If somebody shoots me on the trails, they can say they thought I was a bear and get away with it?

I am not much of a hiker, but I love to run trails. I make very sure that the trails I run are either off limits to hunting, or if I am running trails that allow hunting, that I DON”T run them during ANY hunting season.

The boy was absolutely wrong for not making absolutely sure at what he was shooting at. But I say again, she should have known that hunting season was open.

This is tragic on all aspects.

to be completely honest, a hunter never fires before he's Identified his target. While this kid may have said he thought she was a bear and fired, he obviously never identified his target, nor should have been in the situation, where he was armed without a parent or other adult present to oversee what he was doing. This is a very difficult case, because children should not be hunting in the first place for a number of very obvious reasons without supervision because of exactly this reason.

While to say nothing should happen is quite wrong, the child's parents should be charged with manslaughter and serve 1-5 years in prison at the very least.

Now, we can also assume that the child may have known full well it was not a bear but a woman and fired anyway. If that was the case, the kid needs some kind of psyc evaluation. He shouldn't be allowed to hold another gun in his life if thats the case.

Depending if I was investigating the case, if the kid had a lot of background and had some experience, I'd be worried about his state of mind (colorado is the home of Columbine) if the kid didn't have a lot of background in hunting, say this was his first year etc, then I'd be looking at manslaughter charges against his parent or gaurdian.

For nothing to happen because of this however, is completely wrong. There is nothing wrong with owning and using guns. There is something VERY wrong with being unable to tell the difference in this instance and being irresponsible with firearms. In my opinion, irresponsibility with firearms is the greatest danger in rural areas. For those who can't respect them, they have no right to owning them. There is a big difference. Just remember a vast majority of gun-use in this country is responsible.

whacked wrote:

I am not much of a hiker, but I love to run trails. I make very sure that the trails I run are either off limits to hunting, or if I am running trails that allow hunting, that I DON”T run them during ANY hunting season.

The boy was absolutely wrong for not making absolutely sure at what he was shooting at. But I say again, she should have known that hunting season was open.

This is tragic on all aspects.

The Woman should have known yes, but that does not preclude the trail hiking usage. Usually a sign is posted somewhere along a trail that indicates hunting season is ongoing and that hunters may be in the area. Don't know the specifics, but you can not blame this woman who was shot because the trail is not precluded from use. You can not blame her so don't.

The hunter has the responsibility of identifying his target. That is what it means to be a responsible hunter and to use firearms responsibly. That was either not done, or done with malice, in which case the kid or the kids gaurdian who was with him are to blame. I will be very surprised to see nothing come out of this case.

For most who use the trails, if hunting season is open, you need to have some kind of reflective gear on or other bright identifier. But the locus of responsibility is on the hunter. If you can not be responsible, you should not be anywhere near firearms.

He's white so he'll pull the WHITE CARD and get away with it. Lance Armstrong did it.

PULL THE WHITE CARD wrote:

He's white so he'll pull the WHITE CARD and get away with it. Lance Armstrong did it.

please f*** off.

The boy must have been a crack shot to take her down in 1 shot from a distance where he was unable to identify that she was a human.

I think she was on this trail. An article I read said that there were no arrests but they're still investigating.

A year or two ago a mom and her daughter were shot to death hiking in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Ntl Forest and the person who did it hasn't been brought to justice.

thand wrote:

Can someone seriously answer this? What the hell do you do with it? Can anyone tell us what you can get from a bear besides a bad rug or a stupid head for a wall?

i know that some of you folks who have been cooped up in the city for your whole life might not understand this, but if nobody hunts, animals start running around where people live.

Unless we want to allow wolves/bears/etc.... to thrive enough in order to hunt deer and the occasional small suburban child, someone has to kill these animals.

but you metrosexual sweet dudes can keep sipping your apple martinis. you're so sophisticated.

People in glass houses wrote:

The boy must have been a crack shot to take her down in 1 shot from a distance where he was unable to identify that she was a human.

More likely, he saw something move, then fired off a 1 in a million shot. If he tried to do it twice he'd shoot his nads off before he hit something on purpose.

Here's a forum with pictures to maybe give you an idea of what the place looks like. The pictures make it look very open, at least maybe near the top.

http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24409

I wonder if the kid has undiagnosed myopia (near sighted) and needs to see an optometrist.

amcnx wrote:

People in glass houses wrote:

The boy must have been a crack shot to take her down in 1 shot from a distance where he was unable to identify that she was a human.

More likely, he saw something move, then fired off a 1 in a million shot. If he tried to do it twice he'd shoot his nads off before he hit something on purpose.

Likely, this is why children DON'T hunt without supervision. And if he was allowed to fire, the adult bears some responsibility. That case last year with the mother and daughter was a doozy- if the white rednecks enjoy killing other white people, soon there won't be any left after the mexicans, chinese, blacks, and arabs get done with us. Think its bad now, just wait until the oil is gone. Stupid people like this boy and his parents are why we have a government.

The boy should be brought into the nearest public square and summarily executed.

kennedy was drunk and crashed, and she drowned. not exactly murder. just monumentally bad judgment, and typical of the time to drive drunk.

helpful wrote:

[quote]:

i know that some of you folks who have been cooped up in the city for your whole life might not understand this, but if nobody hunts, animals start running around where people live.

Unless we want to allow wolves/bears/etc.... to thrive enough in order to hunt deer and the occasional small suburban child, someone has to kill these animals.

People are "cooped" up in the city by choice. You made the choice to live in the middle of no where. When we all choose a place to live you have to accept all that comes with it.

Tell me, do you just "kill" everything that you see as an inconvenience? The woman that got shot would have been fine if it was only the bears she had to worry about. What killed her was the demented offspring of a grizzly Adams wanna be dope like you who gets off on shooting things to feel tough and make up for his many insecurities.

What does "where people live" mean? So if some survivalist wants to move someplace with his 6 toed inbred family, he has the right to start blasting everything he sees as a threat?

jonesy. wrote:

kennedy was drunk and crashed, and she drowned. not exactly murder. just monumentally bad judgment, and typical of the time to drive drunk.

Why is it that at letsrun, Ted Kennedy gets crucified for drunk driving, but another celebrity drunk like pre gets a free pass?

asdasd wrote:

Why the f*ck does a boy have a gun? And why do we need to hunt for sport/recreation?

Hope the boy burns in hell.

burn in hell for killing an animal? should i burn in hell for eating at mcdonalds? oh, wait those don't come from animals. should i burn in hell for eating at chik-fil-a?

"....I went and shot the limit that the game laws would allow;

two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow."

I did say that the boy was absolutely wrong for not making absolutely sure at what he was shooting at. I am not assigning any blame to the woman. I am saying she should have/could have been more aware of her surroundings.

I've hiked that exact trail. It is VERY popular. She was standing ON the trail. It is 100% idiocy that she was exercising her right to hike on a well used public trail and shot for it. It's not like she was off the trail and rooting around for blueberries or something.

I respect hunters but no respected hunter would have allowed this to happen. The dad is really at fault here. On a fairly high use trail you tell a kid NOT to shoot at ANYTHING that moves on the trail.