Camper Shoots Friend He Thought Was a Bear

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Alaska444

Moderator
This should generate some interesting discussion on target acquisition before pulling the trigger. A camper on Vancouver Island shot his friend mistaking him for a bear trying to get into the tent. Upon hearing noises suggesting some creature trying to get into the tent, he fired in the direction of the sound wounding his friend in the face and arm.

At approximately 5 a.m., two 22 year-old males were camping in a tent near the Nitinat River when one of the males was woken up by what he believed was a black bear trying to gain entry to the tent.

According to Const. Roger Nyberg, "One of the males grabbed a firearm and discharged several rounds out through the tent in the direction he believed the bear to be. As a result of the rounds being fired inside the tent he shot the other 22-year-old male once in the face and once in the arm causing extensive injuries."
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http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...e+camping+Vancouver+Island/5470679/story.html

I will put that trigger happy on a no camping list and why would someone so stupid be allowed the right to carry a firearm? It wasn't a bear, it is just the only other person camping with you. Boy, don't go take a leak with that kid around, you need a password to get back inside the tent!!
 
Story doesn't have many details. Maybe the guy was making bear noises as a practical joke. I remember reading in OL or F&S of an indicident 40 or so years ago wherein some clown, who stayed in the hunting camp to cook while his friends went out for the day, thought it would be funny to hide in a bush, make bear noises and shake the foliage when his buds walked by on the way back to camp. His buds thought they were about to be attacked from a few feet away, so let loose on the bush and killed him. I think it took place in Michigan.
 
From the information provided, the friend hiding in the bushes should have known better and the shooter should know better than to shoot at noise.
 
The way I read it, the shooting victim may have been inside the tent with the shooter. May have just sat up to figure out what was going on and caught a bullet for his trouble.
 
The way I read it, the shooting victim may have been inside the tent with the shooter. May have just sat up to figure out what was going on and caught a bullet for his trouble.
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that is what it sounds like to me also. You should always verify your target visually before shooting.
 
target acquisition before pulling the trigger.
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Sounds like he needs to Identify his target before acquiring it.

I had a cow and a goat shot because people thought they were a deer. They saw "Something" move through the brush.
 
I wonder if the paranoid shooter had gone on a gun forum before the camping trip and posted the question......"What gun/ammo for bear protection?:rolleyes:
 
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