How do you shoot a human?!?!

STINGRAY · 10-07-2003, 12:26 PM

Every year someone gets shot and I wonder, how did that happen....When I see an deer I check to see if it's a buck then if it's a legal buck then what is behind it then bullet placement!! People DO NOT SHOOT INTO THE BRUSH!!!! It was very unfortunate for that 29 year old in Cottage Grove and his friend probably feels terrible for killing him but it is still his fault and he will have to live with that for the rest of his life. Hopefully that will be the last one so please hunt safe.

[ 10-07-2003, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: STINGRAY ]

id. painter · 10-07-2003, 01:09 PM

Many years ago now while I was an undergraduate and very poor .
I had been raised to never shoot a doe and had taken many deer without the desire to kill a doe ever.
Things were tough getting through school and the idea of a big fat doe for supper was becoming a real possibility. I and two friends were hunting deer together we had only a couple days left of deer season and hadnt filled our tags yet.
As we headed out that day we all agreed that it was time to take a doe if needed. I had considered shooting doe for the first time in my life and decided to do it ,,,. Well the day goes by just as always ,,, toward the end of the day and it is just silent. The two friends are hunting back toward the truck and Im waitting on the opening. I hear a small twig click, then a shadow moves through the trees . I was sure it was a deer so I sat down and pulled up my scope.
As i peered through the thick brush to make out the deers body I see a ficker of white , . Without any sound that deer snuck past me about 30 yard to the edge of the meadow and stopped .
At this point I was positive that it was a eer and had my scope zeroed in on the white spot i had seeen. I clicked off the safety and was totally ready to fire , when the little voice said no dont shoot whith out KNOWING its a deer. Though I was absoluty convinced that it was. About ten seconds later i see the white spot move again and realize im looking at the white spot on my friends baseball cap .
The white spot was right on his forehead !!! He was wearing no hunter orange and it could have happened in a micro second.
It is still legal hunt anterless and not wear orange ,,,, But you had better think about what you are doing at ALL TIMES or it can happen. id. painter

Pyramid · 10-07-2003, 02:39 PM

ID Painter, a very similar thing happened to me. I was on a stand, my older friend said he would circle around and come down through the timber. I was to just wait until he kicked one out into this little clearing at the edge of my stand.

So, I'm waiting, and I start hearing noises, you know the adrenilyn is going. In the deep dark edge of the treeline I see the deers nose black with a little white around it. I saw the deers head I tell you. I hold off just another moment, it turns out to be my friend with that same type ball cap with a white label on the front. Sheeshe.

Dont nobody tell me the mind cant play tricks on you! That was spooky and a good lesson.

fishlis 1 · 10-07-2003, 02:53 PM

Anyone who shoots another person is flat out irresponsable and is trigger happy. I feel that it is safe to say that there are way to many trigger happy and irresponsable people in the woods these days. My reason for that statement is i was told 10 years ago by a man at lake stop store that he took a couple of brush shots and nothing was there what an IDIOT!! Next, by best friend and hunting partner was shot at on Sunday on private property, he had just drew up on a deer when he heard a quad pull up the trail the deer ran off and my partner, knowing he would have many more chances blew it off. he stood up and waved his hat at the man and the man raised his rifle with no scope at 80 yards and fired. my partner started to yell at him and the guy had the nerve to say it was not his fault. Wait the man had no permission to be on the property and he had no idea what he was shooting at. yet another IDIOT!! If you are so irresponsable and flat out dumb that you can't tell the differance between a human and a deer then stay home and watch ESPN outdoors and leave the woods to the responsable people!

Killertraylor · 10-07-2003, 02:53 PM

The thing that gets me riled up is when you read the article and the guy who shot him says something brilliant like "it sounded like a deer". That scares me to death knowing that there are guys out there who shoot at stuff that sounds like a deer - even in areas where you can only shoot bucks! :shocked: :shocked:

I scoped a "human deer" a few years ago when he was going through the reprod with a brown Carhart jacket on and his white T-shirt hanging out from beneath it. Looked just like a deer. I hate it when guys look at me through their scope since I always have orange on, but this guy looked just like a deer. Guys that wear stuff like that are just shortening their lifespan.

Norm · 10-07-2003, 03:24 PM

Killertayler and id.painter, thats good insite on how it can happen. You guys are just smart enough not to pull the trigger untill you are 100% sure. Years ago I scoped a "deer" back in some heavy brush. I was at least an hour hike from any road. It was brown and furry with a white belly and moving. Turned out to be a mushroom picker bent over in a brown coat. But I was so sure it was a deer I put my scope on him. At least I didn't have a round in the chamber, but I still felt like a [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] . Brown and white are bad colors to wear out during hunting season.

STINGRAY · 10-08-2003, 01:59 AM

Well it appears that "Hunter Orange" is very important!! Buck fever can happen to anyone, Hunter Education is also a life saving tool...I'm always watching for other hunters so they see me or at least I stay hidden until they move away. I also keep away from wearing white like my denim jacket with fleece linning, and I will remember the white patch on the hat!

WildHawg · 10-08-2003, 05:52 AM

One of the first rules of hunting is "don't dress in the colors of your prey".
I am amazed that there are people ignorant enough to wear brown and/or white in the woods.
Might as well wear a big sign that says "shoot me".
Must be the same people who wear red, white and blue baseball caps when turkey hunting!
While the responsibility of pulling the trigger always falls on the shooter, upon whom it is incumbent to IDENTIFY THE TARGET, we have to protect ourselves as well.
While I don't often wear hunter orange, I am very careful to look like a tree or some brush, rather than a deer, elk, or turkey when I hunt.
When you head into the woods folks, dress appropriately for the weather, and the environment.
It's stories like these that move me closer and closer to buying a "camo" hunter orange vest to wear during rifle season. In fact, I think I'll get one today.

id. painter · 10-08-2003, 07:05 AM

I dont always wear much orange but I always wear a hat. A hunter orange hat . Sometimes a pullover jacket. I always feel safer , knowing how that color might have avoided me getting zeroed in on my friend. Oh yah , the friend that had the white on his cap, is now a P.H.D. doing ground breaking research on cancer prevention. id. painter

id. painter · 10-08-2003, 07:08 AM

Another thought. I have taken lots of deer and elk while wearing the blaze orange and I am absolutly convinced that the animals dont spook from that color. I dont think they even see it. id. painter

Bait O' Eggs · 10-08-2003, 07:41 AM

If deer cant see orange, which may very well be true, they would be just like my hunting partner. :shocked:

He is color blind red. He didnt know it until he went to the airforce 20 years ago, and was diagnosed. We will be hiking along and there will be those flourescent pink, red or orange ribbons hanging on the trees and he wont even see them. They look the same as dirt (brown)to him and I have to almost tear them off the tree and hand them to him before he can see it isnt just another limb. I understand he is the exception, but Orange will do you no good around him. Blue on the other hand is the color that he says stands out the best for him.

I am sure there are other people color blind red, dont assume just because you look like a christmas tree to yourself, that others will see you the same.

I figure the highest odds of getting shot are by the guy you hunt with. Since he has a gun and is in the same area. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] If he can see me, them my odds of getting home are better.

Just a thought for the fan of orange club.

id. painter · 10-08-2003, 07:53 AM

My father happens to be red green color blind also . The color Red, is the one he really cant see. The hunter orange stands out as different, he says . He also says that blue stands out , ,so he can detect a difference in the orange color. Even though he dosent see it as bright, as it is to us ,he can see it and is helpful. Red is completely lost in green for him ,and trackin a wounded animal is way hard. But ,it also made him a super spotter, he will see more deer on a hill than anyone ive ever met . id. painter

WildHawg · 10-08-2003, 08:07 AM

Howdy id,
Just because I'm ignorant doesn't make me stupid [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] I use words in the literal sense perhaps a little too freely at times.
I am VERY ignorant when it comes to cancer research!! Your friend was ignorant of the danger presented wearing white in the woods

You are ignorant, and I are too :tongue:
I just thank God that your friend made it out of the woods safely--Lord knows, we need him [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

id. painter · 10-08-2003, 08:42 AM

We are all ignorant about something,, and I am ignorant about lots of things. But, Im willing to learn,, Hi Ho..
I have replayed that moment thousands of times in my head and tried to imagine the windfall of consequences if I had pulled the triger, and shot my friend in the head.Whow,, how horrible. I cant even imagine. Yes we need him(cancer researcher) and so does his family , father and husband. id . painter

StickFish · 10-08-2003, 08:51 AM

Thank god for good optics. There is one hunter I know of that is still alive because I had a great pair of binoculars. Last day of the season, sun has set. We're on a ridge over a patch of timber and an old clear cut. I hear the faint sounds of horns clattering. I move down the ridge and using my binos start looking for the bucks sparing. I finally pick up movement near an old stump. I see the shape of a body in the growing gloom and two sets of horns and can hear the clatter they are making. I lower my binos and start to reach for my rifle, but a bell goes off. There were no horizontal lines in the body shape - that's odd. I throw up the binos and look again and pick out a hunter in full camo right down to face paint hunkered next to a stump rattling horns.

By this time my buddy shows up and he has found the source of the noise and is saying they're right there 150 yards away next to that big stump - shoot, shoot one of those bucks and lets go home.

I hand my binos to my buddy and tell him he better look through these and start back for the truck. He stood there in shock. I was a tad rattled to (no pun intended). He got a new pair of binos by the next year. All my partners learned from that one non-indicent and have either picked up the same binos that I have or other comparable devices.

If you lug around Mart special binoculars - PLEASE throw them away. Spend some bucks and get the best binoculars that you can afford. It saved my life and another hunters. Price is the key, $45 binos are $45 for a reason. Spend time in the woods looking at animals, spend time at the zoo, game preserve or whatever. Learn that all animals and bent over mushroom hunters have horizontal lines in their bodies, humans have verticle

Fujinon FMTR-SX 8x-30mm

You want advise on Binos read the stuff on my web page. If you hunt and do not have binoculars - please tell me where you hunt so I don't go there.

id. painter · 10-08-2003, 10:00 AM

Here are a couple real life "how you shoot a person" stories from North Idaho.
Dusk ,, two friends have been out in the woods hunting all day , They are driving home on a back road hoping for a lucky road hunt .
Same road ,several miles a head , a hunter is not watching the road (road hunting) and drives off the steep enbankment and rolls his truck. Th epoor hunter crawls from his pick up and injured tries to climb up to the road.
The two friends come around the corner and see this dark figure wearing CAMO.(no orange) climbing through the brush next to the road. "Its a bear, shoot it quick." They actually shot that poor man twice , convinced it was a bear.
Another ... Its the season opener for deer , elk , bear and Mt lion.
This guy was still hunting through the timber , he looks up in a tree and sees a bear climbing around (no orange ),, CAMO.Shoots it .. it falls thud. A dead man. When moving,or at a distance camo . dosent work, it makes you look like a natural animal color. Camo only works if you are not moving. id. painter

gottafish · 10-11-2003, 07:35 AM

Please wear orange, I hate to say this but I have shot a man!!! I was lucky he did not die!! The deal is I was hunting a phesent release site in Washington in 92 and we were at the back end of this area right along the tree line and a bird went up and I shot and behind the bird right out of a tree a camoed deer hunter fell. I had shot this poor guy in the face and never saw him until he hit the ground. He was hunting in a closed area and his idea was that the bird hunters would drive the deer out of this area to him. I quiet hunting for several years after this and still get a sick feeling. every time I hunt upland birds near trees.
On the other end of this issue I knew a kid in Michigan who at 14 years of age back in 79 took his modle 94 30-30 with side mounted scope and was looking at another hunter across a river. he put the cross hairs on this mans chest and pretended to pull the trigger !!! well he forgot he had the hammer back BOOM the man fell and he took off and did not tell anyone until about a week later. the man died and this young man is still in prision I think. cheers Rich

jetsled1 · 10-11-2003, 10:22 AM

If all you guys will reread all the post above the same thing is very apparent, as soon as the shooter

"confirmed"

what it is they were about to shoot they didn't because it wasn't what they thought it was at first glance, :shocked: just because you are in the field doesn't mean there are only deer and elk and bear in the field. I have a very good friend that was shot with a bow no less at 30 yards because his cousin thought [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] he was a deer in the brush, bottom line if you don't shoot until there is "POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION" of your target there would be no "humans " shot in the field. In every instance of somebody getting shot there is I thought it was a ---------, as hunters you need to be positive beyond a shadow of a doubt, no shooting into brush, trees, across canyons because I think I see a deer, elk, bear etc.

Sorry for the rant but I think the examples above just confirm "POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION� before shooting

Bob Berry

GutshotApe · 10-11-2003, 10:39 AM

About 15 yrs ago a guy and his girlfriend went deer hunting SE of Cottage Grove. They spent the night sleeping in the back of the guy's open pickup truck bed. He got up before daylight and went into the woods with his .30-06 and made a big loop. When he got back to within sight of his truck it was still fairly dark...but he could see a cougar crouched down right next to the pickup apparently about to jump into the bed to attack his girlfriend. So he shot the cougar...except when he got down to the truck, he found the cougar was actually his girlfriend who was wearing a brown coat and had gotten out of the truck to relieve herself. She died instantly :depressed: . I never heard what if anything happened to the shooter.

fishisabonus · 10-11-2003, 01:03 PM

This thread makes me sick. It really is sad.

When I was 17 or 18, I went hunting with my boyfriend. I always took my camera and had a good time until the day he took off after a deer. My normal policy was to stay put, since it was impossible to keep up. The deer circled back around and ran past me. At that point, I knew I was inbetween the gun and the deer. I was so scared, when he started shooting, I started cussing and screaming. He was mad cause I scared the deer away. But I was madder cause he was shooting and he didn't know where I was.

To this day, I won't go hunting. I even stop running my dead-end country road during deer season cause I don't want to get the bad end of a run away bullet.

Tagster · 10-11-2003, 02:45 PM

My grandfather was shot by another hunter in central Idaho. The bullet hit the stock of his rifle and angled up into his stomach. He died on the way to the hospital.

The rifle he was carrying is in the corner of my living room right now. I can see the notch the bullet made.

He died before I was born. I was cheated out of knowing this incredible man because of someone's careless moment.

Tag

GutshotApe · 10-11-2003, 02:58 PM

As well as being 100% sure the target is a deer/elk or whatever...hunters need to remember to shoot only if there is a safe backstop.

Back in the early '70s, a teenage girl was riding in the back seat of her parent's car...the family was enjoying a drive in the woods to see the fall colors (about a mile east of the I-5 rest area at the top of the Toutle River hill). A hunter shot several times at a running deer and one of the bullets, after passing thru a 6" alder tree, retained enough energy to go thru the car's back window and hit the girl in the head, killing her instantly. :depressed:

Fish_N_Russ · 10-11-2003, 03:15 PM

jetsled1, I completely agree with you.

Im not pointing fingers or wanting to start anything but several of you guys have posted something like....I saw something AND THEN scoped it to confirm or used binocs. Well, before you even THINK about shooting, you should know exactly what you are looking at :smile: Thats not as bad as 'oh look a noise BOOM BOOM' but on the same track im afraid :depressed:

local_hooker · 10-14-2003, 07:49 AM

Stingray said "hopefully that will be the last one"

It wasn't.

an IFISH mamber was shot on saturday and is still in critical condition.

See the fishermans chapel board.

LH