The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Hunter mistakes five-year-old boy for turkey

MLeake · April 25, 2011, 05:17 PM

A lot of hunters do shoot at anything that moves.

We don't take our horses out on trails in the WMA during season for a reason.

Same reason that farmers in the area where I grew up sometimes dyed their cows with orange X's on their sides.

Same reason my parents had to help get a neighbor's brindle mastiff to the vet for treatment of a gunshot wound.

Same reason a buddy of mine, who has been an avid hunter all his life, switched to bows from rifles when hunting public land.

Same reason that resulted in a woman's death when I was stationed in Maine; she was hiking, during deer season, in a suede jacket and white mittens, so she contributed to her own demise, but still...

That reason being that a lot of hunters don't properly verify their targets, let alone their backstops.

All of this is why I really recommend that people use blaze orange; RealTree has orange camo pattern. Deer and many other critters are color-blind, so it still works. If there's any doubt that an approaching party sees you, remove the doubt and let them know. If that means breaking silence, so be it. If that means losing a really nice buck or elk, to ensure you don't take a round, so be it.

April 25, 2011, 05:17 PM	#44
MLeake Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2007 Location: Outside KC, MO Posts: 10,128	A lot of hunters do shoot at anything that moves. We don't take our horses out on trails in the WMA during season for a reason. Same reason that farmers in the area where I grew up sometimes dyed their cows with orange X's on their sides. Same reason my parents had to help get a neighbor's brindle mastiff to the vet for treatment of a gunshot wound. Same reason a buddy of mine, who has been an avid hunter all his life, switched to bows from rifles when hunting public land. Same reason that resulted in a woman's death when I was stationed in Maine; she was hiking, during deer season, in a suede jacket and white mittens, so she contributed to her own demise, but still... That reason being that a lot of hunters don't properly verify their targets, let alone their backstops. All of this is why I really recommend that people use blaze orange; RealTree has orange camo pattern. Deer and many other critters are color-blind, so it still works. If there's any doubt that an approaching party sees you, remove the doubt and let them know. If that means breaking silence, so be it. If that means losing a really nice buck or elk, to ensure you don't take a round, so be it.