Local hunter shot

[Swamphunter]

Well, had our first of the year... a local man was shot in the stomach by a guy with a muzzleloader when he was shooting at movement through the fog at what he thought was a deer. The shooter was arrested for 2nd degree felony assault. Here is a link to the story.. the victim is critical and was transported to Flether Allen Medical in Burlington VT...please pray for the victims family....

http://news10now.com/cny-news-1013-c...omen/?ap=1&MP4

[stcif]

I am so sick of these same old stories. Is it that hard to identify a target? If it is foggy, wait for the fog to go away.
Hope the guy is o.k. I hope this is the only one this year!

[Cybertech_hound819]

how many people will die befor people understand the Whole. knwo what your shooting at thing. iv had alot of people walk by me in the woods and not once have i ever thought it was a deer.

[Randy]

I hate too hear these stories year after year...

[Shaun_300]

That is sad, happens time and time again and can be easily avoided if people would verify what they are shooting at.

[Muff]

very sad that there are still people out there that don't know how to handle there guns....shooting at sound??? give me a break!!!!!!!

[buckee]

Man, since when does a man look like a deer, even in the fog ?
All I can do is shake my head when I hear stories like this.
I hope that guy doesn't die, because that 2nd degree assault charge will be changed to 2nd degree murder.
Absolutely 100% avoidable
You could dress a guy up in a dang deer suit, and get him to walk around on all fours, and I don't care what the lighting is like, I can tell a real deer from a man in a costume.

[hungry hunter]

We are all taught from day 1, be sure of your target, yet every year it happens. Prayers sent for both of them. The fellow that pulled the trigger has to live with it for the rest of his life.

[Doc]

Well, this is a lousy way to start out the 2009-2010 season, but most likely it won't be the last.

This guy like all the others before him that have killed and maimed fellow hunters was exposed to the NYS excellent hunter training program, and it still didn't stick. He knew better and simply let the excitement of the moment over-rule what he knew was a wrong move when he made it. This just shows that we will never be able to eliminate hunting fatalities and other shootings. There will always be hunters afield that are sloppy, exciteable to the point of losing self control and just plain a hazard in the woods waiting for the right set of circumstances to create a tragedy. That's why we have to take on all the defensive actions that we can to try to protect ourselves from hunters who can't control their emotions and excitement.

I have always felt a bit vulnerable in heavy fog, and if I go out in it at all (which has been darn few times), I try to keep my movement down to a minimum and get the heck out of the woods when there is the first sign of it lifting. Also, as long as there is any form of deer season using any kind of gun, I have ample blaze orange on ...... ALWAYS! I don't know if the victim was wearing blaze orange or not, and I don't know if it would have helped given the heavy fog, but that is one defensive item of apparel that is always a part of my hunting in any gun deer season.

We've had some pretty good consecutive seasons in NY where the safety record has been pretty darned good. I hope we are not going to start going in reverse now.

Doc

[dogdoc]

Absolutely no excuse for something like that. We'll pray for a full recovery.

[arrow32]

Hate to hear that. Never needed to happen. People really just need to be careful and watch what there doing.

I don't know if he had on blaze orange but thats one thing I never forget during a gun season. Just a little safety measure you can take that will hopefully save you.

[fly]

Was it public land hunting?

One has got to take precautions. I list the ones I do when hunting frequently, think I'll put it on my blog. Also when is the last time you read an article on hunting defensively?

There will ALWAYS be an idiot out there so we have to hunt smart!

[dance.and.shoot]

Some people's stupidity amazes me...

[layin on the smackdown]

Was it public land hunting?

One has got to take precautions. I list the ones I do when hunting frequently, think I'll put it on my blog. Also when is the last time you read an article on hunting defensively?

There will ALWAYS be an idiot out there so we have to hunt smart!

Very well put Frank...well said...Defensive hunting...they elaborate on defensive driving so much in drivers ed, but i have not heard much about defensive hunting in any hunter safety program...

also, like stated above, whats the deal with not wearing blaze orange? Was he wearing it? is it not required in NY? if he wasn't wearing it, and it is required (even if its not required), he's the one asking to eat a bullet. Don't get me wrong, its no excuse for shooting at an unidentified object by any means, but there are a lot of idiots out there who shoot first and ask questions later... In all actuality, if just one of these two people used a microscopic bit of common sense, this would have easily been avoided. Sad story indeed...

[Swamphunter]

The papers and the news state that the victim was crossing property he did NOT have permission to be on. The shooter had leased it. The shooter was wearing blaze orange camo, and the victim was not, although it is not required to wear blaze orange in NYS (at least in the northern zone).