For those who hadn't heard:

Location: Beluga Lake
Case number: 05-67446
Type: Accidental Shooting Death
Text: On August 14, 2005 at approximately 2:00 pm Soldotna AST received
a report of an accidental shooting at Chakachatna River, three miles
south of Beluga Lake. AST Soldotna Patrol and ABI Soldotna responded to
the area and investigation revealed that Gary Kern, age 37 of PA, had
been shot one time with a .338 rifle by an assistant guide. Kern had
been hunting bears in the area with a guide service. Kern had fired two
shots and wounded a brown bear which was fleeing into the brush. The
guide who was also present and owner of the guide service told the
assistant guide to shoot to stop the bear. As the assistant guide fired,
Kern stepped in front of the rifle and was killed by a single gunshot
wound to the head. No criminal charges have been filed at this time.
Author: DRG1
Received and posted Monday, August 15, 2005 2:09 AM

My heart and prayers goes out to the Kern family. Also, my prayers and thoughts for the guides involved in such a devastating tragedy!

Paul, that Outfitter is toast. This tragedy and his existing legal problems over the wolf and wolverine issues will put him under. Sounds like he needs to find another line of work.

I found it a disgusting shame that the trooper, Outfitter and assistant flew back on the chopper and left the body on a sandbar overnight because of weight limitations on the bird?

The family of the deceased should really like that one.

DB

Dungbeetle,

I agree! That was the most senseless thing I have ever heard. Can you imagine the outcome had a bear found the body and consumed it?

IMHO, the State must answer for that one.

Charles

Ceg,

Armchair quarterbacking like I'm doing here is worth naught but out of simple human decency that Outfitter should have stayed the night on the sandbar and made every effort to get the deceased secured and back for attention before sending the body home.

Hard choices sometimes do have to be made when hunting the remotes in Ak. but that is a sad, despicable and callous one and it is in no way typical of the Alaskan people or of their character. Just mho.

DB

It's a very sad event and something I don't want to Monday morning quarterback.

I will sad is a sombre reminder with hunting season upon us that you must always keep an eye on where you muzzle is pointing and be able to pull your finger off the trigger should your sight picture change. In reality, I can understand how if someone is focussed on making a shot on a wounded animal, he isn't going to be looking around him to see if someone is walking in front of his muzzle.

This accident is similar to two couples that were out hunting spruce hens and one walked in front of the 22 just as it was touched off, with the same tragic result.

Be careful out there!

Dungbeetle,

I'm not second guessing the tragic shot. Accidents can and do happen.

But, the fact that Mr Kern was left behind "alone" is jacked up.

In my circle, "Never Leave A Fallen Conrad" means something... no not something, EVERYTHING!

My heart and prayers go to the folks left behind in PA.

v/r

charles

The hunter was from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.. He was an industrial arts teacher for 14 years.. Survived by three children and a wife...

As an after thought both guides were out of position and no one should be shooting from behind the hunter..This is a primary rule with firearm safety instruction...Zones of fire...

Mike

I must agree with the zone of fire. We may never
know the whole truth. The family has my prayers
and those that left him, my contempt.
NO ONE left behind.
Gene

My condolances to the family as well as the poor chap who pulled the trigger. Another example of how gun safety CANNOT be emphasized enough! Again, thoughts and prayers to the respective families............

More info on the incident from Anchorage Daily News:

"Gary Kern, 50, of Gettysburg, Pa., and two guides were in a thick grove of alder on the Chichantna River, about three miles south of Beluga Lake, when they spotted a bear. Kern fired two shots from about 175 yards away, wounding it, troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.

As the bear fled into the brush, Soldotna-based guide David Haeg told his assistant, John Jedlicki, to shoot the animal again.

But just as Jedlicki pulled the trigger on his .338-caliber rifle, Kern stood up and into the line of fire, troopers said. Kern died at the scene of a single gunshot wound to the head."

"Troopers said Kern was squatting about 10 feet in front of Jedlicki as the assistant guide took aim, then stood up as Jedlicki fired."

Newspaper Article

The shooter was 10 feet behind the kneeling victim and shooting over his head. That's just crazy. It's understandable to take a risky shot like that if the bear is charging, but not to stop a fleeing animal.

I would like to add my condolances to the family and may this gentleman rest in peace.

We can never second guess what happened in the heat of the moment dealing with a wounded bear, but leaving his remains behind was deplorable.

In 95 I was in CO when a group of very experienced skiers got avalanched on pikes peak, the first one in over a decade. One man (a father of 5) suffered fatal head injuries and another had life threatening compound fractures. A military helo and the sherrif's dept evaced the injured at last light in a snow storm but also left the deceased for later retreival. The widow informed his best friend of what happened and he got on a plane from Miami, flew to CO Springs, skiied 6000ft up the mountain THAT NIGHT and found the body. According to the story in the paper he drank a beer with his buddy and watched the sunrise together while talking to the family on his cell, then loaded him up and sleded his friend down the mountain. The county sar team got dropped off on top later that day and skiied down to find the body they'd abandoned gone, and wanted the guy charged with all kinds of "offenses" which were later dropped.

THAT is what friends are for! I don't know the gents name, but he will always have my undieing respect for doing what is right and I pray my friends would do same for me in such circumstances. I wish we had more like him!

Bob

Sad story.

That comment above about trigger control is worthless. At some point, when you are shooting, it is too late to stop the shot. Especially if you are shooting in a rush or under pressure. No one can stop a shot at the penultimate micro-second, your reflexes have already sent the "pull" message. Anyone who says otherwise is bullshitting themselves or others. Happens every year to a duck hunter or two when one of them stands up or moves into the others line of fire just as he pulls the trigger. If things have a potential to get hot, I always tell everyone to absolutely hold their positions until the dust settles.

It is a sad situation, the guide is absolutely at fault and he should have cleared the hunter before the first shot and certainly before he was attempting a follow up shot.

I'm not going to comment on the bodies dispostion. I'll just say that if I was in the same circumstances, I'd think it was a good ending if the bears ate my corpse. I'd hope they got indigestion. Needless to say, I'm not big on funeral rituals.

My condolances to the family of the departed.I must say that giving the choice of where I die,I would rather die of a stupid accident in the field doing what I love.As stupid as the shooting was,a rifle bullet to the back of the head hopefully was very quick and painless.

Sounds like a sorry performance by the guide. 175 yards is a long shot at a brown bear in thick country. Not being ready for a safe backup shot before having the hunter shoot is also qestionable. Shooting from behind the hunter is stupid and dangerous. Under the best of circumstances you would blow out his ears.

If I have to die let it be when im hunting and I never see it comeing.just a sudden lights out

this guide could have been the keeper of his brother and asuaged the bitterness of this mans family by staying with the body untill pickup. as it is he just looks like a selfish coward. maybe he was ordered to leave I hope so.

Either way he will have to sleep with this one a long time.

shooting over someones head is just stupid what if they stand up? well now you know.

HELLO THE CAMPFIRE:
This is indeed a sad story. What happens in the heat of the moment is sometimes something we have to live with for the rest of our lives. I send my prayers and thoughts to the Hunter's family. It is hard enough to lose someone close without the "what ifs" and "whys" of a stupid or careless act.
The guide should never have shot from behind the client unless it was a desperert act to save the client's life from a charging bear. The guide who shot, has he been guideing for very long?
Why did the client stand up? Did he have a shot?
I don't want my last word to be OH SH-t, and I don't want that to be the last thing my friend or client hears.
I think that I agree that the body was mishandled, but thinking another way I wonder if under the circumstances the physical and MENTAL health of the guides was not more important that the retrieval of the body. I know that we all blame the guie who shot, but he did not intend to do it, and nothing can take it out of his heart. I also pray for him. Maybe he should not be a guide anymore, But If it were me, of a member of my family, I would hope tha I would want that person to get help for the shock that he must have been in. I might not. I often fall short of the person that I want to be. Thr body was retreived. It was not worth the risk of life or limb, or sanity or the living to get him to the morgue any quicker.
I might not make sense with this post, and I know I am rambling, but I have lost love ones through negligence and carlessness and stupidity, and I felt that I needed to say something.
Lord forgive me for the things I do that offend you, and for the things I don't do that you would have me do.
Judge Sharpe

I think that what has happened is terrible, both for the clients family and for the asistant guide. As a guide who has stopped people from shooting their friends in the heat of the moment, and just by the grace of god and pure luck. You must all remember that an accident is just that " AN ACCIDENT" so stop the BS that you all know better and he should of and she could have. IT's JUST an ACCIDENT! Should we all learn from it? YES, but they can happen, so stop the second guessing from 2000 miles away and pray for the families of all concerned.

Maineguide

quote:

Maineguide

What are your thoughts on them leaving the deceased behind and alone, on a sandbar overnight?


DB

Maineguide, the BS is in your writing...I have hunted dangerous game and the Ph stood at my shoulder not 10 feet behind me...And as a firearms safety instructor...Maybe even you forgot about Zones of fire...Tell me when you shoot over someones head....There were two guides and one of both should have been next to or directly behind the client inches away..

Mike

Sad series of idiotic to criminally negligent to hideously callous moves.

Brown bear at 175 yards?

Guide shooting behind the hunter?

Outfitter leaving the dead hunter's corpse to the scavengers while he heads for home and hearth?

Where do you start with this bloody mess?

I fail to see any benefit in finger pointing and laying blame. Not a one of us is perfect. We have all made mistakes, and I sincerely hope and pray none as tragic as this one.
To speculate on what happened, how it happened, and then to point fingers accomplishes absolutely nothing. A man's life is lost, a family has lost a father and a spouse, and a man not only has lost his business, he has to live with having taken a life.
Cause be hanged. Let us just leave this horrid subject. I don't believe that where this thread ended up was the intent when it was posted initially, and continuing to beat on it does no one any good.

Doubless,

I see your logic... but

Mrlexma is right on this. Gross negligence is what we are talking about here...not a case simple negligence... or even an accident for that matter!

The more I think about this, IMHO the guide(s) will (should) be smoked-- if not in a criminal hearing-- then in a civil hearing.

Unfortunately, the family will get nothing out of any future settlement.

God bless the victims.

charles

Doubless,

The purpose of laying blame - is so it doesn't happen again to someone else, including you & me!!!!

I too have hunted dangerous game and I don't want anyone shooting from behind me period!!!

I also don't like hunting w/ assistant/apprentice guides. They typically are unexperienced and trigger happy, both recepies for something bad to happen. I can't say if this is what happened in this case, because I wasn't there. But this accident (like most accidents) should have never & I say never happened!!!

And they should have brought the body out with them - after all he was their client/responsibility.

quote:

I can't say if this is what happened in this case, because I wasn't there.

And none of us was. So let's just leave it alone. The only person who can keep me safe is me, period.
If it makes you feel better to point fingers and fix blame at someone else's misfortune, I have nothing else to say to you.

quote:

The only person who can keep me safe is me, period.

Doubless,

I don't know you, but I am sure that you might be capable of keeping yourself safe.

But what happens when you are focused on a wounded game animal that is running off, and your guide shoots you in the back of the head?

This is about exposing a person's gross negligence. That's all. The victim deserves nothing less IMHO

charles

quote:

And none of us was. So let's just leave it alone. The only person who can keep me safe is me, period

-___________

It's nice to see someone here who is clairvoyant and can contol all things at all times. You ever consider going into the Alaskan Guiding profession?

And, if discussions like this "bother" you, why would you participate in them at all. Someone IS to blame here. A Man IS dead. Someone killed him. Several deserted him. The client didn't fall into a crevasse, he wasn't swept under ice by currents.

And, they still most likely have a wounded, p.o'd brownie running around out there in the vicinity of Beluga lake yet to deal with?

DB

This is indeed a tragedy. I will pray for the family.

As a long time whitewater boater, I've felt the loss of fellow boaters who died in dangerous water. It is a tradition in the paddling community to collect as much factual information determining the cause(s) of the death to be published as an aid to learn and teach from in the hopes that such accidents will not be repeated. I see this horrible accident as being no different. I'm sure at some point an official criminal investigation will be completed and put on the record. It appears at this point that criminal charges will not be filed. It is always likely that persons may seek civil recourse at some point in such incidents.

At this point, the only information I've seen is the sketchy newspaper article in the link above. This article is no basis for any hard conclusions as it is unofficial, incomplete and may be misleading or factually inaccurate.

I cannot comment towards the initial positions of the three involved until something official and accurate is available.

As far as an outfitter requesting his assistant guide to shoot at and attempt to stop the escape of a wounded bear that is 175yards away; I had thought this was required by law and that the guide was required to shoot at a wounded bear up to 200yards away.

The thought of the hunter left behind makes me feel bad, but I would expect that the outfitter and asst.guide would have no say in such a criminal investigation and I would imagine that the investigators would take the two anywhere w/in reason that they deemed necessary to prove or disprove a crime was commited. It may very well turn out that the body remained to protect the integrity of a potential crime scene and was never left alone.

Regardless the outcome, this death was avoidable and hopefully will not be repeated.

Gary

Good post, Gary.

DB

I guess the question before the house is:

How do we learn from our mistakes (yes, we all make them) and hopefully learn from other's mistakes, so we don't repeat them? Well - we talk about it and share our experiences, so we can learn from each other - that is what this forum is about.

Doubless,

If you re-read my post I wrote: "The purpose of laying blame - is so it doesn't happen again to someone else, including you & me!!!"

The definition of blame as I understand it is:
1) to find fault with
2) to hold responsible

I hope this helps you to understand where I was coming from. None of us can be too careful. Yes, it was a very tragic accident and hopefully, by discussing it openly, we can all learn from it, so it doesn't happen again.

"Don't find fault, find a remedy." Henry Ford.

Remedy #1 Don't shoot over someones head.

Very good and level-headed posting, Gary. Thank you for that !

Carcano

Until we know the whole story as it exactly happened.........................we should withold condemnation and judgement.
My tack at this instance................we just do not know the hows and why's.
lETS GET THE FACTS FIRST

The primary reason I posted this thread was as a sobering reminder to all hunters that we need to be careful out there. In the course of my business I occasionally study industrial accidents. The reason these accidents are studied is so that the root cause of the accidents can be found, and corrective action can be taken so as not to repeat these accidents.

I'd venture to be so bold as to say that all firearm accidents can be prevented. Enough of them have occured to have developed multiple safety rules. Sad to say more then one of those rules was violated in this instance with the result of a tragic fatality.

I'd just like everyone to double think about firearm saftety before heading afield this fall, and to talk about it with your partners.

quote:

THAT is what friends are for! I don't know the gents name, but he will always have my undieing respect for doing what is right and I pray my friends would do same for me in such circumstances. I wish we had more like him!

Bob

If that story's true, I salute the guy for his loyalty and honor. I figure a man's pretty lucky if he has but a couple of people throughout a lifetime that can truly be called 'friend'.

Thanks for posting.

i agree with dungbeetle, out of respect for his dead client, the outfitter should have stayed the night with the body.

if i was a family member and the deceased was consmed, i would be more pissed.

RIP

Info I received, which makes sense, is the Guide and Assistant had no choice on leaving the body. They were under investigation for a homicide. They had to do what the Troopers said. To argue would bring a charge of "impeding a homicide investigation".
Maybe we should blame the Ak. troopers?

Ugh. That's about the worst case of negligence I've ever heard of in a hunting situation.

Horrible.

TH

So these guides left a dead client on the beach and a wounded brown bear in the bush. Pretty bad. This all because they were shooting too far to make an effective back-up shot. The assistant Guide took the third shot at the bear, shooting over the clients head was a hail mary shot at best anyway. The client stood up after his second shot as he felt that any more shooting would be useless anyway and he wanted to see where the bear was going. Obviously the ass. guide should not have taken that third shoot from over and behind his client. If your guide intends to back you up on a shot, have him by your side not behind you. I know I am being judgmental and don't have all the facts but I know this; the guide and ass. guide made a horrible mistake and here I am giving them the benefit of the dought that it was not intentional.