On a VERY sad note...

[AJ01]

About 40 miles east of me right on the Louisiana border an 11 year old girl was killed in a "hunting accident" over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Harrison County Sheriff's Office said that a father accidently shot his daughter with a rifle about 17:15 or 5:15pm. Life Flight was called, but couldn't respond to the scene due to being "grounded" by bad weather. Child was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she died from her wounds.

My heart goes out to this family.

But one question remains....Just HOW IN THE HELL do you (the adult) mistake an 11 year for a deer??

[nchunterkw]

That's just terrible. Horrible. That one instant changed their lives forever. And not in a good way. And the ripple effect will be LARGE.......

ONLY response - pray for the family and all involved.

[Hatchet]

Awful. Just awful. Prayers for this family and anyone involved in this tragic event.
Hatchet

[gerald strine]

About 40 miles east of me right on the Louisiana border an 11 year old girl was killed in a "hunting accident" over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Harrison County Sheriff's Office said that a father accidently shot his daughter with a rifle about 17:15 or 5:15pm. Life Flight was called, but couldn't respond to the scene due to being "grounded" by bad weather. Child was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she died from her wounds.

My heart goes out to this family.

But one question remains....Just HOW IN THE HELL do you (the adult) mistake an 11 year for a deer??

A tragedy for sure .
My guess is that she was not mistaken for a deer but improper gun handling issue , barrel always pointed in a safe direction , safety on until target and what is behind are clearly identified , ect

[xcaliber]

About 30 years ago, or so two brothers asked a farmer if they could hunt is land, it was hard to get permission even back then. One brother shot the other in the chest with a 12 gauge slug while trying to push deer out of a small corn field. He was dead before he hit he ground. That incident made it much harder to obtain permission in the northern part of Indiana! Yep,sadly many of these occur due to human error.
So sad to read thison the heels of Thanksgiving, prayers for the family.

[Boo]

So very sad. My heart goes out to the family.
To everyone else here, play it safe or stay home.

[Farmer]

My heart and prayers go out to the family !

[grouse]

Just awful! The overwhelming majority of shooting accidents are so preventable. Safe gun handling and shooting practices are common sense and easily remembered. I'm sure that the dad and his family are suffering now and it should never have happened.

[Hillcountry]

Double post

[Hillcountry]

Unimaginable…”something” in the way of an explanation or cause will come out, surely, but hard to know what happened before that. Reminds me of a father that backed over his teenage daughter with his boat after she fell water skiing…prop killed her instantly. This was in local waters in NH. How the hell do you do this? How the hell do you live with it?

[papa bear1]

About 40 miles east of me right on the Louisiana border an 11 year old girl was killed in a "hunting accident" over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Harrison County Sheriff's Office said that a father accidently shot his daughter with a rifle about 17:15 or 5:15pm. Life Flight was called, but couldn't respond to the scene due to being "grounded" by bad weather. Child was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where she died from her wounds.

My heart goes out to this family.

But one question remains....Just HOW IN THE HELL do you (the adult) mistake an 11 year for a deer??

A tragedy for sure .
My guess is that she was not mistaken for a deer but improper gun handling issue , barrel always pointed in a safe direction , safety on until target and what is behind are clearly identified , ect

X2, Prayers for the family

[DuckHunt]

My guess is that she was not mistaken for a deer but improper gun handling issue , barrel always pointed in a safe direction , safety on until target and what is behind are clearly identified , ect

That'd be my guess too. I've run into a few adults that were certainly not familiar with proper gun handling. With the increasing gun ownership over the past few years, this is bound to occur more often. Prayers for the family as this has to be one of the most painful experiences imaginable.

[AJ01]

A follow up from the Harrison County S.O...

Father and daughter had finished their hunting trip. Had made it back to the family vehicle. Dad was unloading a .30-.30 rifle, lever action, thought he had cleared the weapon but missed a round. Dropping a hammer on what he thought was an empty chamber, rifle discharge striking the 11 year old.
No charges will be filed.

Such a tragic accident that could have been avoided. Clear your weapon, check it, then check it again. NEVER ASSUME YOUR WEAPON IS UNLOADED!!!
MAKE DAMN SURE IT IS!!!

In 27 years of Law Enforcemnt I have seen too many of these nightmares unfold into reality!!
The girl was a 6th grade student at Hallsville ISD in Hallsville, Texas.
A "GoFundMe" page has been set up to help with funeral cost.

GOD help ALL of those involved.

[AJ01]

A tragedy for sure .
My guess is that she was not mistaken for a deer but improper gun handling issue , barrel always pointed in a safe direction , safety on until target and what is behind are clearly identified , ect
[/quote]

Gerald, unfortunately you were correct. It pains me deeply to see this type of thing occur. I have been a "Range Instructor" for many, many years, and it never ceases to amaze me at some of the asinine things folks will do with a loaded weapon. It's like their brains go on vacation once they put a gun in their hands.
I can place a loaded gun on a table and it will NEVER have an "A.D", (accidental discharge). Add 1 bumbling human to the equation and you have a recipe for disaster!!

[gerald strine]

A tragedy for sure .
My guess is that she was not mistaken for a deer but improper gun handling issue , barrel always pointed in a safe direction , safety on until target and what is behind are clearly identified , ect

Gerald, unfortunately you were correct. It pains me deeply to see this type of thing occur. I have been a "Range Instructor" for many, many years, and it never ceases to amaze me at some of the asinine things folks will do with a loaded weapon. It's like their brains go on vacation once they put a gun in their hands.
I can place a loaded gun on a table and it will NEVER have an "A.D", (accidental discharge). Add 1 bumbling human to the equation and you have a recipe for disaster!!
[/quote]

I feel bad for the whole family and the community.
That girl had a whole life to live yet.
I was getting upset the other day watching YouTube video's of a a couple hunting with a guiding service in the continent of Africa.
The guide would grip his rifle buy the barrel with it sitting on his shoulder barrel forward moving it barrel across the paths of his clients and trackers multiple times.
Just grabbing and handling the gun buy the blued surfaces was bad enough but having no regard for the direction it was pointed is unforgivable and drove me nuts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmFWJVAdg3I


I went hunting with an old timer once that had no regard for barrel direction and I could not hunt with him again which was a shame because he had a prime property and I liked the guy.