Teen hunter shoots black bear/hiker woman in Oregon..

[ol mike]

Doing some reading about hammocks for backpacking and saw a thread were a teen hunter shot and killed a 55yr old lady who was out backpacking.
She was doing something with her backpack kneeling on the trail -and the young hunter accidently shot and killed her.
No charges were filed as of the following day.

Very sad !!!!

Drilling the importance of KNOWING what you are about to shoot as well as what's behind the target can't be stressed enough to young hunters -all hunters for that matter.
A lady lost her life and a kid has to live his life w/ that in the back of his mind for the rest of his life.Sad..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everybody should wear hunter orange -there's just too many people out enjoying the outdoors to be without it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[tjbill]

I believe the story you are talking about happened in Washington on Sauk Mountain on opening weekend of bear season. The 14 year old was hunting with his 16 year old brother and no adult. The lady was wearing a bright blue poncho and had bent over to get something out of her pack. Very sad! I certainly hope this is the same story...I hope this didn't happen twice on opening weekend.

 

[Slopeshunter]

Very sad for everyone involved when you hear these stories. Hunter education is very important.

 

[ol mike]

It was washington state -not oregon.

I didn't get a lot of details -bright blue poncho -wow- even worse..

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Accident my a**. Has anyone ever seen a blue bear??? What was he on, mushrooms, LSD??? This kinda crap gives us all a bad image. I think some sort of action needs to be taken against him, teen or not, he killed an innocent lady for crying out loud. Sad to say, but this kinda crap happends at least once a year in Washington/Oregon. Seems like people in general, (not just teens) dont take the time to actually acquire the target and see what it is before engaging it. I dont wear hunter orange, just never been brought up around it as there is no law in Oregon for it. However, these days, with more and more idiots out there, I"m seriously considering at least wearing an orange hat. But what good would that have done if your bent over? Wouldn't even be able to see it. Sad....

 

[Bravo 4]

'06, I'm with you on this one. This is very sad and I sure wouldn't call it an accident. If he wasn't hunting I wonder what kind of charges would have been filed?

 

[shortshooter]

Have to agree with others that this wasn't an accident. If it was aimed fire there was INTENT. This is total ******** and the state needs to file procedings against this young fella as this is nothing but plain murder.

Humans don't look like bears and livestock doesn't look like elk.

This young fella has committed a crime and he's endangered the rights of gunowners and the hunting privilges of others.

A case of total irresponisblity and he should be charged with murder being that he chose to shoot and didn't identify what his target was before shooting. What a jerk.

 

[grit]

I think you folks are being a bit unimaginative. The article said she was wearing a rain poncho. Puttin' something in her pack. Rain on his scope, rain in his eyes, what seems an obvios bear, buddy tellin' him to shoot, shoot... Don't think you could make a mistake? You're foolin' yourselves.

Nobody but Junior knows the circumstances. Best thing is to let the story serve as a sobering reminder. Maybe we can prevent a tragedy or two. I'm sorry for both families.

 

[bnorton325]

Without knowing all the details its hard to say if it was a tragic accident or an idiot with a rifle. In 06, while I was in Iraq, my wife was hunting back home in MS with her family. She got down from one of my stands with just a couple minutes of shooting light left. As see came out of the trail onto a logging road she was struck with a 7mm-08 round in the abdoman. Her teenage cousin had shot at a deer on the logging road. It was a combination of accident and irresponsibility. She was in more than enough orange, but he couldnt see her around the bend. I'm convinced that the unopened DR Pepper bottle in her jacket pocket kept her from having any real damage. The round went through it and was mushroomed enough that it penetrated but not deep. She was ok and he was a wreck. He hasnt hunted but a handful of times since. Just kinda ironic that Im in Iraq and mywife gets sniped in the deer woods back home.

 

[dogdinger]

i'm with grit....

lets dont jump to far to conclusions here and lynch the guy before the facts are known. this is just the type of reporting i would expect coming from the ultra liberal, gun-hating left coast. Blue poncho?? lets get more facts here....blue looks a lot like black in early morning or late evening in bad light because of overcast conditions.....bent over???a bent over human would tend to look a lot like a four legged critter, especially if wearing a bulky poncho...where was the sun in reference to the shooter? was he shooting open sights or a scope? i am sure this will all come out in the investigation.....

i was hunting one day when i was a kid.....down south in pretty thick woods. i was watching a deer trail through an oak bottom with about 120 yds of visibility. a flicker of movement caught my eye....white.....now some brown movement....a buck was coming a long the trail. i had definitely seen a flash of antler. i was shooting an open sighted pump action 30-06, so i got ready and picked out an opening in front of the deer and took a breath, clicked the safety off...... as the buck entered the clearing he stood up on his back legs.....it was a guy wearing a buckskin colored leather jacket with a white fleece collar. it was a close thing....had my eyesight been a little less sharp or if i would have been just a tad quick on the trigger, there would have been a tragedy. thank god it didnt, but i can sympathize with that poor kid. AJ

 

[yorke-1]

Here's a link to the news video for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Video | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington

This is a tragedy, but also a vaulable lesson. This young man has given hunters a bad name, reinforcing the stereotype that hunters shoot first and ask questions later. He should be charged with manslaughter at least. If he had killed a pedestrian while driving he would be charged. There are no accidents in driving or any other activity. There are events that occur as a result of poor decisions, inability to control a situation, or wreckless/negligent behavior. Again, this is a tragedy. My heart goes out to all families involved. But there is no excuse for reckless and irresponsible behavior.

I'm a FedEx Ground driver in Tacoma, WA so I'll see and interact with hundreds of people a day. I make no secret about the fact that I hunt so when a story like this happens, everyone is sure to bring it up. In the last week I've had no less than 20 people ask me if I have shot at a person while hunting. Worse still are the ones who say that this is the type of thing that will "finally get hunting banned" in this state.

I would love to defend the hunter in this situation, but he clearly made a poor decision. It would also be nice to say that if the woman had been wearing blaze orange this never would have happened. But even that's not always true. I've had guns pointed at me a number of times while hunting. And I wear a full 1200 sq inches of blaze above the waist when I hunt. Nothing sends a shill down your spine like the sound of a Winchester 94 being cocked as you come out off a trail. The worst part is that the man had a young boy with him who was learning to hunt.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

So someone telling the kid to "shoot shoot shoot" and none the less, taking an *** shot at a bear makes it OK??? I dont hardly think so...He obviously didn't take the time to make sure of his target, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Maybe I'm a bit too conservative but a 14 year old hunting biggame with a rifle and no adult mentor is foolhardy and a key to understanding this unfortunate accident. Two young and inexperienced hunters compounds the risk considerably, at least IMO.

And NO - There is no excuse for a human that is "mistaken for game". I'd be interested in hearing about the Hunter Safety Program he attended.

 

[Buffalobob]

I dont wear hunter orange, just never been brought up around it as there is no law in Oregon for it.

If you hunt with other people (particularly family) you should have it with you at all times and make sure that they have it with them. If you hunt with idiots then even more so. You will be surprised how extremely stupid people can be. If you wind up hunting with a moron who will not stay put where he is supposed to be and will not wear hunter orange then you never know if it is safe to shoot or not.

It is not so much what the law says as what is smart to do. Have it handy and use it when you need it.