It’s hunting season
A 20-year-old Marine Reservist was killed by an Oregon hunter and his grandson when they mistook him for a bear;
Christopher A. Ochoa, 20, was hiking with a friend Friday night near Silver Falls State Park, roughly 60 miles south of Portland, when he was shot by 67-year-old Gene Collier.
Collier was bear hunting with his 12-year-old grandson at the time of the shooting. He told authorities he mistook Ochoa, who was wearing dark clothing, for a bear moving in the brush, The Oregonian said.
Collier is not being prosecuted, but, ya know, a bear doesn’t walk like or behave like a man. But, i guess some inexperienced hunters will shoot at anything that doesn’t wear blaze orange.
Category: Society
I love hunting and defend it to those who decry it… But I do NOT go into the woods during hunting season without wearing blaze orange.
That said, how the Hell do you mistake a man for a bear? The Coroner should rule this as “death by dumbass”.
In the military, we must get Positive ID on a target before we take a shot. In the hunting world, apparently you can just shoot anything that moves and hope it’s a fucking bear.
So much for clearly identifying your target. Collier needs to have any hunting license revoked for life. Poor bastard has a terminal case of the dumbass.
And Ray, I live in an area with lots of hunters and a bunch of out-of-state Massholes without a clue, and the day I need to step into my woods with an orange vest is the day I start RETURNING fire.
Yeah, it was an accident all right in the sense that Collier didn’t recognize his target as a person and intentionally shoot him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t criminally liable for his actions. This case will go before a grand jury and the dumbass deserves to be indicted for manslaughter. As an Oregon resident and a rifle hunter I’m going to be closely following this to its eventual outcome.
This is why I quit hunting many years ago. I got home just in time to go deer hunting, was wearing blaze orange from head to toe, and someone was going to take a shot at me because they thought I was a deer. I asked the jackwagon “since when do deer go down and buy blaze orange?”. He didn’t actually “see me”, but was going by sound. Sound shooters are the most dangerous of all hunters, followed closely by those that fail to identify their target properly before shooting.
Ive been shot at two more times while hunting, than my time in the service or as a LEO. The asshats who let go, were, as OT said, shooting at sound, and hoping for the best.
That’s what you get when you have weekend commandos who don’t touch a gun except when they get to the woods.
I solved the problem by buying 20 acres of woodland, with a house on it, and posting it all the way around.
When I heard about a young deer hunter bragging in camp during the evening that he got a “sound shot” that afternoon, I quit hiking during hunting season.
I’ve been hunting since I was 6 or 7. Anyone that shoots at something without knowing exactly what it is deserves to be prosecuted. Period. I’ve also heard guys talking about “sound shots” and immediately called them on it in not quite so nice language. Aholes like that need to be embarassed out of the woods.
In Georgia, where the deer are just slightly larger than working dogs, I had a friend who had her horse shot out from under her during hunting season — “mistaken” for a deer. We also had a neighbor who lost a white-faced hereford during hunting season; same excuse.
If a man is killed during hunting season “mistaken” for an animal, the “hunter” needs to have his license revoked, and some of his income needs to go to the dead man’s family, however that needs to happen. There is NO excuse for something like this.
Involuntary manslaughter. Period! Remember there is no such thing as “friendly fire.”
I grew up in Georgia, and where Dad and I hunted at first was private land that we helped keep private. We later moved to hunting at a cousin’s dairy farm to help keep the idiots from Atlanta from both trespassing and shooting the black and white deer. No joke, a lot of dairy cows get hit each year by the idiots.
My favorite was the guy from Atlanta who had heard there were a LOT of deer in Monroe County. So, he bought a fancy rifle, drove down in his little sports car, got off the interstate in Forsyth, and drove out into the country. Sure enough, he spots his prey in the edge of a yard out in the country. He stops, lays the rifle across the roof of his little sports car, and shoots it. He waves at the people who come out of the house, loads the deer across the hood of his car without field dressing it and heads back to the interstate. The home owner calls the sheriff and it went something like this: ‘George, this is Vern Wells over on Route 3, some son of a bitch just shot my goat. He’s headed for the interstate, car (description), can you get my goat back?’ The car was caught as it got on the interstate, and the sheriff realized that it was already starting to bloat from the engine heat. So, the tale as told was that some country justice was administered. He made the mighty hunter pay $50 for what was at the time a $25 goat, and keep it on the hood of the car. He also arranged with other sheriffs to make sure the man did not stop and remove it until he was home. Rumor was, the guy had to sell the car… The first part is true, and I sure hope the second part is too.
Idiots who shoot without being sure of their target deserve every bit of justice that comes their way.
In Montana cattle are called slow elk. There is no excuse for this and Collier is a piss poor grandfather.
#5 OT, I am with you. I used to live in MN, and was just amazed at the number of accidental shootings by so called hunters just blazing away at sounds. It really soured me on the whole sport.
I’m with UpNorth and PintoNag:
Buy some land (not a couple of acres), and develop it into a deer habitat, and hunt on your own property. Invite the local game warden out for a hunt, too. Game wardens look out for the folks who look out for them.
I live less than fifteen minutes from where this happened. I think every cop, deputy and emergency medical personnel within a fifteen mile radius ended up responding there.
The area he was in has some dense pockets of vegetation, and alot of open area as well as a majority of the area is Christmas tree farms.
This is the exact reason I don’t go hunting anymore. Too many people shoot at movement without identifying the target.
Well looks like the hiker was crawling around on all fours searching for mushrooms on colliers private property. It would be great if the media would publish the whole truth and not just part of it. So you are bear hunting on your own property at dusk. Here is a hiker wearing black on his hands and knees searching for mushrooms. Would look like a black bear for sure. Especially on private property. There is a reason that charges are not being filed.
Just to update, the shooter was indicted last month for criminally negligent homicide.
Bear hunter charged in Marine’s shooting death