Hunter Killed After Gun Accidentally Discharge

[onehandle]

PENN TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A hunter in Westmoreland County died from an accidental gunshot wound Monday morning.

It was the opening day of spring turkey hunting season.

Richard J. Simms, 51, of Irwin, was shot in the chest while climbing down from a tree stand in a field off Forbes Lane in Penn Township, Westmoreland County.

His gun accidentally discharged around 7:09 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 8 a.m.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/05/16/hunter-killed-when-own-gun-accidentally-discharges

[Taverner]

1. That sucks

I really can't visualize the circumstances - because accidental gunshots are usually the result of giving a Beagle a gun or some other stupid gun trick

But that sucks

[cleanhippie]

2. What does this have to do with gun policy?

Oh, right, nothing.

[Katya Mullethov]

3. Could mean one less Fudd

Ya never know ," a butterfly flaps its wings" and all that .

[damntexdem]

10. I agree -- as a strong gun-control advocate, such a hunting accident says nothing about gun policy.

[SteveM]

31. In any case, hunting/gun-accidents rates are low and falling lower. nt

[Hangingon]

13. Well, could mean there should be more hunter safety courses..

The NRA could then teach them. It is a "Win-Win".

[AndyTiedye]

17. Nobody Said It Did. Maybe It Was Just a Reminder to Be Careful With Those Guns

[cleanhippie]

19. If that is the case, then this is not the correct forum, as per forum rules.

From Skinner:

Discussion of gun-related public policy issues or the use of firearms for self-defense belong in the Guns Forum.

Personal-interest discussion about guns and weaponry should be posted in the Outdoor Life Group. By "personal interest" I mean, any discussion that is unrelated to public policy, such as: Posting pictures of guns or discussing the leisure activities of hunting or shooting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x95935






See what a little reading will do for ya?

[formercia]

4. I guess he got his Turkey.

Too bad it was him.

He was being lazy.

[rrneck]

5. Unload the gun before climbing. nt

[DonP]

6. ... or crossing a fence. I'm gonna say ND not AD.

[rrneck]

7. yep. nt

[Euromutt]

20. Hell, if you're after turkey, you clear the weapon whenever you move position

I'm a turkey hunter myself--okay, it's my first season, and I have yet to bag a bird, but I've done my research--and the accepted method of hunting turkeys is to take up a position and lure a gobbler (adult male) to you with calls and (optionally) decoys. When you move positions, you clear your weapon before you start moving and don't reload it until you're in your new spot. The way to bring down a turkey with a firearm is to shoot it in the head and neck (thereby disrupting the brain and/or the spinal cord without damaging the torso), which, when using shot (which most states require) means you're shooting at 40 yards or so maximum. Turkeys are damn hard to stalk, so there's really no reason for you to move with a round chambered.

Frankly, I'm not sure what the guy was doing in a treestand to begin with, but he sure as hell didn't need to have a round ready and chambered while he was climbing. I guess he was just too lazy to clear the weapon, and he paid for that laziness with this life.

[DonP]

22. That's one of the primary things from the NRA Hunter Safety courses

Very sad. Maybe he was just tired, cold and took a deadly short cut on safe gun handling.

[AndyTiedye]

27. Should Passing an NRA (or equivalent) Safety Course be a Prerequisite for a Hunting License?

[X_Digger]

28. Unless you're over 40 or so, it already is, in most states..

Been that way since the mid-80's, when the cut-off was someone 16 or so.

"If your birthday is on or before September 1, 1972, you need to show proof of completion of yadda yadda yadda"..

[SteveM]

33. Pretty much is; I'm grandfathered in.

The big drop in gun-related hunting accidents is due to requirement of wearing hunter orange on public hunting lands (except for turkey, upland birds and waterfowl), hunter ed., and massive safety emphasis in the hunting & gun press/sites. Most common gun death? Pulling a gun from a vehicle by the barrel.

"Dumb, dumb, DEAD Irving! The hundred & forty-second fastest gun in the West" (Ballad of Irving, 1966)

[rrneck]

23. I wondered about that tree stand myself.

Never hunted turkey; ducks, doves and quail mostly. We hunted ducks from a blind and the first thing I learned is never get in or out of the boat with a loaded gun.

Two things sort of signaled the end of my hunting days. I was sitting in a tree on my first bow hunt and thought "If I kill a deer I'm gonna have to drag that fucker out of here." And that was the end of that. And once on a dove hunt a particularly stupid and/or ballsy dove just stopped and hovered right in front of me about fifteen yards away while I unloaded at him with a pump shotgun. Then he flew away. And I swear to dog I think he was grinning when he left. I figure any bird that can make that big a fool of me earns a pass for the entire species zenaida macroura.

Still like to get out in the woods though. I've got more money tied up in camping equipment than in my vehicle. Which I guess says a lot about both.

[simms]

29. Hunter's wife replys

Since the entire story was never posted. Let me fill you in. First, wonder why no one on this post has questioned why he was coming out of his stand at 7 in the morning? My husband was a GREAT hunter. He would go into the woods before sun up and sit there till sundown. He didn't move around at all. He started hunting from the time he could walk. He had previous encounters with an *hole that had confronted him that morning at the foot of his stand. One thing my husband taught me about hunting, was you never interrupt another mans (or womans) hunting. If you walk up on someone, you detour around them as quietly as you can. This didn't happen. The *hole walked right up to his stand and decided to start a fight. Well, since you don't know my husband, there was no way he would have come down out of that stand with an empty gun and two guys at the bottom with loaded guns! It should have never happened, he knew gun safety, but in a shear second he made a HUGE mistake. HE WAS NOT LAZY! Fyi, don't know if this matters, but the gun was brand new, that was the only shot that came out of the gun and the safety was still on. Also, a tree stand is a pretty good place for spotting turkey, if you are in a corn field! Sorry to vent on you like this, but I've read alot of posts on his accident. I probably shouldn't do that, since it isn't doing me nor the kids any good. Thank you for reading.

[spin]

30. I'm truly sorry for what happened to your husband ...

and for you and your kids.

Thanks for the post. It explains a lot.

[SteveM]

32. Got a Rio Grande turkey two seasons ago... with a .270 rifle:

In Texas, there is a Fall turkey season which coincides with the lengthy deer season. I was expecting deer, but a crowd of fat toms waddled by. Luckily, I read up on what to do using a deer rifle. I shot the bird right at the joint of the wing (or the leading edge of the folded wing) at a hundred yds. Right on target: The bullet passed through the vitals below the breast, broke one thigh bone, and left the rest of the turkey intact.

You won't believe how good wild turkey tastes; it's the tomatoes of the carnivore world -- the wildest most natural type are best. Always cook at lower temps, and for shorter periods. Proper temp. is considerably lower than commercial fowl.

Good luck!

[ileus]

8. At least lower it barrel down....if that's what happened. RIP

[damntexdem]

9. This was an accident during a gun-related outing.

The hunter may have violated safety guidelines. But even as a hardcore gun-control advocate, I see no ammunition here for debates on gun policy.

[RSillsbee]

11. Wrong forum?

Personal-interest discussion about guns and weaponry should be posted in the Outdoor Life Group. By "personal interest" I mean, any discussion that is unrelated to public policy, such as: Posting pictures of guns or discussing the leisure activities of hunting or shooting.

[LAGC]

26. onehandle knows.

He's just trolling again.

[slackmaster]

12. Auto-Unrec for verb tense error

A missing letter 's' makes all the difference between a mediocre passive-voice headline and a shitty nonsensical one.

[rl6214]

14. So are you saying we should ban hunting?

[formercia]

16. I don't think that was the point

Clearing a weapon should be an automatic response to anyone who picks up a weapon, even if they are sure it is unloaded.

A lot of people die every Year from 'Unloaded' weapons that turned out to be loaded.

When my Mother was a young girl she watched a boy get his head blown off when his brother playfully aimed an 'unloaded' 12 Ga Shotgun at his head and said "Bang." as he pulled the trigger. A lot of lives changed that instant. Nobody was at fault and everyone was at fault. She even blamed herself for not stopping what was a couple of brothers goofing around.

[Hoyt]

15. Nope, just keep them out of public. Experienced gunners make mistakes, and public shouldn't pay.

[Euromutt]

21. The deceased wasn't in public, and the only person who paid for his mistake was himself

I mean, of all the thoughtless knee-jerk responses...

Look, according to the article, the late Mr. Simms was "climbing down from a tree stand in a field"; that's almost certainly private property, therefore not "in public."

That said, however, it's debatable to which extent even public land constitutes "in public." To illustrate, I've just spent several days unsuccessfully scouting/hunting a Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife-administered wildlife unit in search of turkey. The only other humans I have observed within the boundaries of the unit have been one WDFW employee fixing the lock on a gate, and the drivers of several logging trucks. The presence of discarded beverage containers and the occasional condom along the vehicle-accessible roads indicated other human activity, but once you got a few dozen yards away from the roads, the only discernible traces of mammalian activity were deer tracks and rabbit droppings. So, even though I was on public land, would it be reasonable to say I was "in public"? Especially when the nearest humans are well beyond the maximum range of my shotgun.

Besides, it's not like you can hunt wild turkey in your rec room.

[PavePusher]

24. Ahem....

http://www.majorhunting.com/top-10-hunting-games/73/

[Euromutt]

25. Okay, I stand corrected

*amused snort*

But that kind of hunting doesn't put meat on the table.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

35. We could also say that about drivers in Pasadena...

[Logical]

18. Sad, but at least he only hurt himself! Did not follow basic gun rules!

[Remmah2]

34. Some people have the mentality that a dead gun owner is a good gun owner.

Truly a sad statement on diversity.

[ileus]

36. that's because to some all gun owners are hidden criminals.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

37. I saw that on a blog flogging thread here on DU