A man is facing charges after he shot and killed a horse, mistaking it for a deer.

The Beaver County Times reports Jordan G. Cinderich, 23, killed the farm animal Dec. 10 while hunting near Modrak Lane in New Sewickley Township.

Cinderich reportedly called police after he realized he shot a horse, not a deer. He realized something was amiss when he saw the wounded animal gallop away. By the time officers arrived, the horse was dead. The horse, valued at $16,000, was within 150 yards of a stable and barn.


http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com...oting-killing-horse/

Lol!! I would counter claim all the money I saved them buying hay should negate any renumeration

what a damn idiot.

I can beat that. I lost my best friend in 1972 because some pecker head thought he was a deer. Gut shot him with a 22-250 and blew out 3 inches of his spine. He was standing behind his truck putting up his gun because it was past legal hunting hours. Took him 3 months to die of sepsis. It wasn't pretty.

There is nothing funny about any of this.

How does shit like this happen? How can 150-200 pound deer be mistaken for a 1000 pound horse.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny reb:
How does shit like this happen? How can 150-200 pound deer be mistaken for a 1000 pound horse.

A little brush and a lot of imagination/wishful thinking.

quote:

A little brush and a lot of imagination/wishful thinking.

And that is why stuff likes this happen.

Way back in 1949 a very good friend of later years. Shot a horse out from under a hunter Dad was following on his. Al's was a buckskin, a bit too late in the evening, in timber. Shooter had killed around 330 elk by then. Iron sights, he was behind a log near a creek so his hearing was affected by the noise too. Bullet hole in the stirrup leather just missing the man's shin. One shot kill. Sure raised hell with the pack string, seven riders and each had a pack horse, or mule. Al was in the lead. Hell of a screw up for sure.

I spent many months with the shooter as a teen and we talked it over lots of times. All he could figure was: "Just one of those things, "if you do something enough times sooner or later you're going to screw up and I did". Place was a dandy crossing area on the main trail. Only about a 40-60yd shot too. Those days black and red checked coats and red rags on the horses was the common safety markings. .300H&H single shot. Hell of a hunter and shooter. Killed 16 elk from a box of shells and still had 4 loads left.
He sure stressed safety to me those five summers I spent with him. We killed two elk a summer except one year we only got one. So 9 in 5 summers. Yes, poaching, bad way to teach a gullible willing teen boy that didn't need to be shown how to do such things! Plus, we hunted in season in the fall too.

After the horse killing deal, he paid up of course, Al never hunted again, but, the rancher invited them all to hunt from his house from then on. That's how I got involved, Dad and three of the others took him up on it. Mighty fine true friend for many years til he died about '95 at 90y.o. He stressed: "No matter how good a judge or shot you are, you can't be too careful and everyone can make a major mistake, be damned careful and be positive what you're shooting at".

CODOW provided the fencing but, no help to put up a 12' elk proof fence around his hay stacks. He couldn't handle the materials so it just laid there. In winter he shot 'em. When I graduated I spent the winter over with him and we shot a bunch from the stack yards and just drug them to a gulley and pushed 'em in. Damned shame DOW wouldn't help him put the fences up. I shot I think 8 that winter myself, in all around 15 or so between us. DOW had told him: "do it, but, you touch one with a blade and we'll lock you up".

Property fences we strung 3/8" cable for the top wire DOW furnished. Seems elk will break the top wire when jumping over it regardless of whether it's 2' or 15' high, they'll hit the top wire and break it. Apparently they have little judgment where their feet are.
When in the stack yards feeding they don't pay any attention to honking of horns, yelling, hazing with the D-4 or Jeep, or even "warning shots". Not much choice in the matter in such situations in the dead of winter and several feet of snow, temps 0 to -40F.

That's where I grew up from 8y/o in '53 til he sold out in '67 then we still hunted the place til '76. Chicken shits made the forest a Wilderness Area right up to his fence lines so he sold out and moved to "the low country". Colo: Mineral Creek Wilderness Area, check it out. SW of Powderhorn CO, E of Lake City.

George

Yes, it's your deer. Yes you shot it. If you let me have my saddle, I'll help you gut it out.

It is always the highest priced animals that get shot.

Or hit by vehicles on open range.

This happened in southern Illinois fifteen or so years ago. Except the horse had a rider on it. Luckily the rider was uninjured.

Back in the 60's, a friend and I had been on my trail bike on the Hick's Trail in Alaska. When we returned to my car, about dark, a man was waiting on us in the parking area to see if he could get a ride to Palmer,Ak. We gave him a ride and could tell he was about beat. He finally opened up and told us he was a guide and one of the members of his party had shot another member of his party off a horse and had killed him. He thought it was a caribou. The guides ATV had broken down and he had just hiked 20 miles.

Sad stories for sure. Years ago (50's of 60's), my family from Utah had some friends that would come up to hunt.
One of the friends got excited when the jumped some deer. The guy got excited, pulled
the trigger and hit my uncle. Fortunately he lived. However, he struggled with the injury
the rest of his life. Some people should. It be carrying guns in the field.

The guy shouldn't have another gun in his hands for the rest of his life. A followup article stated the damn horse had a big purple blanket on it for God's sake and was in a corral on private property!

If true, that is pretty damn bad.

Sad to hear about events like these.

I remember reading as a kid, a story of a rancher who spray painted COW on both sides of all of his cattle with orange paint in preparation for hunting season. He had a couple of saddle horse that ran with his cows and did the same on them, painting COW on each side of the horses. When a young ranch hand asked why he wrote COW on a horse. The rancher replied that if a hunter couldn't tell the difference between a deer and a cow they probably wouldn't know the difference between a horse and a cow either.

Sad but true.

It happened here a few years ago and the Horse had a saddle on it!!! The guy thought it was a cow Elk.................LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Slider:
It happened here a few years ago and the Horse had a saddle on it!!! The guy thought it was a cow Elk.................LOL

Leanin Tree even used to have card about that."OK lady,it's your elk, just let me get my saddle off him".

Grizz

Reminds me of a story I heard as a kid 50 plus years ago of a guy who shot a mule in Wyoming and went thur a ck station thought it was a moose. they let him go.

quote:

Originally posted by cranky2:
Reminds me of a story I heard as a kid 50 plus years ago of a guy who shot a mule in Wyoming and went thur a ck station thought it was a moose. they let him go.

They should have made him eat it.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
A man is facing charges after he shot and killed a horse, mistaking it for a deer.

The Beaver County Times reports Jordan G. Cinderich, 23, killed the farm animal Dec. 10 while hunting near Modrak Lane in New Sewickley Township.

Cinderich reportedly called police after he realized he shot a horse, not a deer. He realized something was amiss when he saw the wounded animal gallop away. By the time officers arrived, the horse was dead. The horse, valued at $16,000, was within 150 yards of a stable and barn.


http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com...oting-killing-horse/

How could someone be that stupid,...and within 150 yards of the stable???? Idiot!!

I'm very surprised it hasn't happened around these parts. Wisconsin has a early season youth gun season which runs through the regular bow season. By law all hunters must wear blaze orange weather they are bow hunting or partaking in the youth hunt. I was heading in to hunt the afternoon and passed a couple riding their horses. The trail they were on was flanked by some fairly thick brush, it wouldn't take much for a inexperienced youth to mistake one for a deer. I let that couple know if they valued their lives and/or horses life they should either put some blaze orange on, or call it a day.

quote:

Originally posted by thecanadian:
I'm very surprised it hasn't happened around these parts. Wisconsin has a early season youth gun season which runs through the regular bow season. By law all hunters must wear blaze orange weather they are bow hunting or partaking in the youth hunt. I was heading in to hunt the afternoon and passed a couple riding their horses. The trail they were on was flanked by some fairly thick brush, it wouldn't take much for a inexperienced youth to mistake one for a deer. I let that couple know if they valued their lives and/or horses life they should either put some blaze orange on, or call it a day.

i bought a cowbell for my horse the other day specifically for riding during our archery & muzzle loader seasons around here, anytime i'm off my horse on the trails my orange vest goes on the saddle

I can tell this story because all the villiians are dead. Years ago
my dad and his drinking buddies bought a goat. and shot it , put it on my mothers station wagon and parked it in front of the local bar. They proceded to convince some NYC guy's that it was a albino spike horn and sold it for $100 dollars so they could go home with a real trophy. Well the local game warden came in and asked "Who's goat is on the Car". Well the goat was legal, The farmer was there, the city guy's were pissed because they knew they had been tricked. Thank god they weren't really up hunting and my dad was in real trouble as MOM had heard that her car was at the bar with a goat on it. Dad moved into gramma's not long after that. Thank god for hunters safety courses

Here in Washington a few years ago, a couple of (14?) kids shot a woman. They thought she was a bear.

Dave

Many years ago I was elk hunting with my dad on the eastern side of Oregon, opening day. We shot a small bull and hung it next to our trailer, we were cleaning it up, all of a sudden here comes hunter dragging in a mule with tag on its ear. By then there was about 10 guys in the campsite in complete silence. Yep he shot the farmers mule.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
There is nothing funny about any of this.

The only thing funny is the valuation of the horse, odds are huge against it being a $16000 horse!

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
There is nothing funny about any of this.

The only thing funny is the valuation of the horse, odds are huge against it being a $16000 horse!

Are you a horse evaluation specialist to make that comment without even seeing or knowing anything about the animal that was shot?!

I was told a story by a ranchers son about an incident when he was a kid. Possibly tea, probably exaggerated, definitely best told over whiskey drinks.

A hunter on an adjacent ranch shot a deer at the fenceline, and the bullet passed through and hita cow in the head and killed her. The hunter fessed up to it to the owner of the ranch he was hunting on. The owner then called the rancher with the dead cow, and took the Hunter over there. By the time the Hunter got over there, the rancher had a bill of sale for a champion bull for $6000. The shooter, a city boy, never checked for the standard OEM equipment on a bull, just apologized, wrote a check and never came back around there ever again. I asked the son why his dad did that, and he said "Daddy and the adjacent owner had worked it out ahead of time as a funny joke on a Dallas yuppie, but he took off before I could tell him it was a joke. I still woulda pay for the cow, but since he wouldn't stay around long enough, I just had to cash his check for the champion bull with an udder. Those are pretty rare, so he got a bargain and we got 2 sides of beef"

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
There is nothing funny about any of this.

The only thing funny is the valuation of the horse, odds are huge against it being a $16000 horse!

Are you a horse evaluation specialist to make that comment without even seeing or knowing anything about the animal that was shot?!

I am a horse person, yes, my statement that the odds are huge against the horse being a $16000 animal, I've had some, and if they were of that value, you had insurance on them! The odds would be at least 5000 to one.

When horse prices dropped dramatically when oil prices in Tx. went to crap about 30 years ago, there were a bunch of sudden deaths of truly expensive horses that WERE insured. Funny how that works out.

Very few $16000 horses are running around in the brush either, most are stalled 24/7 with lights on in the winter so they don't hair up, not running around in the winter outside. The odds are huge, and it probably increased in value a lot after death!

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
There is nothing funny about any of this.

The only thing funny is the valuation of the horse, odds are huge against it being a $16000 horse!

Are you a horse evaluation specialist to make that comment without even seeing or knowing anything about the animal that was shot?!

I am a horse person, yes, my statement that the odds are huge against the horse being a $16000 animal, I've had some, and if they were of that value, you had insurance on them! The odds would be at least 5000 to one.

When horse prices dropped dramatically when oil prices in Tx. went to crap about 30 years ago, there were a bunch of sudden deaths of truly expensive horses that WERE insured. Funny how that works out.

Very few $16000 horses are running around in the brush either, most are stalled 24/7 with lights on in the winter so they don't hair up, not running around in the winter outside. The odds are huge, and it probably increased in value a lot after death!

Did you not read that the horse was in a small corral less than 150 yards from the stable? I doubt seriously that it was "out in the brush" since most corrals that have a stable closeby aren't "out in the brush". I would assume you would also know that a horse needs some regular exercise, which is probably why it was outside with that purple blanket on. Also, you have no idea that the horse wasn't worth $16K and maybe that is what it was insured for since you're on the outside looking in with everything being pure conjecture on your part and have no idea whether it was insured or not!

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
There is nothing funny about any of this.

The only thing funny is the valuation of the horse, odds are huge against it being a $16000 horse!

Are you a horse evaluation specialist to make that comment without even seeing or knowing anything about the animal that was shot?!

I am a horse person, yes, my statement that the odds are huge against the horse being a $16000 animal, I've had some, and if they were of that value, you had insurance on them! The odds would be at least 5000 to one.

When horse prices dropped dramatically when oil prices in Tx. went to crap about 30 years ago, there were a bunch of sudden deaths of truly expensive horses that WERE insured. Funny how that works out.

Very few $16000 horses are running around in the brush either, most are stalled 24/7 with lights on in the winter so they don't hair up, not running around in the winter outside. The odds are huge, and it probably increased in value a lot after death!

Did you not read that the horse was in a small corral less than 150 yards from the stable? I doubt seriously that it was "out in the brush" since most corrals that have a stable closeby aren't "out in the brush". I would assume you would also know that a horse needs some regular exercise, which is probably why it was outside with that purple blanket on. Also, you have no idea that the horse wasn't worth $16K and maybe that is what it was insured for since you're on the outside looking in with everything being pure conjecture on your part and have no idea whether it was insured or not!

Topgun:

You are beating a dead horse.

Topgun:
You are beating a dead horse.[/QUOTE]

Maybe so, but I hate it when people come on a Forum and make false assumptions like they were there and know exactly what the situation was like this member is doing! It certainly wasn't funny that the horse got shot and especially if it actually was worth that much whether it was insured or not.

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:
Topgun:
You are beating a dead horse.

Maybe so, but I hate it when people come on a Forum and make false assumptions like they were there and know exactly what the situation was like this member is doing! It certainly wasn't funny that the horse got shot and especially if it actually was worth that much whether it was insured or not.[/QUOTE]

To each their own! Hope you had a great New Year!

quote:

Originally posted by nopride2:
Here in Washington a few years ago, a couple of (14?) kids shot a woman. They thought she was a bear.

Dave

American lady shot her husband, in our Maritimes a couple of years ago. Claimed she thought it was a bear and GOT OFF.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Beth_Harshbarger



Grizz

quote:

American lady shot her husband, in our Maritimes a couple of years ago. Claimed she thought it was a bear and GOT OFF.

Having investigated a few accidental shootings I always thought hunting season is a good time to get away with something.

Or at less reduce the penalties a lot if one was ever caught.

When you think of how many hunters with various levels of skill and experience are out there it's surprising that there aren't more such shootings.

I've hunted mule deer and antelope on a number of working ranches with livestock afield. If accidental shooting of stock was all that common I don't think the ranchers would allow hunting on their property. I was on a late-season mule deer hunt in New Mexico and there were hundreds of Angus cattle out and about. I asked the rancher how much it would cost if I shot one of them. He said about $1800 and I told him "that's a better deal then the deer."

Years ago there was a dairy farmer in Wisconsin who was very anti-hunting, especially bowhunting. He was one of those nut jobs who constantly wrote letters to the editor of the local paper and would raise hell at the spring DNR hearings, calling all hunters "irresponsible idiots" and worse. He claimed he lost cows every year and one year lost 3 to bowhunters. If he did lose all that cattle, I'd be willing to bet it probably wasn't accidental.

This is one of my regular columns from years ago.


LAST SHOT

Copyright 1994 by Tony Mandile

ARIZONA'S GOOD FORTUNE IS OVER

For almost 12 years, Arizona's hunters have performed quite
admirably. Unlike so many other states, they could brag that none
of their own had mistaken another human for game and shot him.
Sadly, that all changed last fall when two hunters did exactly
that. The result was two fatalities within a two-week span.

The first incident occurred during the antlerless elk season in
hunt unit 5B. Steve Dakai, head of the Arizona Game & Fish
Department's Hunter Education division, said the elk hunting
mishap occurred when Phoenix Police Department Sergeant James A.
Yahner was driving down a dirt road and supposedly had some elk
run across in front of him. He stopped his vehicle, loaded his
gun and headed after the elk. When he thought he saw an elk, he
raised his scope to check for antlers, which in itself is a poor
practice. Most responsible hunters use binoculars, so I would
think a police officer would know better. Yahner didn't see any
antlers, so he figured the "elk" was a legal animal to fill his
antlerless tag. He lowered the muzzle and shot through the brush
at a spot where he thought the elk's body should be. Again, not
too smart.

Yahner saw something fall and ran to the area. When he did he
raced right past the fatally wounded Jerry A. Boehm before he
realized what had happened. By then it was too late to save
Boehm.

When conservation officers investigated, they indeed found
fresh elk tracks exactly where Yahner said the elk had passed.
In fact, it's possible Yahner actually did see a cow elk standing
beyond the shooting victim and might have lowered his gun enough
where Boehm intercepted the bullet on its way to the cow.
Unfortunately for Boehm, Yahner, who claims to have taken a
hunter education course at least 20 years ago, didn't make sure
of his target before he pulled the trigger.

The death of Steve Goetzenberger during a firearms turkey hunt
on the North Kaibab Plateau was even more incredulous. Corky
Richardson was hunting with his best friend. "We were in the
woods and had been calling a bit. We heard an answering call, but
I immediately recognized that it came from another hunter. So we
decided to move to a different spot."

"My son, Russell, and I were walking right along with Steve and his son, and
we were actually talking as we went. We started to go up a ridge.
As we got to a spot where we had to go around a pile of rocks, we
heard the gun shot. Steve fell, facing away from the top of the
ridge. The bullet, from a .22 magnum rifle, hit him above the
eyebrow and came out below the same eyebrow. Unfortunately, it had
enough power to push a small piece of bone from his skull into
his brain. I tried to help by giving him CPR and mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. But I think he died almost instantly."

I've known Richardson for many years and can firmly say that he
is not likely to be mistaken for a turkey. He is about 6'5" tall
and weighs more than 250 lbs. Goetzenberger was 6' tall and
weighed 185. The shooter, 33-yr.-old Patrick McLaughlin,
allegedly fired from only 45 yards away. Thus, he had to mistake
the victim and the other three people with him for a flock of
turkeys.

McLaughlin also claimed to have fired at a turkey earlier that
morning in that same area. Yet Richardson never heard the shot,
and he had been in the same canyon since daybreak. McLaughlin
had three companions, who had been hunting in the canyon, as
well. They told detectives from the Coconino Sheriff's Department
they heard no other shots either.

According to Richardson, another detail didn't quite jive with
what he saw happen. Richardson claims McLaughlin could not
have fired his .22 magnum from the top of the ridge as he told
investigators. Goetzenberger was turned 90 degrees away when
he was shot from the front, meaning McLaughlin had to be about
even with the victim on the side of the ridge.

Dakai is proud of the hunting safety record despite the latest
tragedies. "We don't have anywhere near the 'hunter shoots
hunter for game' accidents as many other states do. In fact,
Arizona generally ranks at the bottom or in the bottom five and
has been the envy of other states when it comes to all shooting
accidents. The last two deaths had both been self-inflicted. Four
years ago a quail hunter stumbled and shot himself in the chest.
Six years ago, a father and son were sitting together when a gun
accidentally discharged, killing the older man. Thankfully, we
have never had a hunter shoot a non-hunter. Of course, having two
hunters killed last fall within two weeks of each other is a bit
hard to take, regardless of our past records.

The hunter education program has graduated 170,000 students
since its inception. Because of the outstanding safety record,
Arizona does not have a mandatory hunter education requirement
except for those between 10 and 14 years of age who want to hunt
big game, nor does it mandate the wearing of any blaze orange.

"When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, hunting in Arizona is
one of the safest activities around. In most cases, bird hunters
who are near each other and well aware of the other person cause
the most shooting accidents. They are mostly minor wounds from
birdshot. Given the number of hunters we have, the incidents are
few. So we feel any mandatory education or blaze orange is a
knee-jerk reaction to a non-problem. Also, over the last decade,
we've had only about ten graduates of the hunter ed program
involved in an accident."

Sadly for Goetzenberger's family, one graduate of the hunter education system
was McLaughlin. Although he scored a 98 on his final test, like
the elk hunter did, McLaughlin also disregarded one of the most
fundamental of all the safety rules -- Always be Sure of Your
Target.

Here's an earlier one:

LAST SHOT

Copyright 1992 by Tony Mandile

SAFETY IS IMPORTANT

I just finished reading a wire story about a "hunter" from Roanoke, Virginia. Notice I put the word, hunter, in quotes. The reason is simple; the guy was not a hunter. He was nothing more than a poacher whose elevator didn't go to the top floor.

Here's a brief run down of his stupidity.

Neil Jamison is 18 years old. He was hunting without a license in Franklin County, according to the game warden, Lt. Karl Martin. Unfortunately for Pamela Sweeney, 27, she happened to be riding her horse on an adjoining section of property.

Jamison, sitting in a treestand, raised his 30-30 scoped rifle and shot once.The bullet missed Sweeney's leg by inches, pierced the saddle stirrup and struck the horse in the right flank.

Jamison said he thought the horse was a deer. He also claimed his view was obscured by a tree.

Sweeney dismounted and began leading the horse back to a barn, but it collapsed and died about 50 yards from where it was struck. Jamison was charged in Franklin County General District Court with reckless handling of a firearm and hunting without a license.

Now you're probably reading this and asking yourself how a guy can mistake a horse and rider for a whitetail deer, right? Let's look at another incident that occurred right here in Arizona a while back. It's even more preposterous.

A man and his wife were riding in a pick-up to their favorite elk hunting area. Another hunter, who later claimed he had mistook the vehicle for an elk, put a round into the truck's cab. Luckily, the bullet only grazed the woman's head before exiting through the far side of the cab. Not many elk sound like a '57 Chevy, but the story is true, nonetheless.

Both of these near-tragic mishaps point out the carelessness shown by some people. Sure, it's only a few. But even one is too many, especially when they are unnecessary and preventable and caused by stupidity. They simply happen when people blatantly disregard the basic rules of safe hunting and using firearms. Both of the violators in the above cases ignored the most important rule of all --- ALWAYS be sure of your target.

The national statistics show persons under 21 years old cause approximately 60 percent of all gun casualties, and nearly 40 percent of the victims are in the same age group. That's why firearms safety is the subject for this month's column.

Hundreds of youngsters have their Christmas mornings brightened by finding a shiny new gun under the tree. One might reasonably assume few, if any, of the youngsters are experienced enough to handle firearms properly. Some will probably become a statistic.

All states and every Canadian province now offer hunter education programs. In approximately 40 of them, the safety certification is mandatory either for all hunters or certain age groups. In Arizona, it's obvious the course is geared to youngsters; only those between 10 and 14-years old who wish to hunt big game MUST obtain certification. Sadly, the course is voluntary for all others.

Steve Dakai, the Hunter Education Program coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) feels this is somewhat inappropriate. He thinks adults, who often train their children, should also take the course so they have the proper background to be the teacher. "We want to teach the youngsters, but we also encourage parents to take the course right along with their children."

Dakai is right, of course. Teaching a 10-year-old what's right or wrong seems rather useless if the person he or she looks up to repeatedly does it wrong or uses poor judgment. This applies to all aspects of hunting, not only the safe use of firearms. How can you tell a youngster poaching, chasing antelope with a vehicle, taking over-limits, or shooting up a rancher's water tank are wrong when adults sometimes do them.

Since Arizona's hunter education classes began in 1955, about 150,000 students have completed the course successfully. In the same time span, hunting accidents have declined dramatically. Only a couple of graduates of the course have been involved in shooting accidents. This is particularly noteworthy because about 190,000 residents buy hunting licenses each year and almost 75 percent of the homes in the state contain firearms.

Dakai said the number of people taking the safety course increased by 78 percent during the 1990-91 fiscal year. He attributes this directly to the bonus-point system for big-game permits that took affect in 1991.

Anyone who has graduated a class since 1980 automatically gets a bonus point. So the new-found interest in the program didn't surprise Dakai. "Adding the point for the class definitely brought about the result we wanted. We just didn't think it would affect the program the way it did. We trained 201 new volunteer instructors, which was 125 percent more than the previous year, and had 244 more classes in the same time span. Including kids and adults, 7,154 students went through the program."

Even though the course concentrates on safety with firearms and other hunting equipment, it also stresses the importance of game laws and wildlife conservation and promotes responsible and ethical conduct in the field.

The classes normally take place one night a week for six weeks and consist of about 22 1/2 hours of both classroom and in-field instruction, including actually shooting at a supervised range. The cost is nominal and probably doesn't cover the price of the classroom materials and ammunition.

So if you just happen to be a parent of a youngster that received a gun from Santa, enroll him or her and yourself as soon as possible. You might learn one little thing to prevent a future, and perhaps fatal, injury to someone in your own family.

To get information on scheduled classes, contact Steve Dakai at (602) 942-3000.
And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.