.   .   .     .   .   .    .   .   .   wait, the hunter was from Massachusetts?  They don't have guns there so clearly no need for gun/hunter safety courses.   

I hate to say it but we used to get a fair number of people from lower Michigan up here and things like this would happen often enough. I think part of it was the different type of hunting as far as you don't get long shots up here it's dense in the woods. So you don't see deer coming from a long ways off and they would shoot at anything. When they would come up we'd give them a wide berth near where they were hunting(all private land anyways so no one should have been there). If we needed to go out there we would be sure to drive a vehicle out there, preferably something with loud exhaust that couldn't be mistaken for anything else;)

I grew up hunting and sure don't mind it at all, but some people in the woods with guns do make me a bit nervous. Competent hunters, no problem at all more than welcome to be around me;)

Luke

This topic scares me.  I am really careful about who is around when I am in the woods.  If I don't trust you I don't go with you, if I don't trust you and you are in the area, I am gone.  No meat is worth my life, because of someone's incompetence.  If your drinking and hunting, I don't trust you.  Drinking in the woods while hunting causes some of these problems.

On a side note, I was in Philly several years ago when a park near my sister's place was opened for three day shotgun hunt to thin dear population.  Park area was around 50 acres, had about 300 hunters, 1000 shots fired, and just over 100 deer harvested.  IIRC, I heard about this hunt as my sis was trying to get me to move to the area at the time.  After this only bowhunters allowed in parks.

See 50 acres and 300 people is just plain crazy to me;)
Luke

Not all at the same time that was over the 3 days.  There was a check in and out with DFG.  It was a pilot project and VERY controlled, ammo checked on both going in and out.  It was stupid, but it was also in a very populated area.

Nope.  It happened in Michigan.  The shooter was from Massachusetts.

1.All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
2.Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)
3.Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.
4.Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Absolutely....and I'll go one step further, by including one for the real world, not just the square range:
5. Be aware of what may be passing between you and your intended tgt.

Trolls, man.  Trolls.

I was trying to be nice But yeah;)

And not for a moment did he think to himself "Gee, that deer moves kinda funny.  Laying on his side, feet in the air."  Nope - he was all "He's moving - OPEN FIRE!!!"

I bet the words he said before he shot where" watch this, hold my beer


Doc
Dark Sky Solutions
Flagstaff, AZ
www.DarkSkySolutions.com

News flash:  It just happened here too:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/12/15/mississippi-hunting-accident/20423843/

In this instance it was a lethal buckshot load.  Two equally stupid hunters, but one of them is dead.  You can't undo that.   Unless the Louisiana guy was wearing an LSU football uniform and the Mississippi guy an Ole Miss alum, this is totally unforgivable.

My inappropriate humor aside, as reckless as it was for the Louisiana guy to get down out of his tree stand without his required hunter orange outerwear (later found left in his tree stand), it is simply unforgivable to be shooting at any target that has not been positively identified as legal game.

FWIW:  Vidalia, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi are directly across the Mississippi River from each other.  The Mississippi River bottom land where that private club is located and to which both guys were members, is some of the most prime and prized trophy deer hunting land in our state, or in the Southeast US.  Membership is usually very expensive.   That club needs to evaluate its membership rolls and have some required hunter safety courses ASAP.

This is why I stay the hell out of the woods during hunting season...and wearing blaze orange just gives the 'tards a higher visibility target...

This kind of incident really bugs me since it was completely preventable.  If I don't shoot at a target I haven't positively identified I am very unlikely to accidentally shoot a person. OTOH, I can keep it in perspective: I am probably in more danger of injury or death driving to and from a hunt that I am in the field.

Agreed