Tragic Hunting Accidents

Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn't serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don't know.

Politicians draw attention to hunting accidents.

Then, sometime after that, I heard about Dick Cheney's shooting  another man, and it gave me a flashback to my day, which was not enjoyable for me. The first thing that came to mind when one public figure shoots another one a Texas ranch hunt was "something very similar happened to me," and the flashbacks return.

And that Texas case, the victim was initially blamed for sneaking up on the shooter without warning him of his presence. That is pure political spin or a load of crap.

Blaze orange hats can prevent becoming a statistic.

The ranch owner also blamed the victim, and for two days it was spin city in Texas and Washington, DC. Folks, I spent 20-some years involved with Hunter Education training, and I've been a part of the teaching and training process for nearly 20,000 adults and children 12 years and older.

Such accidents indicate the need for Hunter Education training.

How, I ask, are Hunter Education instructors supposed to react when one high-level politician shoots another at close range? The spin doctors covered up the hunting accident for a day, and then applied their own brand of stupidity to it by blaming the victim, and eventually more of the story came out because of media pressure.

It was apparent that the spinmeisters had no clue about hunting, hunter safety or ethical hunting procedures. They were dumb and clueless.

Hunters are taught many things while taking a Hunter Education training class. Chief among them is to always know where the muzzle is pointing. Another is to always, without fail, properly identify the target before shooting. Another is to identify everything beyond the target to ensure that nothing else -- a barn, building, car, cow, human, truck or whatever -- is in the line of fire.

That's not what happened in Texas, and any hunter worthy of the name should be properly upset by the actions of the ranch owner and Dick Cheney. Not only was Cheney clearly and legally at fault, soon after the accident the cover-up began.

It took some time for Cheney to speak out and assume full responsibility for shooting his "friend." If that's how he treats his friends, no one would ever want to be his enemy.

A need for common sense, personal responsibility, and how to safely handle firearms.

Don't try to rattle my cage on this one. This has nothing to with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with a distinct lack of common sense, any semblance of rational and sound judgment, and a personal responsibility for safe handling of a loaded firearm.

It's been said that Cheney has hunted for a dozen years or so. That's like saying a person with a medical (or any other) degree is intelligent. All those years of training only means the person spent a large number of years in a warm classroom and passed his state boards, or in Cheney's case, bought a hunting license. It doesn't mean he has the intelligence or the necessary skills to safely handle a firearm.

It makes me wonder: Did he ever take any Hunter Education training? Did someone extend him the courtesy of looking the other way in terms of a previous hunting license or Hunter Education training card which is usually required to buy a hunting license?

Causes of most hunting accidents.

The vast majority of hunting accidents occur for one of a very few reasons: the shooter was incredibly stupid; carried the firearm with the safety off and a finger on the trigger; didn't identify the target and everything beyond it before shooting; had no knowledge of proper hunter safety methods; was under the influence; or the victim was incredibly unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. One other situation -- line-of-sight accidents -- occur when a person is in the line of sight of the shooter but cannot be seen. All but the last one may apply in the Texas shooting.

All of those (and perhaps several other) factors were allegedly played out in the Texas sagebrush prior to the hunting accident some years ago. The facts remain that Cheney pulled the trigger without identifying his target or anything else nearby. He also made the ultimate mistake (along with the ranch owner) of trying to shuffle the blame over onto the unfortunate victim.

The U.S. printing presses that make money hasn't made enough thousand-dollar bills for me to set foot within shotgun range of someone so incredibly stupid. One wonders if they were wearing Hunter Orange clothing (there are rumors they were); one also wonders if more than one beer was consumed as has been questioned by the media, and one wonders if the two men were actually friends.

Chuck Lunn, a trusted friend, (right) with a snowshoe hare.

Folks, if you or I shot someone, there would have been no one-day delay is posting the news. There are allegations that Cheney didn't have a game bird stamp required to hunt quail. Was this man ever issued a ticket or did he spend time in court answering charges of illegal hunting?

There is an old saying: People should never analyze the ingredients of two things: bologna and politics. Time will tell whether politics prevailed, and this sorry breach of hunting safety and ethical hunting practices will be overlooked or cast aside for political reasons or will this become just a footnote in the history books.

Summarizing how I became an accidental shooting victim.

My involvement in being shot was simply going in to search for a lost hunter who was firing the standard three-shot distress signal. I spotted him walking around in circles, shooting in all directions and raised my hand as I yelled at him, and he shot in my direction. Fortunately, most of the No. 6 shot hit my coat and blaze orange coat but some on the shot went through a brown Jersey glove and into my hand and wrist.

This happened a number of years ago, and there was no trip to the hospital. I poured alcohol on my knife and the holes in my skin, and I removed the pellets myself. The wounds were bandaged by me, and we hunted the next day although everyone stayed a long distance from the lost shooter. They physical wounds healed nicely but the mental problems are still pretty raw.

He asked several times when we were going hunting again. It's funny how that person was never invited on another hunt with me.

I dislike hunting with strangers, and whenever I'm on a hunt with someone I know and trust, and another person decides to join at the last minute, I often excuse myself from going along. If it's impossible to remove myself from such a situation, my guts get tied up in knots.

I, perhaps like Cheney's friend, have no desire to be around an idiot with a firearm again. Sadly, each year, some hunter will accidently kill another hunter. Sure, it may have been an accident. Qualified Hunter Education training could have helped prevent such injuries or death.

And, it also removes the personal anxiety and uneasiness associated with hunting with a stranger. There still remains the odd flashback to that day when I fell to the ground, rolled over in the snow, and looked down at a bloody hand and wrist. Writing about it helps a bit, but it's not something that is easy to push into the past and forget about it.

Careless strangers and firearms, like mixing gasoline with an open flame, can lead someone into an injury or death. Been there and done that with a firearm injury, and want no part of mixing a hunt with people who may or may not have had adequate and qualified Hunter Education training. I'd rather hunt alone that go through such an experience again.Years ago, while hunting snowshoe hares with a group of hunting friends, I was shot in the left hand and wrist by the only stranger in our group. A dozen or so birdshot were dug out of my hide, and my life has gone on.

But not as it had before. The man who accidentally shot me was kept two football fields away from everyone else after that. The accident cast something of a pall over the balance of my hunt.

I wasn't serious wounded, but no one was about to laugh it off. It could have been a killing shot. And, to this day, it bothers me to hunt with someone I don't know.

Politicians draw attention to hunting accidents.

Then, sometime after that, I heard about Dick Cheney's shooting  another man, and it gave me a flashback to my day, which was not enjoyable for me. The first thing that came to mind when one public figure shoots another one a Texas ranch hunt was "something very similar happened to me," and the flashbacks return.

And that Texas case, the victim was initially blamed for sneaking up on the shooter without warning him of his presence. That is pure political spin or a load of crap.

Blaze orange hats can prevent becoming a statistic.

The ranch owner also blamed the victim, and for two days it was spin city in Texas and Washington, DC. Folks, I spent 20-some years involved with Hunter Education training, and I've been a part of the teaching and training process for nearly 20,000 adults and children 12 years and older.

Such accidents indicate the need for Hunter Education training.

How, I ask, are Hunter Education instructors supposed to react when one high-level politician shoots another at close range? The spin doctors covered up the hunting accident for a day, and then applied their own brand of stupidity to it by blaming the victim, and eventually more of the story came out because of media pressure.

It was apparent that the spinmeisters had no clue about hunting, hunter safety or ethical hunting procedures. They were dumb and clueless.

Hunters are taught many things while taking a Hunter Education training class. Chief among them is to always know where the muzzle is pointing. Another is to always, without fail, properly identify the target before shooting. Another is to identify everything beyond the target to ensure that nothing else -- a barn, building, car, cow, human, truck or whatever -- is in the line of fire.

That's not what happened in Texas, and any hunter worthy of the name should be properly upset by the actions of the ranch owner and Dick Cheney. Not only was Cheney clearly and legally at fault, soon after the accident the cover-up began.

It took some time for Cheney to speak out and assume full responsibility for shooting his "friend." If that's how he treats his friends, no one would ever want to be his enemy.

A need for common sense, personal responsibility, and how to safely handle firearms.

Don't try to rattle my cage on this one. This has nothing to with being Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do with a distinct lack of common sense, any semblance of rational and sound judgment, and a personal responsibility for safe handling of a loaded firearm.

It's been said that Cheney has hunted for a dozen years or so. That's like saying a person with a medical (or any other) degree is intelligent. All those years of training only means the person spent a large number of years in a warm classroom and passed his state boards, or in Cheney's case, bought a hunting license. It doesn't mean he has the intelligence or the necessary skills to safely handle a firearm.

It makes me wonder: Did he ever take any Hunter Education training? Did someone extend him the courtesy of looking the other way in terms of a previous hunting license or Hunter Education training card which is usually required to buy a hunting license?

Causes of most hunting accidents.

The vast majority of hunting accidents occur for one of a very few reasons: the shooter was incredibly stupid; carried the firearm with the safety off and a finger on the trigger; didn't identify the target and everything beyond it before shooting; had no knowledge of proper hunter safety methods; was under the influence; or the victim was incredibly unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. One other situation -- line-of-sight accidents -- occur when a person is in the line of sight of the shooter but cannot be seen. All but the last one may apply in the Texas shooting.

All of those (and perhaps several other) factors were allegedly played out in the Texas sagebrush prior to the hunting accident some years ago. The facts remain that Cheney pulled the trigger without identifying his target or anything else nearby. He also made the ultimate mistake (along with the ranch owner) of trying to shuffle the blame over onto the unfortunate victim.

The U.S. printing presses that make money hasn't made enough thousand-dollar bills for me to set foot within shotgun range of someone so incredibly stupid. One wonders if they were wearing Hunter Orange clothing (there are rumors they were); one also wonders if more than one beer was consumed as has been questioned by the media, and one wonders if the two men were actually friends.

Chuck Lunn, a trusted friend, (right) with a snowshoe hare.

Folks, if you or I shot someone, there would have been no one-day delay is posting the news. There are allegations that Cheney didn't have a game bird stamp required to hunt quail. Was this man ever issued a ticket or did he spend time in court answering charges of illegal hunting?

There is an old saying: People should never analyze the ingredients of two things: bologna and politics. Time will tell whether politics prevailed, and this sorry breach of hunting safety and ethical hunting practices will be overlooked or cast aside for political reasons or will this become just a footnote in the history books.

Summarizing how I became an accidental shooting victim.

My involvement in being shot was simply going in to search for a lost hunter who was firing the standard three-shot distress signal. I spotted him walking around in circles, shooting in all directions and raised my hand as I yelled at him, and he shot in my direction. Fortunately, most of the No. 6 shot hit my coat and blaze orange coat but some on the shot went through a brown Jersey glove and into my hand and wrist.

This happened a number of years ago, and there was no trip to the hospital. I poured alcohol on my knife and the holes in my skin, and I removed the pellets myself. The wounds were bandaged by me, and we hunted the next day although everyone stayed a long distance from the lost shooter. They physical wounds healed nicely but the mental problems are still pretty raw.

He asked several times when we were going hunting again. It's funny how that person was never invited on another hunt with me.

I dislike hunting with strangers, and whenever I'm on a hunt with someone I know and trust, and another person decides to join at the last minute, I often excuse myself from going along. If it's impossible to remove myself from such a situation, my guts get tied up in knots.

I, perhaps like Cheney's friend, have no desire to be around an idiot with a firearm again. Sadly, each year, some hunter will accidently kill another hunter. Sure, it may have been an accident. Qualified Hunter Education training could have helped prevent such injuries or death.

And, it also removes the personal anxiety and uneasiness associated with hunting with a stranger. There still remains the odd flashback to that day when I fell to the ground, rolled over in the snow, and looked down at a bloody hand and wrist. Writing about it helps a bit, but it's not something that is easy to push into the past and forget about it.

Careless strangers and firearms, like mixing gasoline with an open flame, can lead someone into an injury or death. Been there and done that with a firearm injury, and want no part of mixing a hunt with people who may or may not have had adequate and qualified Hunter Education training. I'd rather hunt alone that go through such an experience again.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors