Dave,

I can't believe that people will aim when they aren't sure of their target. Even if you are
99% sure it is a deer, either get ready to draw, or if you have to draw, do so down and away,
ready to raise slowly towards your target.

One practice that is also highly irresponsible and really chaps my #$@ is when people use their
scopes as binoculars and even scope other hunters walking in proximity to their stands.

I also agree, that not only should you know your target, but be aware of what is behind it.
I know a guy that was shot (didn't die) on a deer drive because he was behind the deer.

I also wear a headlamp when coming out. It's safe and handsfree.

That right there would have saved his life, now the other guy was wrong 100%.

What it comes down to is I do not want to put my life in another persons hands. When you walk through the woods without a flashlight or headlamp that is exactly what we are doing.

Let me apologize up front the the length of this post -- it is something I have never written down nor something I have really ever told. People who know me just know who these people are and their importance in my life.

Going into hunters education I already knew to be careful and know what I was shooting at before I shot. This was not a lesson I needed to learn b/c it was one I had lived my entire life.

My Dad's best friend is paralyzed from the neck down and has been for the last 33 years from a hunting accident. His daughter was 2 when it happened. He had just turned 31. His wife takes care of him at home -- has since he got out of the hospital.

He had gone hunting with one of his cousins -- they had hunted together since they were old enough to hunt. My Dad's friend was coming out through the trees (it was a morning hunt so he was coming out in daylight -- not darkness) and his cousin shot at the noise. He said 'Oh' and his cousin meant to shoot again so, he shot again. The first shot took out a lung. The second shot hit him in the neck. A friend ruined a brand new 4x4 truck getting to him in the woods and getting him out where the ambulance could get him. He spent almost a year in the hospital in Houston. He watched as others who were in the same ward as him got 'Dear John' letters and divorce papers. His wife (amazing woman that she is) has stuck by him through it all.

He couldn't talk for months b/c he had a tube in his throat just to breathe. To this day he has trouble breathing at times when the humidity is too high. They have to keep the house temp. regulated and at about 81 degrees b/c he does not have the ability to control his body temp. like we do. If he gets too hot or too cold he gets sick. A simple cold can land him in the hospital. They are constantly babying his skin to keep from developing sores on pressure points. She gets him up in the morning, he is down after lunch for about 30 minutes then up till about 8 pm ... any longer sitting up will cause a break in the skin. When it is hot (like now in Texas) the time down is longer -- heat and sweat cause major skin problems.

Then there is the cathetar, the medicine, the wheelchair (he has some arm movement so he can use an electric wheelchair and motivate on his own), the special seat cushions, the van with the hydrolic lift so he can get in and out, the speaker phone so he can talk to people.

And don't forget the ballgames, dance recitals, school programs, etc. of his granddaughters that he cannot attend because of the distance, the time sitting up, the temp., you name it.

He has done marvelously. He teaches Sunday School at the church right down from his house. He has a great attitude about it -- he believes God put him in that wheelchair for a reason, he just doesn't know what it is, yet. His wife is one in a million. Either one of them would do anything in the world for you -- and if they are not capable of helping they will start rounding up people who can. The church and small community where they live is like a family ... none of them are kin but they take care of each other. They are like my second parents, their daughter is like my sister (we are both only children), and I couldn't love their grandkids any more if they were my own. So I grew up knowing the consequences of carelessness.

He does not hear from his cousin -- has not other than a few times right after the accident.

So everyone needs to think before they shoot. Sometimes the person you shoot does not die. Sometimes they outlive the 14 year life expectancy. Neither outcome is pretty.

This is just sad. I can almost, Almost, ALMOST understand shooting at a clearly identified deer, missing, and hitting an unseen hunter 100's of yards away (stray bullet) but shooting in the dark (assuming after shooting hours) is pure carelesness.

I hope all of you that click on the link do take the time to watch the WHOLE story through...as tuff as it may seem this is real and about as real as it gets....

just a reminder to all be safe in the woods this year!

Carelessness is leaving the toilet seat up .
This is criminal and should be treated as so. Putting these shooters in prison serves no purpose it will not bring back the dead or help the grieving ,but with that said community service of thousands of hours is an option ,make them speak at high schools, hunter safety classes ,churchcamps any where young people gather .Maybe somethinggood would come from these tragedies.

These cases are not nearly as rare as they should be.
AS man I worked for was killed by a man on the other side of a field shooting at a buck that was driven across the field by friends. One shot to the Chest and his life was over.