About 25 years ago, Ruth and
I took a hunter safety course at
the Elkins Operation Center.
The conservation officer in
charge emphasized a good case
in point when the class was
about to adjourn. He said that if
you miss that big buck or turkey,
you will be able to live that
down in due time; but if you
shoot yourself or someone else
because of a small fraction of a
second of carelessness, you will
live with that for the rest of your
life. This is a very hard reality.
While there were no fatalities
in District 3 due to careless
shooting during the 2010 twoweek
buck gun season, there
were a few non-fatal shooting
mishaps. One such incident took
place in Doddridge County near
the St. Clara Community on the
opening day of buck season
Nov. 22.
A 30-year-old resident of
Salem was hunting on the posted
family acreage. According to a
magistrate report, at about 7:30
a.m., the hunter who was wearing
the correct amount of blaze
orange was shot in the left hip
and the bullet exited through the
buttocks. The shooter was a 37-
year-old male from Fairmont
who did not have written permission
to hunt or trespass on
this acreage, according to the report.
The victim had to be airlifted
by Health Net to Ruby
Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
There are several charges
being filed against the shooter.
These include: Shooting at game
not plainly visible, not wearing
sufficient blaze orange, hunting
without written permission on
posted land, negligent shooting
resulting in the wounding of another
person, and being a person
prohibited from possessing a
firearm because of a past domestic
battery conviction. All of
these charges are misdemeanors,
with the most serious being the
wounding of another person and
being prohibited from possessing
firearms.
According to magistrate report,
the shooter was using a
rifle chambered for the .270
Winchester. This is a high-intensity
cartridge with ballistics
similar to the .30-06 Springfield.
Fortunately for the victim,
there was no internal injuries or
bone damage, according to a
representative from the DNR.
From the information I have
been able to gather, the victim is
now out of the hospital.
The shooter is now out on
$12,000 bond, but is due to appear
in magistrate court in Doddridge
County on Dec. 29.
It is incidents like this that
give sport hunting a bad reputation.
The members of CASH
(Citizens to Abolish Sport Hunting)
will undoubtedly use this to
promote their cause. I am going
to try to keep up with the outcome
of this case.
