Group hunts can be deadly

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Pahoo

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Man dies in coyote hunting incident

CLAY COUNTY, Iowa -- On January 27, at approximately 11:15 a.m., Clay County Sheriff’s deputies, Iowa DNR conservation officers and local emergency personnel responded to a report of a hunting incident near County Highway B53 and 160th Ave. in Clay County.
Kirk Struve, 47, of Granville, Iowa was struck by a round believed to be fired from another member of his hunting party. The incident occurred while Struve was coyote hunting with a large group of hunters.
Struve was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the shooting is on-going and further information will be released throughout the investigation as necessary.
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In Iowa there is pretty much an open season on Coyotes. I suspect that might hold true for other states as well. One method is to drive and Coyotes to blockers. I have hunting with such groups and one rule is, shotguns only. I have seen the number of participants in the upper teens and as high as the 20's .We always have a hunt leader/leaders who sets some rules. Sure enough, one or two members will sneak in a rifle. :rolleyes:

I post this to be careful and even when you set the rules for groups, they are not always followed. …… :rolleyes:

My prayers go out to the Struve family
Be Safe !!!
 
Damn. One of the first couple things drilled into my head as a kid was safety on and no finger on the trigger until you had 100% identified your target. In a drive or mooch situation, maybe the safety has to be off. But target ID is a must. Hate to see stories like this.
 
Statistics here are 50% of firearm incidents during hunting involved someone in the same party. 35% shoot themselves. Only 15% are shot by someone they don't know. Our current incident rate is about 1 per year average, in this state. I imagine the numbers are fairly similar elsewhere. Be cautious about who you hunt with. And then be careful yourself.

My condolences to the Struve family and all who knew him as well.

Pahoo, thanks for posting.
 
big al is right. Chances are that if you get shot while hunting, it will be by somebody else and usually it will be by somebody in your party.

With that said, hunting with a partner or partners can help assure that you indeed get medical assistance for all manners of injuries or health-related emergencies, such aid often being slower or non-existent without the benefit of partners.

As one of my old bosses once said, "Going outside is inherently dangerous."
 
Around here a popular way to 'yotes with a group is not to drive them, but to run them with dogs. Dogs are let out on a good set of tracks or just a area where 'yotes are numerous. Then "standers" take positions where they think the song dogs will try to cross. With GPS tracker collars, many times they are directed by a leader via phone or walkie-talkie where to quickly reposition themselves. While this can be fairly safe when one always knows where other members of their party are, with flat ground with few trees, long range weapons and folks wearing camo, it's not always easy. If the flat ground is frozen, you have to add in the risk of ricochets too. Put your eye up to a scope and follow a running coyote across an open field and you see nuttin' in front of you but the coyote. By the tiime you see your buddy in the scope, you may already be pulling the trigger.
 
Maybe a bit off topic but maybe not. Sounds like a legitimate sporting use for the civilian ownership of high end body armor.
 
I prefer the type of hunters that don't get overly excited when something is moving unseen in the bushes, being aware of the drivers and standers location, and always being aware of there target and what's behind it.
 
If this was a situation where drivers were pushing game toward hunters on stand it probably WASN'T a case of not clearly identifying the target. The shooter probably shot at a coyote, missed and hit someone else that could have been quite a distance away and unseen.

Game drives can be productive, and safe if done right. In southern swamps they are pretty common, but the shooters are required to be in elevated stands so all shots are at an angle down into the ground. And many places require shotguns with buckshot only to prevent missed shots from traveling for miles like a rifle will. Drivers are not permitted to shoot.
 
Hind-Sight is 20/20

The shooter probably shot at a coyote, missed and hit someone else that could have been quite a distance away and unseen.ve been quite a distance away and unseen.
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This incident is under investigation and this coming spring, during our Hunter Instructor's workshop, we will review what actually happened. If there is an interest, I will post a follow-up. Sad that there are times when we learn some hard lessons, the wrong way. ……. :(

Be Safe !!!
 
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If there is an interest, I will post a follow-up
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Yes please. I would like to know so I can add it to our hunter ed program. Current incidents tend to hold more interest, and have more of an affect on the youth portion of the class.
 
I have taken shots, I wished I could have taken back

Yes please. I would like to know so I can add it to our hunter ed program.
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Will definitely do. One classroom demonstration that I use occasionally, is to take a tennis ball and throw it at one of the students in the back of the room. Before I do so, I notify him of or that I'm going to do so and after catching it. I would like them to throw it back to me and when it's in the air, make it come to him. That gets the wheels turning and finally admit that it's impossible. I tell them that once you take the shot, it's impossible to take it back. That applies to many bad or cheap shots we take, in life. ….. ;)

Take care as you may not like how they throw the ball back. I usually select a younger person. …… :)

Be Safe !!!
 
Group hunts can be deadly. Solo hunts can be deadly. Driving can be deadly. Going to work can be deadly. Sitting in your living room can be deadly.
 
I would like them to throw it back to me and when it's in the air, make it come to him. That gets the wheels turning
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That's a good one! Can I steal it for my class?:D;)

You can't stop me now... first class of the year is Saturday....gonna have to use it then.:cool:
 
Some "hunters" should never be allowed to touch a gun.

Growing up in WV we knew a young man who was not quite "right" but we never thought he was dangerous. That changed one morning when a hunting party assembled. Virgil was heard to say: "I'm going to shoot the first thing that moves".

Unfortunately, the first thing that moved was hunting party member Sammy. Yep, Virgil shot Sammy, pretty badly, at that. It was a miracle that Sammy lived and fully recovered after being shot with a .30-30.
 
reynolds357 said:
Group hunts can be deadly. Solo hunts can be deadly. Driving can be deadly. Going to work can be deadly. Sitting in your living room can be deadly.
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Quite right. But after talking to some of the people who hunt, I decided to take my chance somewhere else. When hunting season is on, I will going several counties away, driving.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Some hunters, don't like rules

Group hunts can be deadly. Solo hunts can be deadly.
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Should not equate the two as Group Hunts present a different set of circumstances and additional planning not to mention rules. My post was not meant to discourage hunters from participating in these hunts. In fact, I have participated and helped organize them. They can make a good day, better. :D

On one two day hunt, we politely and privately disinvited two members, after the first day. …. :rolleyes:


Enjoy and;
Be Safe !!!
 
I had a hunter "sneak up" on me one day, while I was trying to relocate my party in an area typically devoid of humans - even during hunting season - in the mountains of Northeastern Utah.
I was firing a pair of shots from my 9mm every couple of minutes, and waiting for the response from the other members. Due to distance, terrain, and vegetation, we had to keep repeating the act for some time, as not all shots were heard.
Since I was shooting anyway, and my goal was to regroup with the party, I was not being quiet.


When it came time for another volley, about 15 minutes into this, I pulled the handgun and turned around to fire it into the base of a tree (so as to not be firing in the direction of the party). This stranger pops out from behind a tree that's now 30-40 yards to my left, surprises me, and starts screaming, "I'm right here! Don't shoot! I'm right here! Don't shoot!"

He was under the impression that I had noticed movement and was simply going to shoot at whatever it was that was moving.

I let him approach as I re-holstered the 9mm. A quick back-and-forth cleared up the misconception, and revealed that he had, in fact, been "sneaking" behind me and trying to remain unnoticed. (Why, he never revealed.)

I completely understand and support his response to the situation. He was wrong. But you're better of acting a fool than getting shot by someone with an itchy trigger finger...
 
The last time I heard the sound of a passing bullet was while coyote hunting in 1978 or 79. We sere sitting in my pickup next to a dead tree in a fence row when I heard the sound and dropped behind the vehicle's door. The guy who was riding with me said "What was that?" about the time another 3-4 shots went over with one of those striking a branch of the tree above us. The small branch fell on the hood of the pickup and my friend's face went white when I said "That was the sound of bullets passing just over us".
Of course, the shooter wasn't aiming at us but the results were the same.
 
We hunted for years on state areas in eastern WVa mountains. It wasn't crowded and the same parties showed up every season. We quit them in early 70s because of all the day hunters that moved in. One of our guys was shot in his blind while Turkey hunting. Then in
deer season we had several bullets buzz by so we don't do public areas anymore. A few years ago while Ohio was slug only a local farmer was shot and killed off his tractor. The shooter was not from this area and got a lawyer who got him off light. There are a lot of idiots with guns. We have never had a accident in our crew of 14. We were all brought up
old school, safety first and know what you are shooting at.
 
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