With the news of a female hunter in Caledonia, NY succumbing to a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen during a deer drive yesterday afternoon, it is cause for a visceral reaction. Her name has not been released, and with due respect, not disclosed. Sorry if I appear to be a chauvinist. My reaction to this event is more pronounced, more upset, a bit sadder, and I’ll not apologize to feminists over this one. My wife hunts, at the behest of any and all the encouragement I can muster. Years of volunteering at Women In The Outdoors events has me inclined to support women participating in our favorite pastime. Yet, as much as I appreciate equal treatment of all, my sense of chivalry is disrupted by this very tragic event… Very few details have been made public as I write this, and my reaction is from what I know to be in nearly all cases to be preventable. I’ll not claim any wrong doing by anyone as the facts are not in yet.
This is the third such incident this fall season. Before I dive into an experience I had many years ago, let me first express my sincere condolences to the families in these tragic events. The loss of life, the possibilities of what if, the ripples in time from what they may have accomplished are our loss and more so of their families and loved ones. There is no upside for the persons who made the shots in these tragic occurrences. Their lives, their families will be changed in so many but different ways. With or without civil or legal repercussions, their lives will not be the same.
Our sport, our activity, is unique in that despite the common thought that it is a very dangerous, deadly pastime, it is polar opposite from the truth. The use of firearms understandably lends itself to that image as it is portrayed as such in movies and television. As reported by the NSSF in their 2015 report, the injury rate versus participation is 0.05%. This includes tree stand failures, falls, etc. All Non-Intentional Firearm Fatalities reported in 2013 are less than a fifth of that number. With over 17 million participants it is remarkably safe. To think you would be 30 times more likely to be injured while cheerleading would not be my first guess. No, I won’t be sporting pom-poms anytime soon.
In regards to those that have been fatally shot while afield, these numbers are meaningless. They offer no comfort to the families, to those involved in these incidents. The numbers are a yardstick to show progress, compare apples to apples, to affect rules, and policies.
In our sport, our ideal number is 0% fatalities, 0% injuries. We think one is one too many. You cannot apply this very well to automobiles, or medical practices. Actuary tables are applied to most activities, yet we preach in many ways, in many forms that 0% is the expected norm.
To illustrate where I am taking this, I’ll recount a story of my first deer going all the way back to 1988…
I was now into my fourth fall season of chasing whitetails with a bow, and my first full firearms season with my own shotgun. I had been a few times with a borrowed gun before that. Up to this point, I had not successfully filled a deer tag. A whitetail virgin if you will. Opening day I was in a preselected spot in a piece of open woods up on state land above the Deruyter Reservoir, not far from where I live now. I was with a crew of four other hunters. We would sit until late morning then do slow walks towards each other midday. We all sported blaze orange hats and vests or full jackets/coveralls. We meant to be seen.
I had previously built a small makeshift blind out of dead tree limbs that would conceal the lower half of my body while sitting. It wasn’t much, but I liked the spot, and deer crossed out in front and along both sides of my blind. Using a smooth bore barrel and a 1-4X scope limited my shots out to 100-120 yards if on a rest. I was relieved to find it unoccupied as I walked in. The morning was full of action including hunters walking about at 7AM as they couldn’t sit for more than a half hour. It wasn’t that long of a sit when deer started moving. I had a big doe pass out in front, well past my ability to accurately hit where I would aim. Just the same I was thrilled to see deer moving. Several more would come across from my right side and continue on, without offering a shot within my reasonable distance. Mid-morning I noticed movement to my hard left. Eighty yards out to my left. There was a thicket that ran down along to my left that was 150 yards long and finished out down range out in front.
With deer moving about, it was a promising idea that I would fill my first deer tag. I began to see patches of tan/brown moving along the thicket, then an occasional flash of black. Adrenaline was flowing. My gun was up and ready, and I knew that I would get my chance as the deer would eventually pass one of the two openings in thicket/hedgerow. The movement was slow and deliberate. Even with my scope, I could not make out a head, antlers, or a shoulder crease that I would want for an aiming point. Being that I had tags for either sex, I was giving thought to preferred choice of cuts at the butcher.
As the patches of brown neared the first opening, I was more than excited, the moment of truth was just seconds away….
Into the opening, a hunter appeared. After surveying the open woods I was watching, he looked my way. I had lowered my shotgun by the time he looked back. Rattled to my core, I was shaking. I had pointed my shotgun at something I would never intend to shoot, worse yet, another hunter. Unlike my apparel of blaze orange, the unknowingly lucky hunter sported well-used carhart overalls with a matching jacket and a black felt hat. His gun was also painted black which is what I saw in the underbrush of the thicket. I managed not to throw up, but in hindsight, it might have settled my stomach sooner. He walked off, without any acknowledgment, none the wiser. It would be the last day I ever hunted from that spot. Some time later I did fill a doe tag on a nice sized doe that crossed out in front of me and within range. Later in the day as I recall it.
Even after so many years, it upsets me to think how bad it could have all turned out, and how much both of our lives would have changed because if it.
Like all hunters in New York State, I attended hunter safety class and passed the written test given at the conclusion of training. I paid attention, for my sake, the sake of the foolish hunter I described, and for your sake. To those unfamiliar to firearm safety training, firearm golden rules, I’ll recall a few for your wellbeing.
- Assume every gun is loaded
- Control the muzzle. Point your gun in a safe direction
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot
- Identify fully, be sure of your target, foreground. and beyond
- Don’t rely on your gun’s safety button/lever for safe handling.
- Never shoot at sound or movement without fully identifying the target
These short and very simple rules can keep you safe from tragic events when everyone practices safe, ethical hunting. As a shooter, blaze orange is not a fix all or prevent all as shown in my example. although I was clearly lit up like a tree, it did not deter my hunter friend from sneaking about in the very colors of our quary. Had he sported blaze orange I am absolutely certain I would not have pointed my shotgun in his direction. If he had worn a deer costume, as anti-hunters have been known to do, maybe it would turn out badly. My adherence to the basic safety rules kept me from a very tragic possibility. This was over stressed by the instructors at my class, and I owe them much for engraining that into my training. Despite my ill-advised hunting friend engaged in suicide by deer hunter, I owed him, any other hunter, and any deer I chose to shoot to clearly identify my target, and a proper aiming point. It is impossible to ensure a clean efficient kill without doing so.
As a hunter, blaze orange does not guarantee that you will be seen. As odd as that seems, it takes just a little bit of cover, terrain, alignment of trees to interfere with being seen. In general, blaze orange does the job of making you stand out as much as possible. As ugly or unattractive I might be, I have yet to look remotely like a gobbler or a whitetail at any distance. You as a hunter owe me and my fellow hunters the respect of identifying your target, a safe sight picture, no exceptions.
On deer drives, if it is hurried, or the shooter is snap shooting, it may not give enough time to acquire the entire scene, and the target, or more importantly another member of the drive in the wrong position at the wrong time, Taking a little longer to take it all in may cost you a deer downed from time to time, but you’ll be safer for doing so. Deer drives I have been on are slow, methodical, where the pushers tend to get the shot opportunity, and the watchers are in very open areas in which to see what is coming and more importantly, who is not in the line of fire. My statements are not absolute and it is only your dedication to the basic safety rules that ensure we all go home safely from a great day afield.
As one who believes that nearly all of these tragedies are preventable by simply following safe practices, my words are not in judgment of those that have experienced these unfortunate circumstances. The goal is always 0% injury, 0% fatality. To prevent or contribute to this not happening again is worthy of being written. Again, to those that suffer the loss of these recent events, and those that suffer the consequences, the aftermath, you have my sincere condolences and wishes to learn and heal from it.
-MJ
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