Terrible tragedy in Vermont
 

Vermont Man Kills Himself After Fatally Shooting Friend in Deer Hunting Accident



A Vermont man took his own life Saturday after accidentally killing his friend in a deer hunting accident, police said.

Authorities said they believe 49-year-old Timothy Bolognani, of Readsboro, Vt., killed himself with a hunting rifle after accidentally shooting his friend, 39-year-old Benjamin Birch, while the two were hunting for deer Saturday morning, the Bennington Banner reported.

The two men were reportedly hunting in woods about a mile west of Howe Pond Road in Readsboro with another friend, identified as Mark Colford.

Police said that when they responded to the scene, they found Bolognani and Birch dead from gunshot wounds, according to the newspaper.

Investigators said Birch shot at a deer, which then ran through the woods. The three men tried to track the animal, police said, and at some point Bolognani fired his rifle.

Birch was heard crying out before Bolognani and Colford found him lying on the ground, where he later died, the newspaper reported.

Bolognani, the son of former state Rep. Betty Bolognani, then shot and killed himself with his own rifle, police said. No foul play is suspected.

"These guys were best friends and professional hunters," Birch’s mother, Jacqueline Clara Howe, told the Boston Herald.

The hunting deaths were the second tragedy to hit the Bolognani family in the past two years.

Bolognani's 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, reportedly died in a snowmobile accident in Jan. 2010.

The teenager was struck by an oncoming snowmobile after falling from her own, according to the Burlington Free Press.

That is sad. But just shows how easily accidents can happen. When handling firearms of any type they should always be treated as if they were loaded and the muzzle always pointed in a safe direction. The two basic fundamentals of gun handling.

It does not say that in this article but, he fired at something without visually verifying the target.

I am really not suprised that is all you took from this article, accidents happen!! Reminds me of a story I read about a teen lowering a loaded weapon from his treestand and it fired, killing his friend. One of the comments was " he got what he deserved for hunting defenseless animals".

So do you also think that he took his life to avoid prosecution? I'd say he was devastated by his action and knowed he could not live with the fact he killed a life long friend.

There are two families devastated over this unfortunate accident, whether avoidable or not!

Very sad, just leaves me with a sick feeling in my stomach. I cant even imagine the horror he went through when he heard his buddy screaming.

blaze orange does have its benefits.

may God be with their families

I Hunt ONLY with a Group of Friends that I have Hunted with for over 20 Years, We ALL Know where each and every one of us are at at ALL Times. We Communicate with Radios or Phone to know where we all are at all times. If someone decides to Move from there spot we know it. We Dont allow anyone else to Hunt with us because that's just the way it is. We Hunt in FULL Snow Camo during our Late ML Season and have No Worries. A Deer is a Deer and there is NO SUBSTITUTE, PERIOD!
That was No Accident, I have had Visual Parts of a Deer and Not Shot because I Did'nt see the Whole Deer and have Not Shot in a Deers Direction because I knew that one of My Hunting Buddys was in that direction. I Feel for the Guy and know how He must have felt.....
We Hunt near a Thruway, the BIG Bucks like to run the Thruway Fence, I've Passed on Many Big Bucks that were EASY shots, but because there were Cars in the distance I PASSED.
There's just No Excuse for what happened, there's Accidents but that was No Accident.
(BP)

I have to agree Breechplug, sad as the case is. The only logical conclusion is the shooter was not able to clearly see or identify his target.

I saw a report years ago of an experiment where they briefly flashed pictures of deer and men on a screen. A surprisingly large number of participants identified a man as a deer at some point during the test. Even so, one should never shoot on the basis of a flash look at the target.

This is a true sad incident. I am sure the guilt this man went through after killing his friend was just too much for him. And that's sad in itself. One can not stress the importance of hunter safety.

When I was teaching a young man to hunt, I pounded it into him over and over... know your target and what is behind it. Yet I too was guilty of the same thing, not knowing what was behind my target. While I did not kill a human, I did kill a second deer. And while my friends thought that was pretty cool, it has bothered me terribly for a long time.

Double Ditto....

I just hate stories like this and the effects it has on the families...

Send a prayer or two

Hunting alone doesn't mean you can't get shot.

The sad thing is, I bet these men was as sure as you and your buddies!! Accident or poor judgement, they happen all to frerqeuntly with buddies just as yours.

I teach my son to never even put his finger on the trigger,until he's positively certain of his target, be it paper or animal.

Was the man who was shot wearing blaze orange? Just googled up the Vermont hunting regs. The state does not require the wearing of blaze orange during hunting season: This is a badism.

Quote:

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Hunter orange is not required by law in Vermont, but wearing
it might save your life. Almost half of Vermont’s hunting
related shootings might be prevented if hunters wear hunter
orange.

A New York study found that 94% of hunters involved in
mistaken for game accidents were not wearing hunter orange.
This is even more startling when you consider that 81% of

New York hunters do wear hunter orange.

---

http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/lib...es%2018-46.pdf

Quote:

---

Hunting alone doesn't mean you can't get shot.

---

Bingo!!!
Most of the time my hunting is done solo: i wear blaze orange coveralls when deer and turkey hunting. When we lived in WV more folks were shot in turkey season than deer season. Our neighbor was mistaken for a grouse and shot: She survived.

I did not know that Vermont does not require blaze orange. That's scary...

There's no way I'd go into public land without it! I even wear it in ML season when it's not required. There are just too many irresponsible people out there.

with as many people there are back east, i think they all should require blaze orange. If you cant spot someone in the woods with blaze orange, you most likely are either blind or just plain ol dumb LOL.

Either way its just a horrible accident that happened and turns my blood cold just thinking about what both went through.

Many years ago i had a friend on a volunteer ambulance squad in southern MD. On opening day of deer season he responded to two shootings in Charles county. One hunter was shot right in the belly button and was dead when the ambulance arrived. The other hunter was shot by a guy who followed up on his shot, said nothing, then turned and left. Luckily another hunter heard the man calling for help and responded. The sheriff caught the shooter and off he went to Jessop prison.

Deer hunters in southern MD could use only shotguns and slugs.