Hiker mistaken for a bear and shot.

[tacmedic]

http://www.yahoo.com/s/928269

Hunting seasons are coming up. Something tells me that this young man forgot to be sure of his target before pulling the trigger. Everyone be safe out there.

[Sam Reeves]

How did he mistake her for a bear and why was he aiming in the direction of a hiking trail? :mad:

[crashdive123]

Sadly, inexperienced hunters sometimes mistake what they are shooting at. A good friend of mine grew up in West Virginia (Coot tell me if you've heard of this) on a farm. Every hunting season they would paint the word COW on both sides of their cows to prevent 1st time hunters from shooting them. He said that a lot of city fellas used to come down to his neck of the woods with no clue as to what they were doing.

[Riverrat]

We had a dark horse shot in my area, they thought it was a moose, even took it to the ranger station. happened a few years ago, one of the reason's we now have to wear hunter orange while in the woods in hunting season. Some people just hear a noise and shoot.....

[catfish10101]

I have heard of people painting "cow" on their cattle to help keep them from getting shot. I think if you can't tell a cow from a deer, you should not be hunting.

[Sam Reeves]

I have heard of people painting "cow" on their cattle to help keep them from getting shot. I think if you can't tell a cow from a deer, you should not be hunting.

Yeah, what do think it is a 800 pound spike? If I have run up on a 800 pound spike I'm leaving it alone. I'd hate to have to deal with it's daddy.

[klkak]

I killed an 800 pound Spike once...........Spike moose that is :D

[Ridge Wolf]

The hiker should have known to check the hunting season time periods #1 and then, she should have worn orange. From that video, it sounds like she is a seasoned hiker and just should have known to take those precautions.

Did the young hunter check with his 'adult supervision' before taking the shot? Did he get buck feaver or any other impatient nervous jitter before taking aim? Had he taken a hunting instruction course or was he learning from his dad? Mistakes on both sides of the fence here, resulting in a tragic accident. Now the young kid will have to live with it the rest of his life and the family of the hiker will too.

When I go out in the wilderness, I check the hunting season dates and wear orange or yellow to accent myself from the surroundings. Thats just common sense.

[Ole WV Coot]

Sadly, inexperienced hunters sometimes mistake what they are shooting at. A good friend of mine grew up in West Virginia (Coot tell me if you've heard of this) on a farm. Every hunting season they would paint the word COW on both sides of their cows to prevent 1st time hunters from shooting them. He said that a lot of city fellas used to come down to his neck of the woods with no clue as to what they were doing.

I have seen it a couple of times and last year a farmer a few miles from me put up a couple of billboards stating: ALTHOUGH MY COWS MAY LOOK LIKE DEER PLEASE DON'T SHOOT THEM AND IF YOU DO YOU WILL BE WITHIN GUNSHOT OF MY HOUSE. We have very little actual posted areas. Plenty of signs but those are for people who aren't known. I can hunt one section(over 300 acres of woods), posted and ride over a couple of hundred more. I don't understand anyone accidentally making an error like that but it happens sometimes here also.

[catfish10101]

Above All, The One Rule Everybody Should Follow: Make Sure You Know Your Target Because Once You Pull The Trigger, You Can't Take That Bullet Back!!!!

[wareagle69]

samr reason i bought my property i have now 160 arces to play on and i have other homesteads around me that post no hunting signs(only cuz we don't want city folk gettin hurt) so we are preety fortunate
of course it does remind me of thime when i was walking in downtown toronto near young and jarvis wearing my leather thong and chaps someone mistook me for a bear i dunno why?

[crashdive123]

Waaaaaaaaay too early in the morning for that image.:eek::eek: So that was you that Rick posted a pic of on the stairs?:D:D

[Ole WV Coot]

That wasn't the latest Bigfoot sighting was it ? If so you were on the national news. Congrats

[wareagle69]

what ric is posting pics of me, he told me those was just for him to remember me by and i thought he was different than all the others

[Stony]

more gun control may have prevented this tragic episode!
there is no reason why a kid should carry any firearm or hunt!
without any training and his (possible drunk and/or stoned) 'adult' supervision being
incompetent, both need to be charged!

[Beo]

Yeah not a good image of you WE,
If you don't know the difference between a cow & a deer then do not hunt, and it does not matter if its hunting season or not, the hunter should have a clear view of his target before firing, most bears I know don't have a backpack or sunglasses, so it is the hunters fault. That hunter was an idiot, when I go trekking during hunting season I don't wear orange, 1st its an ugly color to me, second its not my responsibility to make me brighter, its the hunters responsibility to know wtf he or she is shooting at, period.
When I hunt I make sure I can see my target/prey/animal or whatever you wanna call it, I do not fire blindly at a shape or object and that is responsible hunting. Know What You Are Aiming At! Period Nuff said.

[wildWoman]

There's a guy buried in the graveyard of the closest village who died during the last gold rush because sombody mistook him for a bear and shot him dead.
I always put flagging tape on my one black shaggy dog during bear hunting season, even out here. Somebody I know had his German shepherd dog shot dead by some trophy hunter idiot who thought it was a wolf.

[Riverrat]

WW, you can buy hunting vest for dogs...blaze orange and if I remember they were not to expensive.

[Beo]

Personally I think hunting unless necessary for survival could be banned (I know here it comes let me have it) but remember I am a hunter, only game to be hunted in my opinion is deer(mule and whitetail only), elk, moose, boar, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, duck, and turkey and let the rest go. Trapping could be stopped too, but this is my opinion. See no reasons to hunt bear, wolf, coyote, beaver, otter, or any others, especially if its just for the fur.

[bulrush]

I still wish more experienced people (not city slickers) would come to the lower peninsula in Michigan and take more deer. After 5 years we still have far too many whitetails, with lots of car/deer accidents each year. The DNR is increasing the number of licenses sold each year but the increase is not enough. It is so bad even the insurance companies are complaining to the state to do something about it.

You can take one deer during bow season, and one during gun season. So that's 2 for you, from Michigan alone, and you can get another deer from your own state. How's that? Enough meat for ya?

[Stargazer]

I feel for her family..There is no excuse for mistaking a human for a bear.I hope there are some sort of ramifications for the youngster and the adult with him.

During last spring's turkey season i had some yahoo put a bead on my hen dec.I was setup some 15yds behind and to the side.After some heated words and a lot of screaming on my part the hunter lowered his shotgun.He appologized after i gave him an ear full.

[Beo]

But the cost of out-of-state hunting license is way too high, at least here in ohio.
I can take one buck, and up to three does here. thats 4 alone per hunter if want during deer season in Ohio.
We have the same problem here with car accidents and the insurance companies complaining. Way too many whitetails, but its our own fault, we have taken there forests away and built so many neighborhoods and strip malls they got nowhere to go.
Once again man encroaches on the wildlife.

[Rick]

Hey Stoney!

http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q348/safe_zone/laughing.gif

[Ameriborn]

more gun control may have prevented this tragic episode!
there is no reason why a kid should carry any firearm or hunt!
without any training and his (possible drunk and/or stoned) 'adult' supervision being
incompetent, both need to be charged!

First, most kids are safe shooters. If you say no kid should be hunting, that is fine, to each his own. However, I have been hunting since I was 5 (I may not have pulled the trigger at that age, but I was out with my dad) and I knew than to make sure of what my target was. Second, just because 1 of every so many hunters are bad doesn't mean that guns should be outlawed.

Just wanted to get that off my chest.

Beo, you're in Ohio, you can take 7 deer a year. I am not sure how 7, as the most you can kill is Zone C which is 6, but.. (3 On Antlerless, 3 on Regular tags; 1 Antlered)

Rick - Nice.

[trax]

It's really unfortunate, but I've heard of other incidents. People being shot by deer and moose hunters. The person who asked, how could the shooter make that mistake, well apparently it's too easy to make that mistake. The shooter sees movement, or a shape and is too anxious. That's why what catfish said is so true, if you don't know your shot, don't take the shot. I also agree that if someone's out hiking where hunting is going on, it would be a good idea to where something bright and reflective etcetera, but we don't know that she was or wasn't do we? On both parts, err on the side of caution.

It's tragic

[Rick]

If trained professionals can make a mistake on duty or in combat how can we expect hunters to never make a mistake? It's always horrible when it happens but it's always a news item. I think that speaks to how rare an event it really is. If you calculated the number of mistakes by hunters compared with the number of hunters that participate in the sport the percentage has to be extremely low (no, I don't know what that number is and that's only my opinion).