Be safe out there

Bait O' Eggs · 09-18-2001, 07:41 AM

As the opening day of deer season approaches I ready my gear and dream of big bucks. It also brings back memories of a day when I was in college and out hunting. It has been about 15 years and the day is still very clear in my mind.

It was opening day of deer season and I had a buddy go with me hunting. We went up to the Mary's Peak area out of Corvallis and staked out a clear cut. I managed to take a buck right after daylight. We get the buck back to the truck and drive down to a little creek where I usually skinned my deer and cleaned them up. While skinning the buck we heard a couple shots not far away. When we left the area we headed out towards the shots we heard. We find a gamewarden vehicle and a couple other trucks parked on a landing. We stopped to see what was going on. I had deer blood all over my shirt but the gammie didnt seem to concerned about checking my tag. It didnt take long to access something was going on. One of the big clues was a couple guys crying and screaming in hysteria. We learned that one of then had recently shot one of there hunting parnters. 4 guys circle a buck they had seen and when two guys each got a shot off, they both missed, and the buck ran off. When they got back to the truck one of there buddys was missing. They went back looking for him and found him dead on the hill with a bullet hole in his chest. I have never seen grown men act like this. They were both unbelieveably shaken and neither of them knew which one shot their buddy. One guys fist were bleeding where he had been beating on the ground as he layed there crying and screaming. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] It was truely a sad and impressionable situation [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

The ambulance arrives and they take a stretcher over the hill and a bunch of tackle boxes filled with first aid equipment. When they got to the hunter it seemd they thought they could save the guy, because they inserted some IV's and performed CPR. All this surprised me since the guy had been shot for over an hour and was laying on the hill apparently dead. Maybe they thought they could bring him back. They start packing this guy up the hill with tubes and hoses hanging out his body. IV bags were held high and it appeared they thought they were going to bring him back. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

The ambulance guys were having problems carrying this guy on the very steep terrain in their less than optimum foot wear. Several of us were gathered on the road watching the ordeal. We were told to stay on the road, but it became apparent that these guys needed help carrying out the hunter. Several of us went over the hill and helped carry this hunter out. When we got back to the ambulance they put him in the back of the ambulance and turned out the flashing lights. It was a sign that they had just gave up on saving him. The ambulance drivers started washing up, since they had gotten quite dirty and bloody. They thought the blood all over me was from the hunter. I had to explain it was from a deer.

This has left a deep impression in my mind of the man laying on the stretcher with his shirt tore open and a perfect round hole about 1 to 2 inches inside his left nipple at the same height. If I was to make a guess his heart was gone. Just by looking at the bullet hole location it was pretty obvious this guy was dead on impact.

I watched the newspaper for the story and these 4 men were all professors from OSU. Later it was published they could not tell which of the two shooters bullet killed there buddy. It said the bullet ricochet off a rock and it didnt leave enough markings to determine which gun it was fired from. I always questioned this since I saw the bullet hole and it appeared the bullet was in a perfect spiral when it hit this man in the chest. I would assume a ricochet bullet would be tumbling and make a more ragged hole, but maybe not.

All this seems pretty insignificant with the recent tragedys on our East coast. But it left an impression with me for a lifetime. On opening day I always remember what happened and try to stay away from the hunters that get over anxious to harvest deer.

Please be careful out there, guns dont kill people, people kill people.

Dogfish · 09-18-2001, 09:45 AM

Thanks for the reminder. You can't ever call a bullet back, once it has left the barrel. Know what is behind your target.

SLEDDER · 09-18-2001, 11:08 PM

Thanks Roy!!!

HOGTIDE · 09-22-2001, 08:28 PM

Good Post BOE,

BE SAFE.

Bait O' Eggs · 09-28-2001, 12:34 PM

Anybody headed out to hunt tomorrow please be safe. Know what you are shooting at, and what is in the backdrop.

Statistically I heard opening day is the worst day to be hunting for getting shot. (not sure where I heard that)

birdhunter · 09-28-2001, 02:13 PM

Thanks for the concern BOE. Will be extra careful. Good luck to everyone as well.

Fish Hunter · 09-28-2001, 03:17 PM

Used to be less than thrilled about hunter orange. I had an incident that changed that a few years ago. While hunting a wooded area in WA (mandatory hunter orange), my partner and I took off in different directions on solo hunts. I found him only an hour later directly behind a buck I was about to shoot. While flipping the safety off I noticed a tiny bit of orange color in the background. Upon further inspection, the buck was at 50 yds and my buddy at 75 yds or so though the heavy brush. We were the only ones hunting this area, what were the odds of this happening? Tiny. But the orange really made a difference.