Hunting Accident in Sibley County

[Vickie]

I just returned from turkey hunting, last night, and this tragedy is just unbelievable. There is absolutely NO WAY that a child looks like a tom turkey! First, turkeys are NOT dressed all in camo. Second, in the spring, there needs to be a visable beard on that gobbler. So, not only was the target not identified as a turkey, it certainly wasn't identitfied as a tom.

I had many hens come within range this past season, but clearly identified them. If not 100% certain pass on the shot. I did shoot a gobbler. There just is not ANY WAY to mistake a child for a tom turkey.

I am sure that dad did not intend to shoot his son. However, his actions speak for themselves as to what happened. He will live with his decision for the rest of his life.

Vickie

[cw642]

Note from Admin, please read forum policy before posting again,thank-you.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I understand your passion but what good will this do for the family? A mother just lost her son and now you want her husband in prison? There is no bringing this child back and the tragedy of the situation is truely horrible. How about we allow the family to bury and mourn their loss before we start throwing lawyers and passing judgement at them.

It's a pretty horrible situation. My thoughts and prayers go for the family.

[sdstatekid]

I am in South Dakota so i haven't seen any news story but is it 100% sure that he shot into the brush or is there a possibility that he shot at a turkey and his kid was behind it?

I know that sounds farfetched but it happened to a guy from arlington when he and his best friend were turkey hunting out here a couple years ago. The guy that got shot was working his way back to where his buddy was and his buddy didn't know it, the shooter thought that the other guy was still half mile away. A turkey had walked out into the field and it ended up standing where the shooter was looking directly into the sun. His buddy was directly in line about 20 yards behind the turkey and he had no idea he was there so when he shot he hit his buddy in the chest and the face. Is this an accident? I think it is, the shooter had no idea his buddy was right in the line of fire, he thought he was a half mile away.

No matter what happened I feel horrible for everyone involved and I hope they get through it, and I hope other hunters learn from this terrible incident.

[idratherbefishing]

This is an unbelieveable tragedy and my thoughts and prayers go out to Hunter and his family and especially his Dad. The pain he will suffer would be unbearable. I can't even imagine. God be with them.

[stop'emfromfloppin]

This is an unbelievable tragedy and my prayers go out to the family. Having said that this was an inexcusable accident. First of all who leaves their 9 year old child in the woods by themselves and starts stalking an animal. If you are taking a child that young you should plan on having the child by your side the entire hunt so you can share the experience and know that the child is safe at all times. This guy should never have lost site of his child and than decide to starting shooting at a noise. It saddens me that this guy was so ignorant to the safety precautions that need to be used in hunting, especially when you are with a child. It is a tragedy that a child has lost his life and the family will have to live with this loss all because of one persons ignorance. Being a father hearing this story made me sick.

[CaptainMusky]

 Originally Posted By: stop'emfromfloppin

This is an unbelievable tragedy and my prayers go out to the family. Having said that this was an inexcusable accident. First of all who leaves their 9 year old child in the woods by themselves and starts stalking an animal. If you are taking a child that young you should plan on having the child by your side the entire hunt so you can share the experience and know that the child is safe at all times. This guy should never have lost site of his child and than decide to starting shooting at a noise. It saddens me that this guy was so ignorant to the safety precautions that need to be used in hunting, especially when you are with a child. It is a tragedy that a child has lost his life and the family will have to live with this loss all because of one persons ignorance. Being a father hearing this story made me sick.

This is exactly what I was thinking. The words we say will not bring Hunter back, but the first thing I think of when I hear things like this happen is how irresponsible. I mean, come on folks, hunting is under such scrutiny as it is with PETA, etc and then we aren't careful with young children around?

The key thing here is we want our children to experience these things and we want it to be the most rewarding as possible. Having said that, don't leave your kid alone to stalk an animal. They want to experience it as well. There should be no animal that is more important than the safety and experience your child will have if you keep them with you. I want my 7 year old to sit with me in my two person deer stand this Fall. I fully realize that I shouldn't expect to see anything, as I am OK with that knowing that he will not be quiet or sit still, but just sitting there, alone, with my son where he has the chance to see and experience some of the things that I truly enjoy is priceless. I cant imagine what Hunter's father is going through. I think it is a tragic accident, but things like this should NEVER happen. Be careful out there an use common sense folks. Words of my firearms safety instructor over 20 years ago, "treat every gun as if it were loaded and keep it pointed in a safe direction at all times. Be sure of your target." If this man had been sure of his target this tragedy would never have happened. I think he will beat himself up about this pretty bad. I just hope it makes some people realize what mistakes were done here and don't allow them to happen again.

[Dave B]

I knew Tony from high school wrestling at a neighboring school and his wife Amber was my wrestling cheerleader, classmate and friend.

These are good people who are dealing with a tragic accident. My heart aches for them.

[tacklejunkie]

someone here already answered my question. i dont hunt anymore, save an occasional grouse hunt, but my question was dont you have to wait for a head shot and make sure that it was a male? sad, sad, sad. my youngest is the same age as this boy. what was supposed to be a treasured dad/son outing ends horribly

hug your kids extra tight tonight, dads(and moms)

[Sandmannd]

 Originally Posted By: CaptainMusky

 Originally Posted By: stop'emfromfloppin

This is an unbelievable tragedy and my prayers go out to the family. Having said that this was an inexcusable accident. First of all who leaves their 9 year old child in the woods by themselves and starts stalking an animal. If you are taking a child that young you should plan on having the child by your side the entire hunt so you can share the experience and know that the child is safe at all times. This guy should never have lost site of his child and than decide to starting shooting at a noise. It saddens me that this guy was so ignorant to the safety precautions that need to be used in hunting, especially when you are with a child. It is a tragedy that a child has lost his life and the family will have to live with this loss all because of one persons ignorance. Being a father hearing this story made me sick.

This is exactly what I was thinking. The words we say will not bring Hunter back, but the first thing I think of when I hear things like this happen is how irresponsible. I mean, come on folks, hunting is under such scrutiny as it is with PETA, etc and then we aren't careful with young children around?

The key thing here is we want our children to experience these things and we want it to be the most rewarding as possible. Having said that, don't leave your kid alone to stalk an animal. They want to experience it as well. There should be no animal that is more important than the safety and experience your child will have if you keep them with you. I want my 7 year old to sit with me in my two person deer stand this Fall. I fully realize that I shouldn't expect to see anything, as I am OK with that knowing that he will not be quiet or sit still, but just sitting there, alone, with my son where he has the chance to see and experience some of the things that I truly enjoy is priceless. I cant imagine what Hunter's father is going through. I think it is a tragic accident, but things like this should NEVER happen. Be careful out there an use common sense folks. Words of my firearms safety instructor over 20 years ago, "treat every gun as if it were loaded and keep it pointed in a safe direction at all times. Be sure of your target." If this man had been sure of his target this tragedy would never have happened. I think he will beat himself up about this pretty bad. I just hope it makes some people realize what mistakes were done here and don't allow them to happen again.

I agree with both of you one hundred percent, but I don't want to beat this guy up. I'm sure he's doing that to himself enough. It's unbelievable that this kind of thing happens. I had never hunted before last year and took hunters safety, not because I needed to (I'm an old fart) but because I wanted to educate myself before carying a firearm. Not only should you treat all like they are loaded, never point at anything you don't intend to shoot. But you should ALWAYS identify your target and what's beyond. I have no idea how people get shot like this, it should never happen. I hunted Carlos Avery last fall and might not go back. Just to scary the way some of the yahoo's there treat the hunt. I love to have a good time and get some game, but safety should never be forgotten. When you take a child with you, hunting/fishing is second to your child. If you don't get anything you still are rewarded with an outing with your child. That to me is more than fresh meet on the table.

[Shoot2Kill]

 Originally Posted By: brittman

Repectfully disagree Shoot2kill. Certainly leave his name out of the discussion (he has and will suffer enough).

But for the rest of us - focus on the incident that unfolded that day.

Whether it is a young mother leaving a child in hot car, a guy driving DUI & killing another or a hunting accident, it is a bigger tragedy if this incident is repeated again in another family.

Respectfully disagree with what? Sounds like we're on the same page. I said "obviously" like "duh" we know that, go easy on the poor guy. My post was meant for people to not assume anything like about the post I quoted where the poster asked if the dad ever took a hunters safety course and was throwing him under the bus without knowing a thing about him.

Yes, the focus should be on the incident and the family.

[Scott Bethel]

There is a Memorial Fund set up via Wells Fargo Bank.

You can go to any Well Fargo and donate to (and please do) the

HUNTER RUSSELL KLASEUS MEMORIAL FUND

We will be doing a story on our radio show about this when we record tonight. The show will be available online by this weekend at http://www.theamericanoutdoorsman.com/AOradio.html

The story was brought to our attention by one of our listeners who had heard last weeks safety tip from our show (online now)which was to not shoot at a turkey unless you can see his eyes. All of us here have sons from age 6 to 14 and can only imagine the pain the father must feel. We are all sick about it.

We will get this story out to 1) get people to donate to the fund and 2) hopefully prevent another tragedy. We know number 2 can be done as we have heard stories of hunters thinking twice before shooting based on safety advice we or others had given.

[LABS4ME]

Keep spreading the word! Safety 1st!!!!!!!!! Dinner second...

Good Luck!

Ken

[Sandmannd]

Scott, thanks for the post. Is your show on locally in the cities at all?

[Scott Bethel]

 Originally Posted By: Sandmannd

Scott, thanks for the post. Is your show on locally in the cities at all?

No, not at this time. We are in Kansas City and one of our listeners brought this to my attention. The show is available online though via our HSOforum. One of our online listeners lives in Winona and we had just talked about this in our second segment where a guy almost shot his uncle because his uncle sat down, pant legs came up and he had red and blue stripes on his socks. The guy thought it was a turkey and the words of one of our TV hosts came to him - "Don't shoot at that turkey unless you can see his eyes." The next thing the guy knew, what he thought was a turkey lit a cigarette. Our listener shared how awful it was that the father of this little boy was unable to hear that message. That show is up on our site right now and you would only have to listen to about 1/4 of it to hear that part.

[papabear]

Let this tragedy have a purpose to educate others on what is at risk when using a firearm and the importance of safety. Let it also serve as a reminder that our children deserve our time and attention. This young man died while hunting with his father, though it is a tragedy that he had to, die at least for his short life he had a father who loved him enough to want to spend his time in the outdoors with his son. It can not releave the pain of loss but to remember he was apperently loved helps. Nothing can punish this family more than they have already been.

So let us learn from this so it will save more lives and this life did not end in vain.

[mechanictim]

In the the early 90's I attended one of the Minnesota DNR's turkey hunter clinics. I don't recall too much of the tactics or calling strategies that were discussed but I still remember three very crucial safety points made that day. We are restricted to 4,5, or 6 shot because it minimzes lethal range on people. Bigger shot penetrates more and carries further. The second point was to not use gobble calls as some one could start stalking you, even on private property. And the third point was to never try to stalk a turkey. The chances of getting close enough for a shot are minnimal. And as you stalk you sound just like a turkey walking through the woods. Shooting from an ambush alows you to positively identify your target and to survey what is around you that you don't want to shoot. If approached by another hunter don't move but call out to them in a clear voice to let them know you are there. Far better to spook a bird than be mistaken for one. They pointed out that the people most likely to shoot someone were experianced turkey hunters. Their reason for experianced hunters shooting someone was that the guy/gal may think they have a reputation to uphold for always getting a bird.

This is one of the reasons I really don't care for any type of hunting competion/contests. People using a firearm or any lethal weapon in the field should just enjoy the hunt and not worry about points, getting on the board, or getting bragging rights. Some people enjoy the competition more than the hunt and can push limits and common sense to win, the same is true for some who want to show off for friends and family.

I don't know why the father didn't sit next his son and try to call the birds in, but I hope everyone will remeber his son, Hunter, the next time they think of stalking turkeys. You may not be as alone as you thought you were.

[blueroof]

In todays Strib outdoor's section: Turkey hunter who killed his young son had no license

Sad sad story.

[tacklejunkie]

 Originally Posted By: Scott Bethel

There is a Memorial Fund set up via Wells Fargo Bank.

You can go to any Well Fargo and donate to (and please do) the

HUNTER RUSSELL KLASEUS MEMORIAL FUND

We will be doing a story on our radio show about this when we record tonight. The show will be available online by this weekend at http://www.theamericanoutdoorsman.com/AOradio.html

The story was brought to our attention by one of our listeners who had heard last weeks safety tip from our show (online now)which was to not shoot at a turkey unless you can see his eyes. All of us here have sons from age 6 to 14 and can only imagine the pain the father must feel. We are all sick about it.

We will get this story out to 1) get people to donate to the fund and 2) hopefully prevent another tragedy. We know number 2 can be done as we have heard stories of hunters thinking twice before shooting based on safety advice we or others had given.

by any wells fargo, do you mean ANY? so if i went to duluth and donated they would know what i was talking about?

i feel like bawling like a schoolgirl when i read that story.

[Shack]

 Originally Posted By: sdstatekid

I am in South Dakota so i haven't seen any news story but is it 100% sure that he shot into the brush or is there a possibility that he shot at a turkey and his kid was behind it?

I know that sounds farfetched but it happened to a guy from arlington when he and his best friend were turkey hunting out here a couple years ago. The guy that got shot was working his way back to where his buddy was and his buddy didn't know it, the shooter thought that the other guy was still half mile away. A turkey had walked out into the field and it ended up standing where the shooter was looking directly into the sun. His buddy was directly in line about 20 yards behind the turkey and he had no idea he was there so when he shot he hit his buddy in the chest and the face. Is this an accident? I think it is, the shooter had no idea his buddy was right in the line of fire, he thought he was a half mile away.

No matter what happened I feel horrible for everyone involved and I hope they get through it, and I hope other hunters learn from this terrible incident.

I was thinking the same thing.

No matter what comes out in the end, this father made a mistake. I do not care what others think, but I feel for him and I am saddened by the loss of young Hunter.

I know what I am going to do with a $20 bill I have in my pocket today at launch. I have to go to the bank anyways.

[tealitup]

From the Star Tribune.

The Belle Plaine man who fatally shot his 8-year-old son in the chest while turkey hunting Saturday did not have a license to hunt.

Anthony Klaseus, 39, paid $3 to enter a lottery and was drawn for a license. But he failed to buy the $18 license to hunt legally, said Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath and authorities from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

It's one of the most common violations, said Mike Hammer, DNR education coordinator in the enforcement division.

The DNR can cite violators directly only if they're caught in the act, he said, but can investigate cases after the fact and forward them to the county attorney's office for possible charges.

Ponath said the license violation is part of the larger investigation, which his office hopes to complete in seven to 10 days.

Klaseus was hunting with his son, Hunter, in a Sibley County farm field. He told his son, Hunter, to stay put as he snuck into nearby woods, but the boy followed. His father mistook him for a turkey and shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun. Both were wearing camouflage gear, which is legal for turkey hunting.

Ponath said one of the property owner's sons has said Klaseus didn't have permission to hunt there. Authorities are investigating whether another of the owner's sons may have granted permission.

Hunters can hunt on private, non-agricultural land without asking permission if the property does not have "no trespassing" signs posted or if they have not been told by the owner to stay off.

Klaseus does not have any hunting or fishing violations on record, according to the DNR.

Hunter's funeral was held Wednesday. He would have turned 9 next week

___________________________________________

So from this story the father did not have a license and was trespassing. Wow, opinion changing a little

[Sandmannd]

It's soo dang sad. The more of this story I hear the worse I feel. The bad thing is that I'm starting to feel angry at the Dad. If he was so into hunting, how did he not have a license and hunting on land he had no permission for. Just keeps getting worse. I agree with other posts I've read. You should have stayed with you boy and called the bird to you.

[doser]

I'm good friends with three of the guys that were on the scene. One was the Sherrif and two others were investigators. I talked with one of the invd. and said the situation was just terrible and has seen alot of stuff , but this one was hard to handle. I feel for the family and can't even imagine. They also said there was a camera man on scene before the rescue squad got there. Unmarked van with no identification shooting about 200 hund. yards away. Said when he saw it on TV couldn't believe how close they could zoom with those cameras.

[saddie]

Lets not stray from the real tragedy here A Boy is gone for ever and no matter how angry we get about it nothing will compare with the pain the father feels. I dont care what took place before hand he did not mean to kill his ONLY SON no punishment will compare to what he has to live with until he is reunited with his son in heaven. When that day comes Hunter will tell him its ok dad at least you took the time to be with me and Im sorry for not listening to you and the pain you have helded onto all these years. Please dont judge him and what happened just learn from it and take the time to take your children hunting and watch them carefully. In Hunters memory may more parents take the time to be with your kids now! You will have all the time in the world when they are grown up for yourselves.

Respectfully yours

MOM(mom on a mission)

Cubmaster,Webelos leader,Cub scout day camp director, Girl Scout leader, Usc Pto member, Archery instuctor for youth,And the most important job ever Mother of a 9 and 6 year old who love to hunt, fish, and shoot archery and have since they where old enough to walk. We can change the world one kid at a time

[Hotspotter]

Saddie:

Amen to that.

Joel