Yesterday, a 37 year old guy was killed in the Red Rock Wildlife Management area while hunting with a "large group" of people. Shot in the torso by one of the group. That is what the news said.
The real story is that "party" hunting is very popular around here, and seems to be some sort of tradition, where you get 30 of your family and buddies together, and surround an area of cornfields and woods. Then some of the group closes the net and when a deer runs, everyone shoots at it. And now that they allow rifles, guys can shoot at them at a much farther distance, while running through the brush. What could go wrong?

Yes , deer drives can be very dangerous...
Tragic accident, condolences for all those involved

A type of hunting I would never do.

I do not even bird hunt with unknown people/hunters - seen too many "potentially fatal" events.

And yet they do drives all the time all over europe.

Stuff happens.

I been involved in many drive hunts.

Extra care needed.

It's not stuff that just happens; it is caused by gross carelessness. NO reason for it. European hunters are more careful. And don't just get licenses by paying for them. Training.
I never go with any of these guys, and I know plenty of them here. It's a social event more than hunting.
Also, this brings unwanted and unnecessary attention on us from the liberals; of which there are plenty here. Don't think the midwest is what it used to be; it's full of anti gunners and anti hunters. They are already saying, "Why are you killing poor Bambi" and such nonsense.
That "accident" was no accident; it was due to some idiot's careless shot. Blasting at movement in the brush. The Sheriff is trying to determine who fired the shot, but good luck with that.

I've always thought that party hunting was an invitation for tragedy. I don't even like to do it hunting pheasants.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
It's not stuff that just happens; it is caused by gross carelessness. NO reason for it. European hunters are more careful. And don't just get licenses by paying for them. Training.
I never go with any of these guys, and I know plenty of them here. It's a social event more than hunting.
Also, this brings unwanted and unnecessary attention on us from the liberals; of which there are plenty here. Don't think the midwest is what it used to be; it's full of anti gunners and anti hunters. They are already saying, "Why are you killing poor Bambi" and such nonsense.
That "accident" was no accident; it was due to some idiot's careless shot. Blasting at movement in the brush. The Sheriff is trying to determine who fired the shot, but good luck with that.

European hunters are just as dangerous as hunters here…great misconception here
Take it from me, I hunt on both sides of big puddle

One time when I was in Alaska,I had been out on the Hicks Trail on my trail bike and when I returned to my car, there was a man waiting on me. It was getting dark. He needed a ride to Palmer where he lived. He was tired and quiet when we started out but then he opened up. He was a guide and one of the members of his party had shot and killed another member. He had shot a guy off of horseback, thinking he was a caribou. The guides ATV had broken down and he had just hiked about 25 miles (he was no spring chicken). A helicopter was flown in to remove the body.

When I was high school I went on 3 big group hunts with dogs. I'm not sure if running dogs is still legal but back then hunting with dogs was allowed for part of the deer season.

It was big event. The group had 20 to 30 people with probably 4 strings of dogs. The group changed throughout the day, as hunters left and arrived. Basically it was a complete shit show.

After the 3rd hunt, I had no desire to ever do that again. At one point, a buck and two does broke out of some cover, and it sounded like a fire fight. Seven or eight different people were shooting from a wide range of angles. Then an argument ensued over who shot the buck first. I left and never went back. I was only 15 years old, but I was smart enough to know that style of hunting was not for me.

Been driving deer for 30 years. Only had one pickup truck shot and almost got one myself in all that time.Lol!

I have been invited to hunt Europe on two occasions.

I will never do it again.

Once in Belgium, and once in Sweden.

In Belgium we hunted from tree stands.

Several bullet holes in the stand we were in.

Luckily no one was hunting that day.

In Sweden it was opening day.

As soon as the time arrived, I thought a war broke out, and hit the ground.

I have finally reduced all my big game hunting to Africa.

Where we have the whole concession to ourselves.

That's some serious buck fever shooting a guy off his horse thinking he was a caribou.

In the mid-60's as a kid I deer hunted with family in Clearfield County Pennsylvania. It was fairly common to encounter hunters in the woods sitting next to a fire (during the day) and my Dad being offered swigs of their booze (he declined of course). Drives were organized and several of the locals were openly drinking. It was like a circular firing squad. No thanks.

I also knew a guy from Germany that liked sitting in a blind with a small keg of beer. He told me that was common (or at least he thought). Needless to say I didn't hunt with him much.

accidents can happen: driving down the road, walking down the stairs, hunting...

i travel to visit my family & hunt with my father and friends/acquaintances for bear & deer hunting every fall. accidents can happen, but i have never felt unsafe with the groups we hunt with, orange is required by law, we can generally see the person on either side and stop if one part of the line is ahead of the other. once you get close to the headers things can get a bit tighter but very little action in close like that and everyone keeps an eye out for one another.

few years ago i followed a large bear down a corn field but knew I was walking towards a house and some of our headers and didn't have an ethical shot so we kept tabs on him pushed him out to a driver on the edge of the field with a clean shot and a header got the bear, just have to be smart and keep tabs on your surroundings

A BIG group to me is 2 buddies hunting with me. Hunting is deeply personal to me.

I'm sure it's an "acceptable" practice to hunt in a big group elsewhere but NOT around me please.

This scares the hell out of me to think about being part of that group.

Zeke

deer drives are pretty commom still in the adirondacks I've been doing then for 50 years if you follow the first three rules of hunter safety your fine

I have had some great hunting memories on deer drives. Knowing other hunters are in the area should make a hunter pay more attention. Things happen. Still safer than cigarettes.

Accidents do happen, there is no doubt.

Even in hunting, if someone gets shot by a stray bullet from somewhere.

But actually being shot, as being AIMED at and shot?

Should never happen.

One is supposed to KNOW what he is shooting at before pulling the trigger.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Accidents do happen, there is no doubt.

Even in hunting, if someone gets shot by a stray bullet from somewhere.

But actually being shot, as being AIMED at and shot?

Should never happen.

One is supposed to KNOW what he is shooting at before pulling the trigger.

i'm guessing guy wasn't aimed at and shot, guessing bullet deflected. one happened in pa on a pipeline this year, i believe bullet deflected off a rock and struck the individual 300+ yards away

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
surround an area

That is dumber then a box of rocks. My family used to do deer drives all the time, but anyone with a lick of sense should know better then to drive towards each other. Duh..