HAZEN, N.D. (AP) - School officials in Hazen say they'll offer counseling to classmates of an eighth-grader killed in a
weekend hunting accident.
Authorities say 14-year-old Daniel Haga was killed early yesterday when a gun accidentally fired while he was hunting
with his father.
Wildlife officials believe it's the first death during North Dakota's black powder muzzle loader season.
McHenry County Sheriff Marv Sola says the boy was shot as he and his father, Todd, started to hunt near Velva on a
relative's land early yesterday morning.
Sola says the father and son apparently had just left their vehicle to start hunting, when the father handed the gun to
his son while he opened a gate. Sola says the father turned around for the gun and it fired. The boy was hit in the head.
Daniel Haga was pronounced dead at a Minot hospital.
The state Game and Fish Department's wildlife chief, Randy Kreil (KRYL), says the death is the first of this year's
deer hunting season and probably the first ever during muzzle loading season.
Sola says the muzzle loader has a .50-caliber projectile. That's larger than a typical deer rifle.
very close to home... lost two friends last year to the whitetail, crafty critter! My sympathy goes out to the Haga's.
yes one was hit directly in the chest from a shot fired by a youth and the other crashed his pick-up chasing deer... this year I think alot of us hunted less when the weekend warriors are out. it is a great year for antler size up here, alot of the right conditions happened.
Why did this guy have the gun capped in the first place? I can understand loading the powder and projectile (which in Kentucky is considered unloaded). I feel sorry for the family and the father has to live with what he did for the rest of his life.
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau
Hmmm.... about the gun being capped. I keep mine capped until I get to my truck provided it is still legal shooting hours. Now, if I have mydaughter with me, who is only 6, I take the cap off before I get out of the stand. 14 years old and 6 years old is a big difference, however, I am trying to figure out why the father had the gun pointing towards his son as he took it from him? I amvery careful to NEVER point a gun anywhere close to a person whether it's loaded or unloaded... it's just common safety procedures. I guess the gun could have slipped in transition of hands too. I feel so badly for anyone this ever happens to, you just never expect it to happen to you, but I think that is a downfall of hunters, you should ALWAYS expect the unexpected and take whatever means necessary to prevent it from happening.
Heartfelt prayers go out to the Haga family... and hopes that someone will learn from this tragedy so that it may be prevented elsewhere.
The worst part about hunting accidents no matter what caused it or who caused it, is a family and often times a communityhas to live with that memory for a long time. No matter what is said, the deed is done. I feel sorry for the family and all the others touched by this unfortunate incident.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
yes, I cannot understand why the gun was capped either. BUT, having a new daughter and all, all you fathers out there can imagine the agony this man is feeling losing his son, let alone being the one to have accidentally pulled the trigger. I don't know if I could live with myself.
youth shot with 50 cal muzzy
