(http://www.wbur.org/files/2010/06/0623_trooper-hit-resize1-630x420.jpg)
Massachusetts Trooper Accidentally Shoots Woman While Hunting (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/01/massachusetts-trooper-accidentally-shoots-woman-while-hunting/)
Published January 01, 2012 | Associated Press
NORTON, Mass. – An off-duty state trooper who was hunting in southeast Massachusetts shot and wounded a...
Why in hell does this bastard still have a job, with no better "shoot/no shoot" situational discernment than he has thus demonstrated???
66-year-old woman who was out walking her two dogs when he mistook her pets for a deer.
That was then.
This is now:
66-year-old woman who was out walking her two dogs when he mistook her pets for a deer.
Bad target ID and close to inhabited, trafficked areas.
66-year-old woman who was out walking her two dogs when he mistook her pets for a deer.
And it wasn't a dog with a bobbed tail, fer Chrissakes--these were GOLDEN RETRIEVERS.
Granted, they have some weird-assed deer back east, but none that have yellow fur and long tails who go, "WOOF!"
Sit Officer Magoo behind a desk and don't give the guy anything any more dangerous than a burnt-out match.
You see tan from a distance and you could certainly think it is a deer. Especially when there are two of them, and you see no orange in the mix.
It happens.
You see tan from a distance and you could certainly think it is a deer. Especially when there are two of them, and you see no orange in the mix.
It happens.
Bullshit. I've hunted for over 30 years and I NEVER, EVER, EVER take a shot unless I'm ABSOLUTELY ****ING SURE of my target.
Color is not enough. Hell, the difference in color between that dog and a deer is VERY substantial, not to mention the size. Besides, deer slugs aren't meant to be used over more than a 100-yard distance, not that you'd ever be able to see that far in dense woods and brush. Most deer around woods like this are taken at ranges of 30-50 yards. Please don't tell me that you can't tell color difference at that range. Please don't tell me a dog looks the same as a deer at that distance.
Bottom line, this guy screwed the pooch--figuratively and literally.
You go Sparky! I am so on your side. You should never shoot until you are sure that deer is going down with a clear shot. If you aren't sure, don't shoot.
Better to let that tasty hunk of venison get away than to risk harm or death to an innocent creature.
Bullshit. I've hunted for over 30 years and I NEVER, EVER, EVER take a shot unless I'm ABSOLUTELY ****ING SURE of my target.
Color is not enough. Hell, the difference in color between that dog and a deer is VERY substantial, not to mention the size. Besides, deer slugs aren't meant to be used over more than a 100-yard distance, not that you'd ever be able to see that far in dense woods and brush. Most deer around woods like this are taken at ranges of 30-50 yards. Please don't tell me that you can't tell color difference at that range. Please don't tell me a dog looks the same as a deer at that distance.
Bottom line, this guy screwed the pooch--figuratively and literally.
+1
Until I see horns........no way. (no, we don't hunt does)
Even then...I've heard of cases where guys got shot carrying their kill out and the other hunter didn't even notice the guy in the orange vest carrying the deer out.
You see tan from a distance and you could certainly think it is a deer. Especially when there are two of them, and you see no orange in the mix.
It happens.
I've got to echo Gina's sentiment (along with a lot of others in this thread)--make abso-effin'-lutely sure of the target before firing.
My dad always put an additional vest on the deer for when he was carrying it out.
I knew a guy in Mississippi at our camp in Carroll County that was shot at because he had antlers hanging from his waste. ...WHILE he was wearing a vest. I seriously have no tolerance for idiots when it comes to this.
EDIT: the idiot is the guy that shot at him, not the guy carrying the antlers. We use them to call deer during rut. He could have probably used better judgement on where he carried them, like a backpack, but if the idiot that fired didn't see all that orange, he needs to find another hobby.
I'd agree with FL that shit happens.
If the woman walking her dogs isn't a hunter and doesn't really know and appreciate hunting season for what it is (lots of ****tards out there, no matter what anybody says), she shouldn't be expected to be wearing orange. She's walking her dogs, for God's sake, not walking around like an oversized pumpkin.
This story is only a story because the hunter is a state trooper. You'd think he would know better, and he should know better, but this is nothing more than "shit happens."
The woman is lucky she isn't dead. And so is the trooper. Had he killed her, I'm betting there would've been charges and he'd be looking for another line of work. As it is, this guy won't be seeing any sort of promotion for awhile.
“The season is too long, the hours pre- and post-true daylight too dark and the areas allowed too close to people just trying to live — like walking their dogs. It is time Massachusetts’ legislators forget about the lobbying power of hunters ... and pass laws to guarantee the safety of the rest of us.â€
Cheryl Blair, 66, was accidentally shot by off-duty trooper John Bergeron Saturday when he mistook her dogs for a deer. She was the 11th person injured by a hunter in Massachusetts in 2011, police said. State laws prohibit hunting within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling and within 150 feet of a roadway — requirements Bergeron is believed to have met.
State law does not require hunters to fully identify their intended target before firing a shot but, environmental police spokesman Reginald Zimmerman said, a state-mandated hunting safety class strongly recommends all hunters fully identify their targets.
State police yesterday defended Bergeron, saying he’s a licensed and permitted hunter.
“The trooper is an experienced hunter who lives in the area. He did not see the woman and mistook the tails of the two dogs (retrievers) the victim was walking as the tail of a deer he had seen earlier in the afternoon,†said state police spokesman -David Procopio.
Forget the source for a minute as the link just brings you to a collection of hunting accident reports:
http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/accident-center.html
Where the woman was shot:
(http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/20120101/e62a97_010112huntkm06.jpg)
http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1392583
She was 500 feet from a dwelling, and 150 feet from the road in an area that is known for hunting (which if she lives there, she should certainly know this).
I previously lived near a large farm that was surrounded by woods -- prime hunting location. Even though the very wealthy farmer ran security patrols through his expansive property, and had no trespassing/no hunting signs everywhere, the hunters were pretty common. I never walked my dog in hunting season without a vest on. Never.
While fine arguments on behalf of the idiot behind the trigger, all of them combined do not negate the man's FIRST RESPONSIBILITY as a hunter: to know what the hell his boomstick was pointed at BEFORE letting his booger hook tug on the bang switch. I can't begin to count the number of times that was drilled into my head at the hunter safety course I was required to take before I could get my hunting license.
If you don't know, don't shoot; it's that simple.
Let's put it another way: it's 01:30 in the morning, and you hear burglar-type noises coming from the front of your house, and call 9-1-1. Now, knowing that this idiot believes a couple of golden retrievers in a wooded area, under reduced visibility, with whatever that is between them is a definite "GO for shoot" situation, are you sure you want him to be the one answering that 9-1-1 call, busting into your darkened house with his weapon drawn and "looks like a burglar to me" running through his wee mind? :popcorn:
While fine arguments on behalf of the idiot behind the trigger, all of them combined do not negate the man's FIRST RESPONSIBILITY as a hunter: to know what the hell his boomstick was pointed at BEFORE letting his booger hook tug on the bang switch. I can't begin to count the number of times that was drilled into my head at the hunter safety course I was required to take before I could get my hunting license.
If you don't know, don't shoot; it's that simple.
Let's put it another way: it's 01:30 in the morning, and you hear burglar-type noises coming from the front of your house, and call 9-1-1. Now, knowing that this idiot believes a couple of golden retrievers in a wooded area, under reduced visibility, with whatever that is between them is a definite "GO for shoot" situation, are you sure you want him to be the one answering that 9-1-1 call, busting into your darkened house with his weapon drawn and "looks like a burglar to me" running through his wee mind? :popcorn:
How the hell is that the same as hunting in the woods?
"If you don't know, don't shoot; it's that simple. "
A dog doesn't look like a deer. If he couldn't discern between the two, he shouldn't have fired.
Sorry FL, it's morons like this guy that give outdoorsmen a bad name, that we'd shoot anything because we have some blood lust.
How the hell is that the same as hunting in the woods?
It's the same thing, because this twit, who's demonstrated that he doesn't have the situational forethought God gave a gnat, also carries a gun on his day job. If he's a walking cluster**** with a gun in the woods, when the visibility isn't so hot, what makes you think he's ANY DIFFERENT responding to a burglary call at 01:30 in the damned morning??
Well for one he's a state trooper, and as such would not answer a burglary call at 1:30 in the morning. Secondly, out in the woods where there is you, other hunters in reflective gear and animals you think a little differently I would imagine.
I don't hunt, and never had. I do live in an area that has and sees a great deal of hunters. I am a born and raised city girl who learned the ropes pretty damn quick when I moved to rural America. This woman has some negligence here also. It was late, and she had no reflective gear on. She should have known better.
Shit happens. Poor hunter or not, he did nothing illegal.
Well for one he's a state trooper, and as such would not answer a burglary call at 1:30 in the morning. Secondly, out in the woods where there is you, other hunters in reflective gear and animals you think a little differently I would imagine.
Not necessarily true. Some small towns in Illinois rely on both the ISP and county sheriff's department to answer emergency calls. Whoever is most available will take the call.
Well for one he's a state trooper, and as such would not answer a burglary call at 1:30 in the morning. Secondly, out in the woods where there is you, other hunters in reflective gear and animals you think a little differently I would imagine.
FL, you do not fire a rifle into an area when you're unsure about what's there. ...he was unsure. If he was sure about it, he knowingly killed a woman. It can't be both. Shit happens, true. People fire a high powered rifle and it hits a metal object, ricochets off and hits someone else. That is a "shit happens" moment. This, however, is a piss poor judgement moment.
Actually, no you don't.
I guarantee you, that the checklist I go through in my head when I'm preparing to drop a 5-point buck is the same checklist I'll go through when I have my sidearm out of the holster (in training or real life).
- Is deadly force justified for use on this target
- Am I sure of who/what the target is
- Is the downrange behind the target clear
- Are there "no shoot" variables that could wander in between me and the target
- Do I have a clean line of sight to my target
If I can't check off every one of those questions, then I have a NO SHOOT situation, and I am at the very least negligent, and can very well be held legally responsible if I discharge that weapon.
[\quote]
I like to see the eyes too
Blair’s husband, James Blair, a state-certified firearms safety instructor, originally thought Bergeron was hunting on the couple’s four-acre property; however, today, Norton police Lt. Todd Jackson said investigators have determined the accident occurred on other land “regularly used for hunting and is approximately 800 feet from any buildings.â€
When the dispatcher asked Bergeron if Blair had been shot by a hunter, he immediately answered, “Yes, it was me. I just had a deer come by. I thought it came by again.â€
Bergeron, who asked Blair what she was doing walking in the woods, wasn’t immediately sure she’d been hit, as he told the dispatcher, “I don’t see any blood.â€
“Oh my god, ma’am, don’t move,†he beseeched Blair. “I don’t want you to get hurt.â€
Panicked and out of breath, Bergeron, who’d mistaken dog breeder Blair’s two golden retrievers for a deer, broke down crying as Blair told him, “I can’t move.â€
“Never in my life,†Bergeron said. “I can’t (expletive) believe this.â€
The dispatcher instructed Bergeron to yell to EMTs who had pulled up on Oak Street a quarter mile away, but he told her, “I hate to leave (Blair) alone.â€
He then called out to the emergency personnel and blew on a whistle, as the nearly 13-minute, harrowing tape followed his footsteps crunching on leaves and twigs until the phone went dead.
You hunt, I don't so I will defer to you opinion. That said, I don't think this is that rare as I seem to read about this stuff every year. Horrifying yes, but if I was out walking my dog at my old house and I got shot the first thing pretty much every town regular would has asked me was were you wearing a vest, and if I wasn't they would immediately roll their eyes at me.
I guess they just expect idiot hunters to do stuff like this more commonly than the rest of the country then. :-)
And as fine as his behavior was AFTER he shot her, it still doesn't negate the poor judgement he displayed leading TO the shooting.This again.
As my dad used to tell me, "just ONE 'aw shit' will wipe out a full thousand 'atta boys'".
BTW, was she walking the dogs on a road, dirt or paved? It's illegal to shoot a deer on a road here.
I don't hunt, and never had. I do live in an area that has and sees a great deal of hunters. I am a born and raised city girl who learned the ropes pretty damn quick when I moved to rural America. This woman has some negligence here also. It was late, and she had no reflective gear on. She should have known better.
Shit happens. Poor hunter or not, he did nothing illegal.
Sorry, FL, but the woman walking the dog isn't obligated to wear reflective gear. Just because she's walking the dog where she's walking it, that doesn't mean she's automatically in tune with whatever hunting activity is going on. It's incumbent on the HUNTER to be certain of his target and his circumstances -- not the woman.
She was walking them through the woods. Similar laws exist in Mass.
The reason this happens more than it should is because a lot of hunters, cops or not, know ****-all about hunting safety. If someones gets shot but wasn't wearing a vest, they don't rate eye rolls because some jagoff doesn't know the difference between a dog and a deer. That's like saying a rape victim in Dorcheste deserves an eye roll because they weren't wearing a chastity belt.
Sorry, FL, but the woman walking the dog isn't obligated to wear reflective gear. Just because she's walking the dog where she's walking it, that doesn't mean she's automatically in tune with whatever hunting activity is going on. It's incumbent on the HUNTER to be certain of his target and his circumstances -- not the woman.
It's called prudence. Obligated? no. Just stupidity not doing so during hunting season when her entire family are hunters and she lives next to popular hunting grounds.
Yeah because hunting and rape are the same. :whatever:
It's called prudence. Obligated? no. Just stupidity not doing so during hunting season when her entire family are hunters and she lives next to popular hunting grounds.
It's called prudence. Obligated? no. Just stupidity not doing so during hunting season when her entire family are hunters and she lives next to popular hunting grounds.
You seem to have made that link first. I as a hunter am responsible for being sure of my target.
I'm also guessing that if someone walked through the woods with an orange vest blowing a horn and flashing lights, the hunters might get a bit pissed for scaring all the game away.
Bottom line, if it's to the point where non-hunters have to fear getting shot, then the hunters, not the others, are to blame for that.
And what happens when some dipshit fires at rustling bushes (as has happened)? How you going to lay blame on her then?
Accidents don't happen in the hunting world? They are accident free? or only when the "real" hunters are hunting.
:whatever:
Accidents? Accidents are easily avoided. Know what you're shooting at. An accident is firing at a deer, the round misses and hits a rock and ricochets off hitting someone. This wasn't an accident; this was incompetence.
Accidents don't happen in the hunting world? They are accident free? or only when the "real" hunters are hunting.
:whatever:
There is absolutely NO excuse! The only hunting accident does no involve a firearm IMO. Your walking thru the woods in the dark getting to your stand and you get a branch shoved up your nose! That's a hunting accident. Or you fall out your stand. You DON"T have accidents with guns period! You have stupidity and carelessness enough to be criminal in this case. You should have respect for the animal your hunting. Not just to be sure its a deer your shooting but to be sure you know exactly where that bullet is going to hit that animal. Blasting away at an animal and wounding it as to have its suffer for the rest of its life is criminal to me also.
He should be in jail!