Hunter mistook for elk killed

[Newboomer]

I just cannot see how I could shoot a "kudu cow" and then have Joe soap fall down....
How the hell do you pull the trigger at "something" just because somebody is calling?

Maybe the bownhunter was sneaking in thinking there is a elk calling? Never the less you cannot pull the trigger at just something? Maybe different people have different ways of hunting but just pulling the trigger.....sounds like "as long as there is lead in the air there is hope" is not the best approach.....never has been for me anyway....

How do you explain it? To me there is no explanation, excuse, reason, or whatever. One of the four cardinal rules of gun handling--Know Your Target. That's like bringing a Jersey heifer into a tagging station and saying "It looked like a big doe." Saw a few instances of that as a kid.

 

[IvW]

You could if your “kudu cow” hunt was taking place on public land and six or more hunters were stalking the same kudu from the opposite direction in the bush? Still shouldn’t happen, but it’s the reality of public land hunting in most of the US. One still doesn’t shoot at an animal without identifying THAT animal as their target. In this case there is absolutely no excuse for what happened.

Guess I would hunt in a pink wanzee suit then and hope the rest are not colour blind.....
Feel sorry for the oes tat got shot.....

 

[R.M.C.]

Yeah I don't care what the circumstances are, if he pulled the trigger, I say he's gotta sit. In jail. For quite a while. Doesn't make much sense to accidentally shoot someone with a muzzleloader thinking they were a bull elk

 

[ZG47]

Pennsylvania hunters in Colorado ... altitude might have been higher than they were used to (resulting in exhaustion and dehydration) plus when you go from near sea level to as little as 3,000 feet; alcohol stays in your system for longer. No excuse BUT these are points that I emphasised, prior to taking people for their firearm licence test.

 

[leslie hetrick]

a hunter was shot here about 30 years ago if i remember right, he was walking on a old rail road bed in a very long straight strecth well over 300 yards and took a bullet high in his back and was a pass thru. found face down with his rifle still on his shoulder, probley dead before he hit the ground. they never found out if he was murdered or if it was a stray shot. at least no one owned up to it.

 

[CoElkHunter]

a hunter was shot here about 30 years ago if i remember right, he was walking on a old rail road bed in a very long straight strecth well over 300 yards and took a bullet high in his back and was a pass thru. found face down with his rifle still on his shoulder, probley dead before he hit the ground. they never found out if he was murdered or if it was a stray shot. at least no one owned up to it.

It wasn't a .35 Whelen was it? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[R.M.C.]

To hit a man at 300 yards, with a whelen?!?! No I doubt it lol
Probably .243

 

[CoElkHunter]

Pennsylvania hunters in Colorado ... altitude might have been higher than they were used to (resulting in exhaustion and dehydration) plus when you go from near sea level to as little as 3,000 feet; alcohol stays in your system for longer. No excuse BUT these are points that I emphasised, prior to taking people for their firearm licence test.

Well, there's nothing here at 3k feet. He was probably hunting at least 7-8K or more. Heck, I live in town at 6.7K and we hunt at 8- 8.5K I can't imagine drinking the morning of a hunt and then hunting at those altitudes? Alcohol is much more potent at higher altitude. We have a FEW beers with dinner AFTER the days hunt and then go to bed. 0 Dark Thirty comes early, especially when it's in the teens or low twenties.

 

[JimP]

In all that I have heard or even read alcohol has never been mentioned anywhere except here in this post.

 

[CoElkHunter]

In all that I have heard or even read alcohol has never been mentioned anywhere except here in this post.

True. I seriously doubt any alcohol was involved in this incident. I've hunted in the Durango area twice. Alcohol doesn't work when walking at altitude and over mountain trails. This isn't a jump on your ATV and drive a couple of miles and hunt. At least in that area and most of western Colorado.

 

[JimP]

It is always interesting that when something like this happens there are always those who inject their own spin on it no matter what any of the news releases say.

Any on of us here can do a internet search for it and find all that has been released on what happened, but you will not find very much on what actually happened except that a person hunting with a muzzle loader and wearing the required orange clothing shot a person who was archery hunting while wearing some brown or dark camo.

Both were hunting legally.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

It is always interesting that when something like this happens there are always those who inject their own spin on it no matter what any of the news releases say.

Any on of us here can do a internet search for it and find all that has been released on what happened, but you will not find very much on what actually happened except that a person hunting with a muzzle loader and wearing the required orange clothing shot a person who was archery hunting while wearing some brown or dark camo.

Both were hunting legally.

I believe the word your looking for is conjecture.

 

[fourfive8]

If the news release is half way accurate, the area north of Rico is in the general area of Lizard Head Pass. A lot of that country is steep and heavily timbered with some scattered meadowland. Most in the 9,000 - 10000+ ft. elevation range with Mt Wilson at over 14000 ft. No matter, very bad and hard to figure. Maybe toooo anxious to see an "elk" coming to an elk call.... elk, deer, horse, cow, man, bear, mtn lion...?

 

[Randy F]

Seeing the critter is one thing, seeing it well enough to place an ethical shot is quite another. If your doing that, how do you shoot a person?! I just don’t get it really. It’s very sad.

 

[kidogo]

I bow hunted elk in Colorado during muzzleloader season back in 2001 (during 9/11 in fact). We had a bull bugling and set up for him, with my partner behind me bugling and some cow calls. The bull answered. Looked like it was going well. Then I saw some orange through the brush. We were being stalked by two muzzle loader hunters. I turned around and said let's get out of here. They never knew we were there and probably wondered where that "elk" went.

 

[Zambezi]

Pure conjecture on my part but maybe the only "defence" is that a bull was called in and the archer was following the "call"... the shooter missed the bull and hit the following hunter....

One chance in a million...

Crime scene should be able to tell if an animal was even in the immediate vacinity.

 

[leslie hetrick]

it was not a .243 as he was only shot once, it could have been a .35 whelen as they are noted for killing with one shot.

 

[270Guy]

Must have had "One too many for the Hunt".have heard off a couple of incidents,but most of them were "Too Many Large for the Hunt".

 

[kidogo]

For those speculating on the caliber, a .243 is ample to kill a man with one shot, but this was a muzzleloader. It bothered me when I hunted there that while muzzleloader hunters were required to wear orange, bow hunters were not. Makes sense because bowhunters need to get closer, but what doesn't make sense is to put them in the woods at the same time. When I saw orange, I went the other way.

 

[gprippers]

It will NEVER make any kind of sense how IDJUTS take the shots they do...do the things they do!! Shoot into brush or at sounds or in the dark or not knowing where their hunting partner is or ANY of the stuuuuupid chit that these IDJUTS do! I mean COME ON FOR CHITS SAKE!!!!! You have got to be an absolute FOOL to accidentally shoot someone while hunting! Buck/Elk, Bear fever my ass...be a grown as MAN already...a REAL MAN who knows how to handle his business or at least while learning to handle his business he doesnt do the dumbest shit you can imagine!