Hunting Accidents? what good is that orange vest?

[Markjz]

if there are people this stupid out hunting, how will any amount of orange save us?

Some times I wonder if it's just some sick person shooting people cause they can get away with "I thought he was a deer." (pro-tip: deers have 4 legs and don't wear backpacks)

Not been out hunting here myself though I plan to, but I have done a lot of hiking and come across other hikers, but I have never once mistaken them for a deer.

Also what happened the standard gun safety rule of don't shoot unless your sure of your target and what is beyond it. or is that exclusive to military training?

What about shot placement? do these people just spray bullets randomly at every thing that moves?

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[Grunwald]

When I lived in Massachusetts each year at the beginning of the hunting season a radio talk show host (Howie Carr) would do an hour or two on stupid hunting stories. It just makes you shake your head when you hear these. I still remember a few:

1) A guy is stuck in traffic at the toll booths on I95 in New Hampshire and sees a deer by the side of the road. He grabs his rifle and go running and then shooting at the deer. He got his deer. The state police got him when he returned to his vehicle.

2) A newbie hires a guide, and the guide tells him not to shoot until he is certain of his target, then sends his dog in to scare up the game. After a while the newbie hunter sees some movement in the bushes and takes a shot - killing the guides dog.

3) A man and his son are park on a dirt road in the middle of a huge field. They hear a couple of shot and then all of a sudden the side mirror on their Jeep shatters. They jump out and hit the ground. I forgot the rest of the middle of the story, but there was a guy on one side of the field shooting at a deer on the other side of the field with these 2 guys in their Jeep right in the middle.

 

[eldbillbo]

Problem is there some stupid hunters , Problem is with your question " what good is that orange vest?" if you look at the satistics and most of the hunting accidents were because the victim was not waring orange so it must be doing a lot of good waring it, it keeps trigger happy morons from shooting at movement or just shooting their guns off.

Don't get me wrong it is the Hunters responsiblity to know what he is shooting but hunter orange does help keep you from getting shot by those who shoot at movement or make you stand out so if a deer gets between you and someone else makes you visible.


I know this will make some members mad but i am all for manditory orange and hunters safety corse even if you are 63 like that dumb arse that shot that hiker a couple weeks ago

Some people need to be taught common sense I have let 2 bucks go because they were not safe to shoot at this season.

 

[Burt Gummer]

I lived it. A chunk of a log I was sitting on was flying off. Then a crack/shot sound echoing far in the distance. An idiot apparently thought I was a deer even though I was wearing a bright orange hat. That, and another moron firing off his rifle 1' from my left ear from the back of a moving pickup (ringing for life) soured me to the whole deer hunting experience.

 

[cyclesurvival]

I went bird hunting yesterday to tune up the dogs before a trip to the dry side of the state. Being a weekend every joe blow was hunting too. I had guys with no dogs push right up behind us and try hunting over my dogs man that ticks me off. no manners no etiquette what bozzos. so makes you wonder how far people will go to get some game!

 

[The B]

i think the biggest issue is ignorance. these guys are not immersed in a subculture of responsible gun use... they're either complete noobs who went and bought a rifle and a case of beer and thought anyone can just go trudge through the woods and shoot at anything that moves, or they're guys who grew up with rebel flags on their step-daddys' swamper special and were TAUGHT that you just grab a rifle and a case of beer and shoot at anything that moves.

a lot of these guys hunt right from their trucks and think that's how everyone does it.. so it never even occurs to them that there might be PEOPLE in those woods they're taking slurry pop-shots at.

i'm sure there's the bold and reckless... but i think it's mostly just plain dumb ignorance.

 

[Markjz]

do they make body armor in orange?

 

[jimwsea]

I went to college in central New York. Farmers had blankets over their cows that had in large orange print "COW". At that time in my life, I was city-bred and I had shot skeet once, but I knew the difference between a cow and a deer. But I had to ask. One farmer said that people will pull up to his property, jump the fence and shoot at a cow.

It doesn't have to be moving in the bushes to get shot at.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

My dad told a story of a rancher in California in the 1950's who was wearing a red hat and riding a white horse during deer season. The horse was shot from under him.

I'm pretty much the only person that hunts on the very large private ranch my distant relatives own, and I don't wear orange on purpose. I don't want the road hunters to be able to spot me.

 

[johnboy]

Guess its just too simple for some people....ALWAYS BE POSITIVE OF YOUR TARGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[The B]

My dad told a story of a rancher in California in the 1950's who was wearing a red hat and riding a white horse during deer season. The horse was shot from under him.

I'm pretty much the only person that hunts on the very large private ranch my distant relatives own, and I don't wear orange on purpose. I don't want the road hunters to be able to spot me.

i keep an orange cap in my pocket, but i also deliberately don't wear orange when in the bush. if i hear a truck or see anyone, i just stand still. i've had countless hunter trudge past me, sometimes even within 10-15 feet and never see me.... thank God for good camouflage

if i have a doubt, or when done stalking and coming back out of the deep wood, or moving stand locations, i put the cap on.

 

[RallySoob]

i think the biggest issue is ignorance. these guys are not immersed in a subculture of responsible gun use... they're either complete noobs who went and bought a rifle and a case of beer and thought anyone can just go trudge through the woods and shoot at anything that moves, or they're guys who grew up with rebel flags on their step-daddys' swamper special and were TAUGHT that you just grab a rifle and a case of beer and shoot at anything that moves.

a lot of these guys hunt right from their trucks and think that's how everyone does it.. so it never even occurs to them that there might be PEOPLE in those woods they're taking slurry pop-shots at.

i'm sure there's the bold and reckless... but i think it's mostly just plain dumb ignorance.

I agree with this for the most part... I totaly understand the OP's frustration...who in the **** shoots at something they dont have a positive ID on? Shot placement isn't a concern? It just makes me wonder how many people shoot the wrong animal and just say F' it and move on?

I think an Orange vest would be one of the defining factors in rather you get accidently perceived as a deer or not. I personaly have never worn an orange vest in my life and I hunt a lot but I think every one should wear one except me ofcourse... No really they do save lives and more people should wear them

I too wonder if there are sick people just shooting hunters and when shtf they say they were trying to kill a deer. But I hope the cops can decipher the difference between those people and hunters. Like that poor young guy on leave from Iraq who was shot by that old man taking his grandson on a bear hunting trip. I wonder if he just anticipated seeing a bear so much that when he saw a moving living thing he sort of tricked his mind into seeing what he wanted to see. I sort of understand that happening because I have done it myself but figured it out before I took the shot...once I was scoping some coyotes far off and spotted one more by himself a little closer...I almost took the shot until I realized it was a prong horn antelope lol...ooops. but they were closer to that guy when they shot him and a person doesn't really move or look like a bear at all to me

 

[The B]

well... having thought i was being stalked by a bear once, i can tell you that it puts the adrenaline into over-drive, for sure... i have to wonder what i would have done if, while silently backtracking, trying to catch the bubblegumer by surprise, i'd run into another hunter instead. when you've got your weapon at low-ready, heart pounding, breath ragged, adrenaline surging, just waiting... waiting... waiting... SURPRISE! WANT A BEER??

BOOM!

i seriously think i'm just a little more squared away than that... but who knows? and regardless, someone with less experience (i have 13 years of tactical shooting experience, including plenty of stress simulation) might not fare well in that situation.

shooting another human being when you're supposed to be shooting deer is absolutely unacceptable. no excuse, no leniency. but it is pretty pointless to MMQB it.

 

[The Quiet Man]

The mouth-breathing idiots who hunt and shoot at movement have always been and will always be among us. However, the normal people with common sense will see orange and react accordingly. I grew up hunting with red/orange in MN before moving to Texas where most hunters wore camo during deer season (not sure if that has changed since the early 80's). It was an odd feeling for me and I was sometimes quite surprised at how people just "materialized" from time to time. Usually, it was in an adjacent field and across a fence but it was like they were just "beamed down". To be fair, a lot of the deer hunting was from stands on private land... and the "custom" was that you not get down and wander around where someone might shoot at you. I honestly don't know if Texas had more hunting related shootings but I sure appreciated seeing some blaze orange out there when I was watching for deer. I never felt like I was in any additional danger while wearing camo and sitting in a stand, but early ideas about safety are hard to break. However, I admit that I didn't get on the ground and move until the designated time or when I got picked up and driven back to camp.

 

[Mark W.]

until you have experienced a real good case of BUCK FEVER you have no idea how easy it is to do something that ends up stupid.

One of my dads cousins once racked the lever on his Winchester model 88 until the thing was empty all the time aiming at a small buck but never once pulling the trigger. He had to come to his senses and bend over to pickup one of the rounds on the ground so he could reload and shoot the buck.

That guy is no mouth breather he is a Radiologist and very highly respected doctor.

 

[pinecenega]

until you have experienced a real good case of BUCK FEVER you have no idea how easy it is to do something that ends up stupid.

One of my dads cousins once racked the lever on his Winchester model 88 until the thing was empty all the time aiming at a small buck but never once pulling the trigger. He had to come to his senses and bend over to pickup one of the rounds on the ground so he could reload and shoot the buck.

That guy is no mouth breather he is a Radiologist and very highly respected doctor.

One more reason to hunt with a muzzleloader or single shot rifle.

 

[boltedsafe]

I finally yelled out "You stupid *** don't point you rifle at me." "Did You Hear Me" Ruined hunting at that location. No sure why he was do stupid. I was in an orange hat and vest!

 

[The B]

I finally yelled out "You stupid *** don't point you rifle at me." "Did You Hear Me" Ruined hunting at that location. No sure why he was do stupid. I was in an orange hat and vest!

i get pretty upset when i see a guy out with rifle in hand and no sign of binos... 'cause you know that mother bubblegumer is muzzling everything and everyone.

i'm not sure what i'd do if i ever saw a guy scoping me... i'd try to give the benefit of the doubt, but i can guarantee you i'd be making it abundantly clear that his life expectancy is shortening very rapidly.

 

[Rapid1]

Many years ago, in the Gate creek area north of Vida, I was stillhunting a large area behind a locked gate. I had scouted the area several times leading up to the season and not seen a soul during those trips in many miles of walking. Long story short, about an hour after shooting light, I come out of the trees into a crescent shaped draw and in the swampgrass at the bottom, see a nice 4 point buck. I backed back into the treeline to watch him as he walks a bit up the far side to lay in the sun that is finally shining over the trees to my back. This whole watching thing took about an hour, maybe less but I finally touched off a shot and he never got up. To my amazement, from behind some brush, not 50 feet higher up the ridge, directly above the buck, a hunter stands up on a stump and starts looking my way. He's wearing camo pants, a green fatigue jacket and a brown stocking cap. He was about 200 yards from me, but not even 50 yards from where the deer lay, in direct line with my shot, just a bit higher. I was wearing an orange hooded fleece, he saw me as I came out of the trees. It took me a little bit to get to the deer through all the brush and swamp, and as he was coming over to see if I needed any help and nearly tripped over the deer I had shot. He had thought I shot the deer in the trees behind me. He had been watching the draw to my left and wasn't aware the deer was right below him. I told him I didn't see him and he also mentioned that the shot sounded pretty different, as it was in his direction. As we were both in a pretty remote area, he said he didn't feel the need to wear his orange vest, but said never again.

All turned out just fine although I get a little shiver when I think of it. I would never have taken that shot had I seen this guy. I think that anyone that ventures into the woods, hunting or not, during rifle hunting season without some bright colors on is a fool. We all know there are all sorts of fools in the woods, but some of them aren't shooting at people.

 

[MinnesotaORnewbie]

I came from a state that has alot of flat woods and walking is just as much a part of hunting as sitting in a tree stand. It is state law during gun hunting except duck hunting, that you where 50% blaze orage, and it has to be obove your waste, so basicly jacket or vest, and most opted for a hat also. Being used to it, I would have no problem and will stick with those guidlines even here. Sometimes just a hat isn't enough for someone to see when you are in the woods even a little bit. Now the person that shoots at sound and is not 100% sure of their target, should be banned for hunting for life. There is no excuse for it. They are not a real hunter or sportsman, just someone out in the woods with a gun that does not care about others. I would bet they are pretty rude in public, not caring towards others in public, and are oblivious that they are a walking billboard that says, "hey, Im a Dbag, I can't help it, it was the way I was raised."