Another hunter shot

[bulzaye]

well you certainly inferred that anyone who doesnt wear orange is a criminal tresspasser. Funny thing is here I hunt on state land behind the encon officers home. When we run into him when he is hunting, he wears camo.  I suppose that is part of his job but with a bunch of camo wearing tresspassing wild guys there he is taking his life in his own hands too. If I were a tresspasser and poacher, and they chenged the law to blaze orange, I would continue to wear camo and tresspass and poach.  What is one more law broke.

[GRIMJIM]

It is stopping the amish here because the elders are saying no one is wearing blaze orange.  GrimJim you should have verified and idnetified that target before the gun was picked up. It could accidently go off while pointing it at the thing you think you want to shoot before you were sure.

I'll have to take your word for it but I don't understand how the Amish community here can be fine with it and there they aren't. Is it up to the elders of each individual community? I don't know.

 As for not raising my gun, I needed the scope to tell what was running around in the brush and I think I more than did the safe thing if I determined the difference between a large dog in cover versus a small deer before ever putting my finger anywhere near the trigger or clicking off the safety.

I can't understand why someone who wears blaze himself and advocates the wearing of blaze would have a problem with a law requiring everyone to wear it. To each his own I guess.

[bulzaye]

I also wore a seat belt before it was the law did that mean I thought we needed a law honeslty no. I also advocate in my classes that a scope is not used for target identification binoculars are for that or the naked eye.  Never point a firearm at something you do not intend to shoot.  I also advocate that a safety is a mechanical device that can fail. Supose the gun went off because of a mechanical malfunction blame the lady walking the dog because she didnt have on orange and you needed to use the scope/point the gun at her to identify her. See when you use a scope to identify a target, the barrel is also pointed at the thing you are trying to identify which is very unsafe that is in the book for the class I teach.


1 treat every firearm as if it were loaded
2 always point the muzzle in a safe direction  (not safe to point it at someoneto identify a target)
3 Know your target and well beyond

[GRIMJIM]

Whoa, never once did I point my gun at the woman, she walked into view after the fact. The dogs were not on a leash and were running around in the woods. Granted you are 100% correct, if I had my binoculars (usually close quarters so not needed) I certainly would have used them.

[bulzaye]

ok so you didnt point it at the woman but you did her dogs. Suppose it was a kid next to the dogs bottom line is point the scope the gu i spointed the gun goes off a ricoshet hits her either way you were unsafe and the scope is not for target identification it is for magniofying an already identified target.

[mspaci]

When we are on the move we put on at least an orange hat. When up in the tree I often take the orange off. We are on private land but if I were on a state land spot I would have the vest on all the time. Let me say this,  there is no excuse for mistaking a man for a deer. They walk(upright) different & they sound different. They some times have to crawl thru some thicket or such but I have never in 25 yrs of big game hunting mistaken a  man for a deer. I mean never. If you have you shouldnt be out there in the first place.  My dad said it best when he taght me how to shoot.  Dont ever point that gun at anything you dont intend to shoot. In other words make sure its a deer, make 110 percent sure before you evern aim. All this I have a doe permit & it doesnt have orange on must be a deer stuff is all BS. If you cant tell 110percent then you probably dont have a good shot anyway(too much brush or something in the way). Lets be responsable & remember its only a deer. Some ones safety isnt worth taking a chance.  Mike

[bulzaye]

In a fatal shooting here in the North earlier this season, the shooter just got sentenced to 3 years in prison. The judge's comments "I don't care what color he was wearing.  If you had identified your target, you would not be here in front of me today."  God I love that judge. He was making a drive and shot his boss who was on watch.  One story says he was shooting to drive deer, the other story he shot at a deer and hit his buddy.  I dont buy either one. This guy was a previous convicted felonr who was not even be in posession of a firearm.  He tried to play the orange card with no success.


http://www.news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=132315

[woodchukhntr]

A rifle scope is an optical device used to aim a gun.  A spotting scope and binoculars are optical devices used for observation, when used in hunting they are used to identify targets prior to pointing a gun at them.

What part of "never aim a gun at something that you do not want to shoot" is misunderstood?  If you were not using a scope, would you look point the gun at a potential target before you knew what it was?  Keeping your gun pointing in a safe direction means you can NEVER point it at something that you have not already identified as a target!