Home Main Category Hunting

Terrible accident to close to home

1965Jeff1965Jeff Posts: 1,650 Senior Member
Basically it is a story of two young men going hunting where only one returns home, the other loses his life. I know the surviving boy's family well- great people who I hope will be able to find peace; the deed is done and no amount of blame or finger pointing will bring the dead boy back now.I can only imagine the pain that the family who's son perished is feeling, to lose your son at 16 in such a terrible accident ... My nearest experience to something similar, (Family wise.) happened before I was born my Uncle's brother was killed when a man tripped and shot him in the head . Safety is something that must become the foremost thought when in the act of firing a firearm. This is second time in a month where a similar accident occurred near here. Outdoors pursuits are supposed to enrich our lives not turn them into nightmarish scenarios of ending a friends life. Please be keep you and yours safe when in pursuit of your favorite quarry, no trophy is worth anothers life.

Replies

  • snake284snake284 Posts: 22,429 Senior Member
    1965Jeff wrote: »
    Basically it is a story of two young men going hunting where only one returns home, the other loses his life. I know the surviving boy's family well- great people who I hope will be able to find peace; the deed is done and no amount of blame or finger pointing will bring the dead boy back now.I can only imagine the pain that the family who's son perished is feeling, to lose your son at 16 in such a terrible accident ... My nearest experience to something similar, (Family wise.) happened before I was born my Uncle's brother was killed when a man tripped and shot him in the head . Safety is something that must become the foremost thought when in the act of firing a firearm. This is second time in a month where a similar accident occurred near here. Outdoors pursuits are supposed to enrich our lives not turn them into nightmarish scenarios of ending a friends life. Please be keep you and yours safe when in pursuit of your favorite quarry, no trophy is worth anothers life.

    This is something that we need to keep being reminded of. But not by someone having an accident. This bother's me more than anything.
    Daddy, what's an enabler?
    Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
  • JerryBobCoJerryBobCo Posts: 8,227 Senior Member
    When I was about 16, I came within a split second of blowing the head off of my former little league baseball coach. He was a family friend, and his son and I are still friends.

    We were hunting jackrabbits one night. My dad and my coach were in the cab of my dad's pickup, and my coach's son and I were standing in the bed of the pickup. We were driving backroads and shooting rabbits we saw in the headlights. I was standing directly behind the passenger seat.

    We saw a rabbit in the ditch on my side, and my dad stopped to let us shoot. I aimed my .410 shotgun over the top of the pickup to shoot it. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, my coach opened the door, stood on the running board, and then stood up. His head suddenly popped up within inches of my barrel. Fortunately, I saw him in time and was able to hold off on pulling the trigger. If he had done that half a second later, it would been a totally different story. To this day, I am still haunted by that incident.

    I never told my old coach about that, and for years no one even know about it but me. I told my dad about it several years ago.

    Even under the best of circumstances, accidents can happen.
    Jerry

    Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
  • TeachTeach Posts: 18,428 Senior Member
    One of Mary's cousins lost a leg over a bird dog training accident. He had leaned his 12 gauge double barrel against a tree to work with the dog, the dog knocked the gun over, and got its toes inside the trigger guard. One barrel fired, and the shot charge severed the man's femur several inches above the knee. After months of treatment and several surgeries, the leg had to be removed. He's still alive, but his hunting days are over.
    Jerry
  • snake284snake284 Posts: 22,429 Senior Member
    When I was a Texas Hunter Ed instructor, we used to go to semenars up in Brownwood Texas at the 4H training facility there. We'd go up on Friday night and come back Sunday afternoon. We would spend all day Saturday and Sunday morning in training classes. There were plenty of speakers and we would hear all sorts of horror stories like these. They were all true and some we had heard of in the news. One was especially sad. The grandfather and the son took the grandson deer hunting every year. Well the grandson was actually too young to legally hunt by himself but they let him sit in his own blind. One morning the grandson got cold or decided to go find his father or grandfather. The Grandfather was iin his own blind not far from the boy. Well, the boy was walking through the brush and the grandfather mistakened him for a deer and shot him, not once but three times killing him. The father and the grandfather had not spoken or associated since then. It broke a close family up and they lost a son-grandson.

    There were a couple of lessons here. If someone puts you in a blind, stay there until they come to get you. Also never, not ever shoot at sound or unsure movement. Always positively identify your target and also, never use your rifle scope to check out game. Binoculars are a much better option and a whole lot safer.
    Daddy, what's an enabler?
    Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
  • beartrackerbeartracker Posts: 3,116 Senior Member
    I have never told this story before, but when I was a young man (28yrs old) I was hunting by myself and had a 2" 357 mag S&W carry. I had hunted about two hours and got a little bored, so I took out my 357 mag and was messing with it (yes it was loaded) and I thought I saw something on the edge of one of the cylinders and I turn the revolver around toward my face to see what it was and as I was turning the revolver ever so close and in the direction of my face; I let my finger slip into the trigger area, forgetting that I had left the revolver cocked from playing with it and it went off right by my face, and the blast blew my cap off.

    I reached for my face to feel if any of it had been hit, I was able to see fine so I knew my eyes were ok. When realizing how fortunate I was to be okay (except for a painful ringing in my left ear) I dropped to my knees and immediately thanked God for sparing me in my moment of stupidity. Never done anything that stupid since and sure hope I don't.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Magazine Cover

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Temporary Price Reduction

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Guns & Ammo stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

Advertisement