During the youth hunt, my buddies house was shot.

[king4wd]

Okay, so here's the deal. My buddy lives in a house on the edge of a community in 20a. His house butts up against forest service land. The area behind his house is full of roads and in turn full of road hunters. In the past he has found arrows in his yard from the archery seasons.

 

This past Saturday he was out getting groceries. When he got home with his wife and two little girls, there was a bullet hole in the window and the bullet was lodged in the opposite wall . The trajectory puts the shooter on a hill side less than 200 yards from the house and definately on forest service land. To say the least this was a little nerve racking for both my buddy and his wife. The two little girls often play right next to where the bullet struck. There is no such thing as accidental discharges, only intentional or negligent discharges.

 

Just looking for a little feedback from the hunting community. My questions for you all is,

 

1) Is the quarter mile rule enough? Should it be extended to 1/2 mile?

 

2) Would posting (with signs) the 1/4 mile radius decrease the likely hood of such incidents?

 

3) Are there any other suggestions for keeping this from happening again?

[jakehaffey]

Thats pretty bad! Good thing they are all ok! I think hunters just need to be more aware whe shooting! That should never happen!

[Guest 300ultramag.]

 

 

 

that sucks! it shouldnt be that hard to track down the culprit if it was a deer hunter. how many tags issued? and if the area has a sign in sheet if not they NEED one and they need to enforce it big time..

[bobbyo]

Seriously this may sound ridiculous, but I think if i was in your buddies situation I would make the house more visible. One thing i could think of is putting a tall flagpole with a large flag waving during hunting season. Really no excuse for this. i am wondering if it was just shooters not hunters or possibly a Javalina season. i would hope a youth hunter would have more supervision than that.

Bob

[dillon_camo]

It sounds like someone forgot what they learned in hunter saftey or never learned at all. Always know what is beyond the target. Seems like pure negligence to me.

3) The guardian law should be more advertised during this season. If the youth cannot be relied upon to check beyond the target then the guardian should actually be beside the hunter. The guardian shouldn't be pushing the deer or looking somewhere else for animals if the youth hunter is incompetent to judge the shooting the situation.

[Jessedr]

This is just one reason why hunting is getting a bad name. There is no excuse not knowing what and where your shooting. That is all there is to it.

[shylopolito]

It sounds like someone forgot what they learned in hunter saftey or never learned at all. Always know what is beyond the target. Seems like pure negligence to me.

3) The guardian law should be more advertised during this season. If the youth cannot be relied upon to check beyond the target then the guardian should actually be beside the hunter. The guardian shouldn't be pushing the deer or looking somewhere else for animals if the youth hunter is incompetent to judge the shooting the situation.

+1

 

[ac guy]

Just looking for a little feedback from the hunting community. My questions for you all is,

 

 

1) Is the quarter mile rule enough? Should it be extended to 1/2 mile?

Why? They were too close as is, and would an extra 1/4 mile matter to someone who doesn't understand safety?

 

 

2) Would posting (with signs) the 1/4 mile radius decrease the likely hood of such incidents?

Would help, but a lot of work, and with the current budget, it ain't gonna happen

 

3) Are there any other suggestions for keeping this from happening again?

People either understand safety and ethics, or they don't. There's always one in every crowd.

 

[PhxHunt]

Just looking for a little feedback from the hunting community. My questions for you all is,

 

 

1) Is the quarter mile rule enough? Should it be extended to 1/2 mile?

Why? They were too close as is, and would an extra 1/4 mile matter to someone who doesn't understand safety?

 

 

2) Would posting (with signs) the 1/4 mile radius decrease the likely hood of such incidents?

Would help, but a lot of work, and with the current budget, it ain't gonna happen

 

3) Are there any other suggestions for keeping this from happening again?

People either understand safety and ethics, or they don't. There's always one in every crowd.

 

I agree...you can't fix stupid.

[bradne]

Increasing the no shooting area to a 1/2 mile will probably do nothing. You already said that you figured the shooter was about 200 yards away. He already is ignoring the 1/4 mile so I am sure he will ignore the 1/2 mile also (or just does not know). (Notice I do not call these people hunters but rather shooters, hunters have better safety habits)

 

I would go ahead and get with G&F and ask that no shooting signs be put up. It never hurts to ask. I was speaking with one of the G&F higher ups a few weeks ago and he told me that most of their budget comes from license sales and that they do not have as much cutbacks as the rest of the state agencies (Maybe someone could confirm that). I would also inquire with Forest Service, they may also be willing to post signs.

 

If your buddy has not filed a police report, he needs to. Maybe someone saw a vehicle and remembers it or someone called in a shot being fired from a vehicle. He may get lucky. He also needs needs to talk to the neighbors. Sometimes nosy neighbors are nice to have around.

 

Also, as mentioned before making the house more visible is not a bad idea, a lot of houses have a lot of brush and trees around it and people sometimes have absolutely no idea a house is even in the area. This also helps keep the fire danger lower.