A few years back at a game check after a elk hunt we talked with a game warden, that said he had just heard "3 guys from St.Louis shoot a donkey thinking it was a doe mulie". :o
Stupid is as Stupid does!!
It's horrible a life was lost in this and I feel for her family and the young man that did the shooting.
Young people do not have the judgment that adults have. For the most part, 14-year-olds do not have the judgment that a 16-year-old has.”
I know 14 yr olds with more judgment than some adults!! But there does need to be an adult present with youth hunters IMHO. To hunt alone at 16 is reasonable but at any age there will always be someone with poor judgment.
A few years back at a game check after a elk hunt we talked with a game warden, that said he had just heard "3 guys from St.Louis shoot a donkey thinking it was a doe mulie". :o
Stupid is as Stupid does!!
Public land is a problem, when multiple users with different purposes are allowed at the same time, hikers and hunters, at the same time, especially if the hikers or campers don't know, that hunting is going on. I think on public land, during hunting season, hunters, hikers, and campers alike should wear the minumum 200 square inches of blaze orange, and the Blaze orange hat, like they do in CO. I hunted public land there in the San Juan National forest, a mountain, and was amazed at how big the country is, and how well the blaze orange stood out when the morning light was just coming in.
This is of course tragic, possibly avoidable, well definitely avoidable, part of hunting instruction and firearms is know your target and what is behind, I have hunted in fog and it is different, but the 1st rule applies, if your not 100% sure, don't take the shot, as far as age, I think 5 might be a good idea, like Kid I started alone when I was 12, but supervised at 10. I got into trouble at 10, my 1st squirrel hunt, and a friend of my dad loaned me a browning .22 take down auto, with scope. How cool, well I was by myself, but adults were close, and walking the woods when a squirrel ran down a barbwire fence and I opened up on him, missed him but I was on a hill shooting down, later my dads boss, asked " who was shooting from the top of the hill ? " well it was me, and I was shooting towards him and his son. NO one had taught me that lesson yet, never forgot it though. Lucky!!! I do think starting kids off on a single shot is a good idea, except for centerfires and shotguns, some are so light they will beat you to death, in a 7mm or 20guage and up. Not that single shot firearms are not heavy enough by the right manufacturer, just the H&R, and those like it, not a bad firearm, but light enough on a small frame, to make you want to quit. After shooting my H&R 20 guage single shot with no butt pad, I was scared to death to shoot dad's auto 5, in 12. Nothing could be further from the truth, after my dad shot my 20 he said , GD, no wonder you don't like it.What a coincidence. Starting by 10 and alone by 12, I hunted with a Browning .22 takedown as well. I sold the original Belgian that I owned in the rare .22 short. Sold it as a dumb kid when I was in college. Luckily it was replaced with this 1958 Belgian wheelsight in .22lr.
The truth at the end, regardless of sentence ( if any ) this boy will carry this weight for as long as he lives, I wonder if he will ever hunt again. Maybe even just shoot again.
Public land is a problem, when multiple users with different purposes are allowed at the same time, hikers and hunters, at the same time, especially if the hikers or campers don't know, that hunting is going on. I think on public land, during hunting season, hunters, hikers, and campers alike should wear the minumum 200 square inches of blaze orange, and the Blaze orange hat, like they do in CO. I hunted public land there in the San Juan National forest, a mountain, and was amazed at how big the country is, and how well the blaze orange stood out when the morning light was just coming in.
In most cases it is NOT a "Hunting" problem, it is a problem with self important city assholes that move to the country and refuse to exercise "common sense safety practices" that the natives grew up with.