hoping for a leftover daily blind permit. He seemed pretty clueless to me, but he had the proper license and shot so I couldn't really refuse his request. He chose a site very close to my station and proceeded to blast away at everything that flew by whether it was in range or not. Eventually he walked back to the station carrying a cormorant, explaining he didn't know what kind of "duck" it was, just that it was a big one...bigger than any of the others he saw. I should have made him cook and eat it on the spot but had to be satisfied handing him a hefty Migratory Bird Treaty Act violation.
3. The best IMHO. What is it with turkey hunters? Once again, I was working at a wildlife refuge that had done a turkey re-introduction about 10 years before. They suspected they now had free roaming turkeys, so decided to hold a special one-day hunt to find out (made such great sense...go to all that trouble to re-introduce a species that had been hunted to oblivion, and to see whether the re-introduction worked, go kill them again). Anyway, we issued about 20 permits for the day. All the hunters took off gleefully into the bushes just after dawn. Didn't hear a peep from anyone until early afternoon. All but one returned discouraged. No one had heard or seen a thing. We waited for the last holdout. And waited. And waited. Just after sunset we were about to start a search for him when he appeared; sopping wet, clothes and boots covered in mud, shuffling and exhausted, just about dragging his gun in the dirt. He had something in his knapsack.
He told an incredible tale about trying to lure the single turkey he found, calling, calling, following it through brambles, bushes, mud and marsh. The bird would respond to the call but wouldn't come within range. The farther the bird went, the more determined he got. Finally, success. We were all excited and begged him to show us his prize. He proceeded to pull a battered great blue heron out of his game bag.
previous to getting your firearms permit in Canada, you take the C.O.R.E. exam, a two day course. (Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Exam). HALF the course is not gun safety or even field protocols; it's the proper identification of WATERFOWL and field birds, so you don't shoot the protected ones!! What a great idea. !!!
We are three generations that have been shot at by hunters in Canada for looking like bears, deer, or moose. SURPRISINGLY, only TWO of the three were visiting Americans.
Here's an old hunting story from Sweden--supposedly authentic. Maybe you know it, Dane?
The old Swedish King Gustav V was an avid hunter, but his eyesight was failing him, so his courtiers and servants rigged up canned hunts for him, letting an animal loose on the lawn right in front of him so he could shoot--and royal hunters behind the king made sure that he got his trophy. One time they'd rigged up a moose hunt for him, and he was so eager to shoot that he could hardly wait. But instead of the moose, a servant ran across the lawn, yelling, "I am not the moose! I am not the moose!" Whereupon the old king fired his rifle straight at him. Fortunately he missed, but the courtiers were perplexed, and asked the king why his Majesty fired his gun at the servant? "Oh," replied the old king, "I thought he said, "I am the moose! I am the moose!"
Yup.
Sorry the hiker got shot, really. I am not going to ask if he yelled anything to the turkey hunter before getting shot...
What kind of hunter shoots a hiker and doesn't kill him? Clearly the shooter didn't have a big enough automatic rifle. Someone should tell him that if he is going after game he needs to have at least an AR 15, and at least one extra clip...just in case.
What has sport hunting become ? Sheesh. The NRA should give this guy a citation for defaming the entire sport.
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the Canadian CORE exam, you'd love it.
