Do you know anything about this story? Don't they wear orange?

[Conan The Librarian]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283529/Hunter-CLEARED-shooting-Marine-reservist-mistook-bear.html

[Conan The Librarian]

From what I can gather, it looks like a grave misfortune in the way it happened. My take on it is that the victim wasn't wearing orange because he was from another state and probably didn't know he should be wearing orange or some other bright color during hunting season. The shooter probably expected anyone in the woods to be wearing orange.


Not sure why he was cleared, though. Here in minnesota you in a heap o trouble if you shoot smeone in the woods, even if they are wearing camo and no orange.

[FPH]

I'm amazed at what people will shoot at with out positively IDing the target.

[kennyd]

It is not clear if the marine was hunting and wearing orange, or how much is required.  I have seen people pushing strollers through the woods during elk season, and one lady wearing heels, and a dress..  They have a right to the national forest, but should be aware of hunting season, the same as we are aware of bicycle races, marathons, and the other things that take over at certain times.


I had vicodin for surgery, I took 1/2 instead of the 2 allowed.  I have a very low tolerance for the stuff, so quit it in a hurry.  In Colorado, any prescription pain killer can be cause for a DUI.


I don't know what he thought he saw, or the details, but the jury seemed to understand something extra.  Along with the young life lost, it will affect the older gent, and his Gson.

[FPH]

Apparently, Oregon has no mandatory blaze orange requirement.  Regardless, the shooter should have identified his target.

[Conan The Librarian]

FPH,


I ought to be amazed too, but I'm not anymore. There was a lady riding a horse not far from here a couple of deer seasons ago and some old guy thought the horse was a deer and he shot it right out from under the lady. Another guy was shot out of his tree stand because somebody thought he was a squirrel.  The bear thing in the original post just makes me mad. How do you get to be 68 and hunting for a long time and not know to glass the critter before considering it a target?


From what I read elsewhere, the victim was a hiker, not another hunter. It was not his fault, but he really should have had more sense than to hike during hunting season without orange. It's just the smart thing to do. Around here, people walk their dogs and do chores wearing orange. Wisely, I think.

[Ranger99]

never ever ever supposed to shoot at
anything you're not 100% sure of
never ever.
wearing orange would put the odds
more in your favor, but if somebody can't
distinguish between a person and an
animal, orange probably wouldn't be of help.

[FPH]

FPH,


I ought to be amazed too, but I'm not anymore. There was a lady riding a horse not far from here a couple of deer seasons ago and some old guy thought the horse was a deer and he shot it right out from under the lady. Another guy was shot out of his tree stand because somebody thought he was a squirrel.  The bear thing in the original post just makes me mad. How do you get to be 68 and hunting for a long time and not know to glass the critter before considering it a target?


From what I read elsewhere, the victim was a hiker, not another hunter. It was not his fault, but he really should have had more sense than to hike during hunting season without orange. It's just the smart thing to do. Around here, people walk their dogs and do chores wearing orange. Wisely, I think.

One guy I know got so tired of his cattle being shot, which he was running on National Forrest land,he started shooting them with orange paintballs.

[DDZ]

Orange or no orange. How do you mistake a human for a bear? Even if the guy was crawling on his hands and knees, how does he look like a bear at 100 yards? It amazes me also how people mistake other humans for game animals.

[Old Fart]

One guy I know got so tired of his cattle being shot, which he was running on National Forrest land,he started shooting them with orange paintballs.

I had a buddy who said he used the blaze orange spray paint and wrote "COW" on the side of them.

[briarpatch]

I call BS, he Must have been using a scope.  At 68 odds are you can't see that far. I think he fillled a long held fantasy of taking someone out.

[Oldshooter]

I had a buddy who said he used the blaze orange spray paint and wrote "COW" on the side of them.

Now thats funny right there!
 
 
Dang old fART,  you got a hat that goes with that "intergalactic" title. 

[Conan The Librarian]

I've seen where insurance companies have  a long set of recommendations related to hunting seasons, including painting an X on the sides of livestock.

[BBF]

Many years ago while driving through the Fraser Canyon I spotted a black bear down by the river apparently doing some fishing. I had stopped the car on a lookout and had no intention to hunt being it was summer anyway. Imagine my surprise when the bear suddenly stood up and I realized I had looked at the butt of a man wearing black pants that had been bending down.

[nw_hunter]

Apparently, Oregon has no mandatory blaze orange requirement.  Regardless, the shooter should have identified his target.

Here in Oregon we don't have the mandatory orange law for hunters............Unless they are under 18. The hunting areas in most units are so expansive, there is little need for it.Most of the accidents like this one occur near metropolitan areas like Portland or Salem.  Most of these city folk only go out a couple of times a year to hunt.Unlike the Whitetail deer hunted back east, the Blacktail and Mule deer are seldom hunted from stands. We don't cultivate food plots, that concentrate deer and hunters. Instead they are spread out over vast timber, or in the case of Mulies.. high desert land.


Accidents like this have happened for many, many years, but back before instant world wide communications it only made state and local news. I believe it was accidental. He didn't identify his target, and the survivors of the person killed, and HE will have
to live with the consequences.


That said....I do, as do many others wear hunter orange when making a drive for other hunters. I keep some article of orange on me, or in the truck at all times.

[FPH]

We are not mandated to wear blaze orange either(other than youth and on Military reservations).  However, I started wearing an orange cap after I spotted a guy glassing me through a scope.  We hunt similarly to you here in NM.

[dakotashooter2]

I just don't understand stuff like this. Especially from someone who has spent any amount of time hunting. I can't say I have EVER mistaken  a person for game and even when I do see what I think is game (at a distance) I ALWAYS verify it with binoculars. I need to see some distinctive feature of my game before I pull the trigger. I WILL NOT just shoot at a blob that looks like game.
Stuff like this isn't an accident it is negligence..................................

[nw_hunter]

I just don't understand stuff like this. Especially from someone who has spent any amount of time hunting. I can't say I have EVER mistaken  a person for game and even when I do see what I think is game (at a distance) I ALWAYS verify it with binoculars. I need to see some distinctive feature of my game before I pull the trigger. I WILL NOT just shoot at a blob that looks like game.
Stuff like this isn't an accident it is negligence..................................

All true Dakota, but aren't most accidents caused by negligence?
I hunt and shoot Muzzle loaders. Traditional style. A friend, and I hope he's not reading this I target shoot with, just the other day did something he has never done in prob. 30 or 40 years of shooting ML's.He short started and fired a 50 cal. with a 70 gr. load.He forgot to ram the ball down the tube. So! He had an obstruction about 4 inches from the muzzle.Lucky for him, the barrel Handled it without so much as a bulge. This guy is an experienced shooter, and generally a cautious one. He does things by the book. All it takes is one act of negligence to end a life. If we start splitting hairs over what is accidental, then we may as well do away with the term and prosecute (all) who take a life or cause injury to someone regardless of the circumstance. JMO

[DDZ]

I just don't understand stuff like this. Especially from someone who has spent any amount of time hunting. I can't say I have EVER mistaken  a person for game and even when I do see what I think is game (at a distance) I ALWAYS verify it with binoculars. I need to see some distinctive feature of my game before I pull the trigger. I WILL NOT just shoot at a blob that looks like game.
Stuff like this isn't an accident it is negligence..................................

I tend to agree dakota. I really just don't understand how someone can mistake a human for a turkey, deer, bear or groundhogs. I have been hunting for 42 years and have never once pulled my rifle up on a human, because I thought, maybe it was a game animal. Yes, this type of accident is negligence to the nth degree. Anyone that feels that they may be even remotely capable of shooting a person in mistake for game, shouldn't be in the woods with a gun.
Don't know, maybe the kind of people that do this are the kind that think they have to kill game every time they they hunt.

NW, true accidents do happen to veteran hunters, and shooters, but pulling a rifle up, putting the cross hairs on, and shooting a person, because they thought he/she was something they were hunting is something entirely different.