Post by Woody Williams on Nov 17, 2005 20:59:37 GMT -5
PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald
DATE: 2005.11.17
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Sports
PAGE: F4
COLUMN: Bob Scammell
BYLINE: Bob Scammell
SOURCE: For The Calgary Herald
WORD COUNT: 668
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunting accidents easily avoided
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, we have few hunting accidents in Alberta, but every one
makes hunters' blood run cold, probably none more than the recent
shooting in the Waiparous area, 23 kilometres north of Highway 1A and
west of the Forestry Trunk Road.
The stark story is that a rifle hunter shot a bow hunter in the side of
the abdomen. Mercifully, at last report, the victim was in critical, but
stable condition.
Many years of analysing hunting accidents convinces me that
understanding and learning come from the details. In this case it helps
to know that, at the time this incident took place, the area was being
heavily hunted both by rifle and archery hunters.
The most chilling reported details are that the bow hunter, allegedly in
full camouflage, was setting up a full-size deer decoy when he was shot.
The distraught shooter who came to help apparently did not have
binoculars and was using a rifle that had no scope. These are proven
details for a disaster in the field but, as journalists say, have not
yet been proven in court.
Among my cherished collection of case reports of hunting accident
lawsuits are two where hunters were mistaken and shot for moose, one
while driving a huge, clanking, tracked Bombardier, the other while a
passenger in a motor boat. The Waiparous accident is less outrageous,
more subtle, with both sides initially admitting some responsibility.
Brian Reardigan, hunting companion of the victim, is reported to have
said they did something very stupid, presumably thinking of the bow
hunters' safety rule that you never use a decoy in a rifle zone.
Reardigan reports that "Stan," the admitted shooter, kept repeating "I'm
so stupid, I'm so stupid." That judgment could be for many reasons,
which would all distill down to one of the general rules of firearms
safety as expressed in the Alberta Hunter Education manual: "Be sure of
your target -- and beyond. Identify your target, then look past it to be
sure it is safe to shoot."
But the manual does not suggest how hunters might avoid becoming the
target, nor does it deal with the situation where a camouflaged hunter
stands right beside, or very close to, a life-size replica of the very
target another hunter expects, at least hopes, to see.
Good binoculars should be mandatory for all hunters. There is such an
abundance of very good, inexpensive, binoculars on the market that if
you can't afford them, you can't afford to hunt. Few hunters today still
use open sights on their rifle as reports suggest Stan was, most
choosing to spend their money on a scope but, as the AHE manual warns:
"Never use a scope sight as a substitute for binoculars."
Far too many hunters ignore that rule and thus violate the great
unwritten rule of all gun safety: Never point a firearm at something you
do not intend to kill. One season several years ago, I was "scoped" on
three different occasions by hunters while I was wearing full blaze
orange.
The last time, with son John, the kid draped head to foot in one of my
blaze orange shrouds, we were scoped twice by a hunter down the draw. We
ducked very low behind the aboriginal rock blind we were using and I
yelled down: "Do that again and you're dead!" The miscreant scuttled
away up a side draw.
Just kidding, of course, I assured John, but I did make some serious
decisions about how to avoid becoming a target ever again. I now try to
hunt my big game where I seldom see another hunter. Despite that, I now
hunt big game garbed, head to foot, in full camouflage clothing, on the
theory that they won't scope what they can't see. To my knowledge I have
never been scoped since I made the change.
But I always wear blaze orange when hunting upland birds and was pleased
recently when Ed Houck of the Canadian Pheasant Company told me blaze
orange is a mandatory safety requirement on their hunts.
DATE: 2005.11.17
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Sports
PAGE: F4
COLUMN: Bob Scammell
BYLINE: Bob Scammell
SOURCE: For The Calgary Herald
WORD COUNT: 668
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunting accidents easily avoided
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, we have few hunting accidents in Alberta, but every one
makes hunters' blood run cold, probably none more than the recent
shooting in the Waiparous area, 23 kilometres north of Highway 1A and
west of the Forestry Trunk Road.
The stark story is that a rifle hunter shot a bow hunter in the side of
the abdomen. Mercifully, at last report, the victim was in critical, but
stable condition.
Many years of analysing hunting accidents convinces me that
understanding and learning come from the details. In this case it helps
to know that, at the time this incident took place, the area was being
heavily hunted both by rifle and archery hunters.
The most chilling reported details are that the bow hunter, allegedly in
full camouflage, was setting up a full-size deer decoy when he was shot.
The distraught shooter who came to help apparently did not have
binoculars and was using a rifle that had no scope. These are proven
details for a disaster in the field but, as journalists say, have not
yet been proven in court.
Among my cherished collection of case reports of hunting accident
lawsuits are two where hunters were mistaken and shot for moose, one
while driving a huge, clanking, tracked Bombardier, the other while a
passenger in a motor boat. The Waiparous accident is less outrageous,
more subtle, with both sides initially admitting some responsibility.
Brian Reardigan, hunting companion of the victim, is reported to have
said they did something very stupid, presumably thinking of the bow
hunters' safety rule that you never use a decoy in a rifle zone.
Reardigan reports that "Stan," the admitted shooter, kept repeating "I'm
so stupid, I'm so stupid." That judgment could be for many reasons,
which would all distill down to one of the general rules of firearms
safety as expressed in the Alberta Hunter Education manual: "Be sure of
your target -- and beyond. Identify your target, then look past it to be
sure it is safe to shoot."
But the manual does not suggest how hunters might avoid becoming the
target, nor does it deal with the situation where a camouflaged hunter
stands right beside, or very close to, a life-size replica of the very
target another hunter expects, at least hopes, to see.
Good binoculars should be mandatory for all hunters. There is such an
abundance of very good, inexpensive, binoculars on the market that if
you can't afford them, you can't afford to hunt. Few hunters today still
use open sights on their rifle as reports suggest Stan was, most
choosing to spend their money on a scope but, as the AHE manual warns:
"Never use a scope sight as a substitute for binoculars."
Far too many hunters ignore that rule and thus violate the great
unwritten rule of all gun safety: Never point a firearm at something you
do not intend to kill. One season several years ago, I was "scoped" on
three different occasions by hunters while I was wearing full blaze
orange.
The last time, with son John, the kid draped head to foot in one of my
blaze orange shrouds, we were scoped twice by a hunter down the draw. We
ducked very low behind the aboriginal rock blind we were using and I
yelled down: "Do that again and you're dead!" The miscreant scuttled
away up a side draw.
Just kidding, of course, I assured John, but I did make some serious
decisions about how to avoid becoming a target ever again. I now try to
hunt my big game where I seldom see another hunter. Despite that, I now
hunt big game garbed, head to foot, in full camouflage clothing, on the
theory that they won't scope what they can't see. To my knowledge I have
never been scoped since I made the change.
But I always wear blaze orange when hunting upland birds and was pleased
recently when Ed Houck of the Canadian Pheasant Company told me blaze
orange is a mandatory safety requirement on their hunts.
