4 hunters shot in Wis

[jeffreyd]

How is this possible??

WAUSAU, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is investigating four shootings involving deer hunters on opening day.

A 40-year-old Edgar man was shot in the chest near the shoulder around 9 a.m. Saturday in the Marathon County town of Wien.

Sheriff's Lt. Dale Wisnewski says the wound was not life threatening. The DNR says a deer drive was involved.

The Wood County Sheriff's Department says about two hours earlier a hunter attempting to shoot a deer shot another hunter near Arpin. The Wausau Daily Herald reports that hunter was in serious condition Saturday.

In Door County, a hunter was hit in the thigh and a hunter was grazed in Marquette County.

The DNR says near ideal conditions across the state contributed to an active morning.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[hockeybc69]

Ah, deer drives....

That answers the first one with ease.

The rest, I am going to guess weekend warriors were involved. The people that hunt a couple days a year total and do nothing else. Just a guess.

[BobT]

Carelessness, stupidity, recklessness, inappropriate use of a firearm.

[Juneau4]

Put 600,000 automobiles in a confined area driving around and someone will get hurt. Put 600,000 hunters in the woods and someone will get hurt.

[Cheetah]

How is this possible??

It happens every year. Sounds very similar to the incidents I read about in MN this year.

[paceman]

yes it happens in probably every state that has hunting. Some are accidents, some of just careless idiots with guns. Actually its is pretty amazing that there are not more people shot.

[Jack Peterson]

There was the one in Minnesota where a kid shot a deer, forgot his safety in the fire position, and tripped in some brush. Happens so often where people forget their safety off, and end up shooting themselves in the head.

[paul pachowicz]

Makes me wonder how many were drunk, drinking or hungover. Camp rule: Open a beer and you're done for the day. None of my party drink but we have had a few guys that did. Not any more.

[ozzie]

Ah, deer drives....

That answers the first one with ease.

The rest, I am going to guess weekend warriors were involved. The people that hunt a couple days a year total and do nothing else. Just a guess.

I hate the comment of weekend warriors for the fact that has nothing to do with people that are just plain stupid!! It doesn't matter if you hunt 1 day or 50 days it all comes down to people being responsible and knowing what is beyond the shot and not taking shots that are careless such as shooting 5 shots at a deer running through the woods.....

[mrklean]

sad to hear happens every year and most of it could have been prevented

[goblueM]

sure enough... deer drives

still, 4 folks plus or minus a couple every year is pretty good when you consider how many people are out in the woods and how many shots are fired.

what's even more amazing is the numbers BEFORE mandatory hunter education

[nonteepical]

i was hunting a state forrest a few years back and was making my way out of the woods at the end of the day, one guy hunted the main walking trail, when i get to where he had his stand he's still in it, and says to me: "lucky i don't have a doe tag or i would have shot you". turns out he uses his scope for binoculars and had his rifle pointed at me to verify what the sound coming through the woods was. i felt like taking the butt of my rifle and smashing his head open.

[mrklean]

i got blasted at duck hunting once saw the reeds about 4 feet away mowed down that was scary

[lakevet]

Ah, deer drives....

That answers the first one with ease.

I disagree. If someone shoot another hunter from a stand were they were sitting all day, you don't blame stand hunting.

It comes down to drilling it into all your hunting group that before you pull the trigger, know your target and what is behind it. Praise those that pass on deer because they followed the rule. Breaking that rule likely was the reason most of those 4 hunters got shot. Obey that rule AND enforce it ruthlessly and you will reduce all hunting accidents no matter what the method of hunting.

lakevet

[GatorBait]

Stop doing drives and it will end considerably. Personally, I haven't seen a deer drive in prolly the last 5-8yrs, and everyone used to do them after operner, not to much anymore though. Hockey seems correct to me, I'd place 90% on the injured being a Blocker at the end of the drive and got smoked due to a deer running parrellel across the drive party. Anytime you have drives, your risk of being shot jumps insanely high. Just not worth a deer for me to participate in them.

[goblueM]

not to mention a deer is all full of adrenaline and are often shot questionably when jumped on a drive... not the best for the quality of meat

[HandGunner]

im surprised no one mentioned blaze orange..... i hear leaves crumbling i hear something getting closer i turn around with my shotgun getting ready to shoot but before i aim i try and find the target then what do ya know its my dad wearing BLAZE ORANGE checking up on me................... never once had i aimed at something not knowing what it is and when your wearing blaze orange its hard to mistake it for anything. be smart ppl wear blaze orange and know your target and whats beyond!

[harvey lee]

I have always hated deer drives. I would quit deer hunting if I had to hunt that way.

Where we rifle hunt, we try to keep it to one hunter per 150 plus acres. I feel thats about as safe as we can get.

Get one large buck running in the woods and hit the ground for cover asap.

[lakevet]

6 hunters were shot on the North Dakota Pheasant opener, including one Minnesotan who shot himself accidently and died. As a percentage, hunting is still very safe, even deer drives or pheasant pushes. However any hunting where everyone is on the same level swinging on moving targets (esp if limited visibility like standing corn) has specific risks that are not present when hunting alone. Deer drives and bird hunting with more than one person have similar risks. Don't hear calls to ban pheasant pushes. Know way more people shot (some killed) during bird hunting than deer hunting. Especially 2 guys in boat swinging on waterfowl flying low. I pheasant hunted ONCE with large group around Willmar, MN. At times I was just plain scared as 1) I didn't know how safe the other people would be, 2) when in the corn you can't see nothing cross row. I definitely would not deer hunt that way.

There is likely a big difference between a deer drive in flat cornfield country with standing corn, and a drive in the woods around here. The family rule for over 100 years is the standers MUST be elevated high so all shots are directed safely downward into the ground (know what's beyond your target) and you have better visibility (know what your target is). Plenty of trees on the family lands that have old railroad spikes from years ago that were placed to elevate standers and to do the drives safely.

I am way more nervous about bird hunting with others than deer hunting.

No matter what the type of hunting, follow basic firearms rules and enforce them in your group. A good rule is if you can see ANY part of the muzzle of someone's gun, it is pointing too close to you and you tell them to point it elsewhere.

Lastly, if you know the art of deer drives, most of your shots will be at standing or walking deer just moving out of the way , not crazy panicked deer. The big bucks especially like to just casually slide out of the way without attracting attention.

lakevet

[lakevet]

Where we rifle hunt, we try to keep it to one hunter per 150 plus acres. I feel thats about as safe as we can get.

Minnesota has 83,574 square miles which at 640 acres per comes to 53,487,360 acres. At approx 500,000 deer hunters you get roughly 107 acres per hunter. A little less than your 150. Not to mention most of us wouldn't want to be on stand in Minneapolis (although it might help the crime rate )

lakevet

[WyoChris]

I went deer driving with a group of guys once a few years back. We were driving in NW Wisconsin in some pretty thick woods and it was hard to see what was beyond the trees. Although there were no incidents and a few deer were shot, it just didn't seem safe. I'd much prefer to hunt from a stand.

It would be interesting to see how the other 2 guys were shot. I would think there would be more firearms accidents/negligent discharges than actually being hit by another hunter.

[hockeybc69]

You want to talk hunter density?

I have a relative that has 40 acres 3/4 of a mile east of our land..... Last year they had 10 people on rifle opening weekend on that 40 acres. I kid you not...... YIKES!!!!!

Its definitely more of a "party" or "social" gathering than a hunt if you ask me.

They shot 2 deer last year if I remember correctly. No surprise because when I went up to visit the hunting shack on Friday midday before opener, there was only 3 guys in the hunting shack. The rest were out getting stands ready..... I had to laugh inside....