Hunting Tragedy in Iowa

Eric Patterson said:
How does one mistake a person for a squirrel?

www.cbsnews.com

Iowa teen dies after being mistaken for squirrel during hunting trip, officials say

A 17-year-old hunter died in rural Iowa after he "was mistaken for a squirrel by a member of his hunting party," state officials said.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
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I read that article too, and that was also my reaction. Obviously the teenager who fired the fatal shot, was not abiding by what he had been taught in the hunter education class he attended. Sad outcome.
I've personally had occasions where I saw movement, knew there should not be anyone else in the area, waited until I could positively identify my target, only to discover it was another person/hunter.
 
I think that article has misrepresented what happened. The victim wasn't mistaken for a squirrel, the hunter who shot him failed to do any sort of identification. He shot where he saw movement. No identification performed.
 
Not unusual when hunting accidents are reported on. The reporters have no idea how to accurately describe what happened. Same with the difference between lawful hunters vs poachers.
 
Tragic and sad. This happened to a kid I went to high school with. Shot in the face by another kid, when he was trying to play a joke on him. He lost an eye to bird shot.
 
Many years ago a friend of mine was bow hunting from a tree stand. A teenager squirrel hunting mistook my friends slight movement for a squirrel and shot him in the back with a .22. My friend was paralyzed from the waist down for the remainder of his life.

It does not take very long for things to go bad. Unfortunately it can happen to any of us and hunter orange cannot prevent it all. I've been shot once, had bullets whistle over my head and close by. Been sprayed by shot many times. The longer one hunts and the more days put in it seems the odds are it can happen. I NEVER trust my hunting surroundings when concerning if other hunters or shooters (there is a difference) are nearby or afar. I always think that they Are.

my 2 cents
 
Eric Patterson said:
What kind of joke was he telling?
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Not sure of the full story, but they were rabbit hunting in some thick stuff, and he was crawling around and trying to fool that newbie hunter into shooting at "nothing" by shaking some bushes, as I understand. He got pelted when the guy shot at the bushes he was shaking. Stupid kids doing stupid stuff.
 
A friend of mine was shot and killed while hunting from a tree stand by a companion who thought he was a turkey. I can tell dozens of similar stories like that as I was a state game warden for 37 years and investigated those incidents and attended a lot of autopsies. I was also on the receiving end of a load of #4 buck shot after being shot by a reckless hunter who thought she was shooting at a deer. I was not injured badly but had the bark knocked off of me. When it happened, I was standing in the middle of a dirt road in the middle of parked trucks. I still cannot figure out what she was thinking. She claimed she saw a deer. She probably did but it was tied to an ATV that was loaded into the back of a pickup truck where I was going over to check. She also shot her own truck while she was at it. One thing I have learned is you can never be careful enough when hunting. Once a person thinks it cannot happen to them is when it can happen. Once a bullet leaves a barrel, you cannot bring it back. Never take a chance. No animal is worth a human life.
 
My dad had a friend that hunted all over the US and Canada. His office walls were covered in mounts of all types a big game. His hunting ended when he was in Canada on a bear hunt. The guy and his guide were tracking apparently a huge bear when the guide told him to freeze. The guide spotted the bear and pointed to a clearing the guide was sure the bear would come through. When the guide saw the bear he insisted the hunter shoot. As I recall the story this guy couldn't confirm it was a bear and hesitated. The guide continued to insist on him pulling the trigger saying you hired me to find you a bear and there it is. The guy fired. When they went to the sight the bear went down it wasn't a bear. It was the guides son wearing a black coat. The hunter said it was the official report that the guides son had seen the bear first and decided to try to push it towards their location. My dad's friend never hunted again. He said he hadn't confirmed the animal was a bear and fired anyway. He never got over that.
 
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