A terrible tragedy, but entirely preventable with proper gun handling. I got those lessons drilled into my head starting long before I actually got to shoot. And there was no doubt left in my mind that even one mistake would not be tolerated. My Dad and Uncles politely informed me that I would NEVER hunt or shoot with them again if I screwed up even once. It must have worked. However in 1976, my cousin and hunting buddy was killed by a careless idiot while turkey hunting. It's because of such idiots that we must wear ridiculous amounts of blaze orange. Even so, it seems every year we have people shot or killed, even though they may be covered head to toe in flourescent orange. These incidents are called accidents, and the shooters are usually given a slap on the wrist or less. The moron who murdered my cousin lost his hunting license for a year. 25 years later, I met a guy who happened to be hunting with this killer on that fateful day. He related how this guy was very unsafe in his gun handling and made a practice of shooting at sounds and movements without identifying his target. He said he never hunted or associated with him again after he killed my cousin and felt horrible that he hadn't tried to stop this ass years earlier. I feel we should call it what it is... reckless endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon. Put the perpetrator in prison with Bubba as a room-mate and see how quickly these so called accidents decline. In my mind, there is simply no way to mistake a man for a deer or squirrel or turkey.
