Hunter using animal caller is mistaken for coyote and killed (with an AR-15)

[StarryNite]

A hunter in North Carolina who was using an electronic animal caller was fatally shot by a man with an AR-15 who said he mistook the sounds for coyotes roaming near his home, police and relatives said.

Michael Seth Marsh, 26, was killed late Monday in a wooded area in Taylorsville, about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte, as he was hunting coyotes with a 12-gauge shotgun, a rifle and an electronic coyote call, the Taylorsville Times reports.

Marsh, who served as pastor of Russell Gap Baptist Church, was shot several times in the chest with an AR-15 by a man who told police he heard coyotes screaming nearby and believed the animals had trapped something in a tree.

[link:https://nypost.com/2018/02/21/hunter-using-animal-caller-is-mistaken-for-coyote-and-killed/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=facebook_app|

[ProudLib72]

1. WTF kind of "excuse" is that??????

Coyotes are not dangerous. Go and take a fucking look for yourself before shooting your fucking assault rifle you fucking moron! I mean, really, how is this any kind of excuse at all?

[malaise]

2. Meth?

[ProudLib72]

3. Good God it had better be!

[bluecollar2]

4. Or a still? N/t

[Mariana]

7. Maybe, but more likely alcohol or just plain stupidity.

Shit like this went on long before meth was invented.

[malaise]

9. Not with AR-15s

but it could be just another cold blooded murder

[Mariana]

14. Shooting blindly into the woods and killing people, I meant.

Generally, with any kind of gun. That's gone on forever.

[malaise]

18. My bad

[MyOwnPeace]

22. Wrong, you guys!!!

That "good 'ole boy" was just standin' his ground! (playing "Dueling Banjos!" )

[Throck]

24. Someone methed up real bad.

[malaise]

25. DUzy

[comradebillyboy]

16. Coyotes come into my neighborhood and eat pet dogs and cats.

They are troublesome pests. One hopped the fence into my back yard but I chased him off before he could get my corgi. They are predators.

[ProudLib72]

23. I've lived with coyotes most of my life

Sure, they do kill and eat pets. That is not an excuse to shoot blindly. This idiot heard a noise, "thought" it sounded like a coyote, and fired his assault rifle in the general direction of the noise. That is the dumbest thing I've heard.

[comradebillyboy]

29. The guy that killed the hunter ought to be prosecuted no doubt. I just

don't think coyotes are cute and cuddly.

[ProudLib72]

41. Oh no, they are NOT cute and cuddly

I got followed by a good sized pack once when I was alone on my bike. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept moving at a moderate pace. Eventually, the pack veered off and went its own way. When there is only one coyote, it is afraid. When there is a pack, they don't worry about much.

[Old Vet]

32. I also have coyotes in my area, They do like cats big time but shooting at a sound is just criminal.

[cwydro]

38. Coyotes all over my land.

Never lost a pet.

There’s a fox who’s taken a chicken or two, but the coyotes keep to themselves.

[mchill]

26. My friend's orange cat

was seen chasing a coyote down the cat's street. Nice to hear about exceptions now and then. Sydney is a pretty mean cat though.

[ornotna]

5. Unless the guy was wearing coyote camouflage

Why would the second man shoot without clearly seeing a coyote? What a shame.

[SharonClark]

6. Agree, shooting blind.

[Yonnie3]

8. Years ago we had trouble with "hunters"

You would see them in the country store restocking beer in their coolers and complaining about not getting any sight shots. The meaning was clear to me. They had been swilling beer all day and shooting at sounds.

We stayed out of the woods during deer season and kept live stock near the house.

[phylny]

39. My husband had talked to a local farmer who literally had to spray paint

"COW" on the sides of his cows after having one of his livestock shot by a "hunter."

You can't make this up.

[Kaleva]

10. There's been several comments here at DU about how great AR-15s are for hunting coyotes.

And it's increasing popularity as a hunting rifle.

Victim is reported to have suffered several shots in the chest area so the shooter must of just let it rip.

Apparently, the incident happened about 20 minutes before sunset and the hunter wasn't wearing hunter orange. Regardless, the shooter shouldn't have fired as he wasn't sure of the target.

North Carolina law allows hunting coyotes up to a 1/2 hour after sunset.

[anneboleyn]

15. Is firing blindly legal? It sounds so, so suspicious

[Drahthaardogs]

19. It's bullshit. You can't even legally use a .223 on big game in most states

It's a shit hunting rifle.

[sarisataka]

34. Coyotes are not big game

.223 Is an excellent varmint round, the one I use most often. Of course I use a bolt action rifle and make sure of my target before firing

[Mariana]

20. I bet AR-15's are great for hunting coyotes.

It helps to actually be hunting coyotes with it, rather than shooting blindly into the woods.

I'm in favor of banning the AR-15's and similar guns for sure, but this man would almost certainly be just as dead if the asshole had a different kind of gun. Also, as Malaise said upthread, this may be a murder and not an accidental killing at all.

[Corgigal]

11. Wow

All you need now, is a throw down electronic coyote caller and you can kill anyone. Of course, your handy AK will make sure of that. Just got to sell that story to the local law enforcement agency. The smaller and redder the agency, the higher level of success.

Misdemeanor.

I hear the yippie sounds of coyotes all the time. Never responded that way.

[MoonRiver]

12. Karmic justice at its finest!

[Drahthaardogs]

37. That's fucking sick

What the hell?

[anneboleyn]

13. He shot this guy several times in the chest thinking the guy was a coyote? Firing blindly?

Is firing blindly legal? I find it very hard to believe that he was just shooting into an area thinking that he was shooting at a coyote...while hitting a human being several times in the chest...This sounds like a very suspicious story.

[dawg day]

28. I agree-- three times in the chest?

A human chest is way higher than any coyote would be. And three shots? all right into the chest? That's some kinda great "blind shooting".

Watch, it'll soon come out that the victim was at odds with the shooter.

[jpak]

17. That was murder

grab his gunz

[Blue_true]

21. I hunted a very little amount as a kid.

I was taught to never pull the trigger until I sighted what I was to shoot at.

[mchill]

27. I use to hunt and

I remember how awful it felt to kill. I'm approaching veganism now. I have no sympathy for either.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

30. Yawn, asshole kills asshole...no big deal.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

31. Talked with a guy last week.

Trumper.
Said he bought an AR for coyotes.
Said he's got a thousand rounds.
ONE. THOUSAND. ROUNDS.
For coyotes.
Get honest, my terrified conservative friend. You bought a thousand rounds for the city people, "libtards" and miscellaneous brown people that come around when the glorious and biblically prophesied event known as SHTF has arrived.
SMDH.

[StarryNite]

33. Exactly!

Coyotes were just his excuse and a poor one at that.

[NurseJackie]

35. That's fucked up.

[csziggy]

36. Several years back we had a coyote problem here on the farm

And it was coming up on foaling season.

The husband of the couple that are running the farm now discussed with me how he could safely hunt the coyotes. He was concerned about sight lines, how far the bullets could go, what buildings especially houses were in each direction, which bullets to use that would do maximum damage to the coyotes without going through and leaving them just injured and not dead.

I don't remember the caliber or type of bullet he selected. He came out several mornings to his selected spot but never saw a coyote. Several coyotes were shot and killed in the neighborhood to our east. Apparently those shooters were not as careful with their choice of ammunition - several houses received minor damage from bullets that hit the coyotes but traveled through them and hit other things afterwards.

We still have some coyotes but we're no longer breeding horses, so we don't have foals to worry about. Our adult horses will attack canines in their pastures, so the coyotes are not as visible as they were for a while. Plus, I think the people in the neighborhood behind us are doing their own coyote policing and not leaving stuff in their garbage cans that will attract the coyotes or the black bear that lives in our woods.

[phylny]

40. Many of our local farmers use guard donkeys for just this purpose.

I'd never heard of them before moving here

[csziggy]

42. Guard donkeys do work for protecting sheep and some other herd animals

Most of my mares are very good about protecting their foals - one mare literally ran over me to attack our dog that she had previously been friendly with. But that day she had a two day old filly to protect!

Other of my mares spent time running down a Rotweiller that our neighbor wouldn't keep confined. After some time of being chased by the mares, the dog ducked under the fence. I could see him kind of take a sigh of relief - too soon. The yearlings were in that next pasture and took up where their dams had stopped. Last I ever saw of that dog, they were running him down in the lower pasture.

The next week Lost Dog posters showed up around the neighborhood. Could be that dog's skeleton is scattered across my lower pasture. Not my problem - I'd advised the neighbors that the dog was not safe in my pastures and if he chased my husband's elderly cat once more he was not going to be safe on my property at all.