Sometimes a hunting accident is just that, and has nothing to do with behavior.
I have never been involved in a hunting accident and don't want to be, but sometimes "accidents" are really not totally the shooters fault.
Care to provide some examples of "accidents"?
What about the instances of Remington 700's firing as the bolt was closed? Not the shooters fault - the manufacturers. You could argue negligence on the manufacturer but from the shooter's standpoint it was a true accident.
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What about the instances of Remington 700's firing as the bolt was closed? Not the shooters fault - the manufacturers. You could argue negligence on the manufacturer but from the shooter's standpoint it was a true accident.
Fair enough, though these are extremely rare. In every case where a person was injured, it was the gun handler's fault for not having the rifle pointed in a safe direction while handling the rifle. It may have gone off unintentionally and been and accidental firing, but the injury was because of unsafe handling. In the realm of the number of hunting incidents every year, these are VERY few.
When you couch your argument with the generalized statement that sometimes accidents are just accidents, it gives the impression that this isn't just a rare exception, but actually pretty common and that isn't the case. You said that these incidents had nothing to do with behavior, but in the cases of the REM 700s, they ALL had to do with behavior in the handling of the rifles in an unsafe manner. The guns should not have gone off. That is absolutely true. However, the guns should not have been pointed at a human either.
Almost all the hunters I've talked to walk around the woods with a round in the chamber. I ask them why. It is because they are afraid to miss out a deer. They routinely walk around for days in frustration and they are eager to shoot. If they can't wait a moment or two to chamber a round I doubt they will spend much time to survey the backdrop before they fire. No thank you.[/QUOTE
If you are walking around in very open territory (think mountain west) then yes you can easily get by with not having a round chambered. Do that in the south and you'll not be going home with venison. The distances are just too short to quietly chamber a round. The deer will hear you and be gone before you finish chambering.
Just because you hear it doesn't mean it's trueHmm... I keep hearing they brag about bagging a deer 500 yd or even 1000 yd out