MACON, Ga. (AP) � The U.S. Forest Service is investigating after a ranger was shot and killed in central Georgia by a hunter who apparently mistook him for a coyote.

I've never hunted coyotes, but I wonder how anyone could do this.

You can't. That's just it.

NO WAY JOSE! That was just plain negligence on the shooters part. Won't dignify the azzhat by calling him a hunter

Well that ranger was wearing his hunter orange right?

it's a tragedy for everyone. sorry it has happened.

Doesn't matter - with today's optics you can tell what an object is or isn't.

Got nothing to do with it. You either identify what you are shooting at or hold fire, BOTTOM LINE.

How many lives did he screw up other than the guy person he killed? No GD excuse, the way I see it!

lot's of pain, on all sides of the table. wish it hadn't of happened, but it did.

i just hope everyone can come to terms with the awful reality, sooner or later.

no one ever plans for this type of eventuality. all we can do is allow the system to process the outcome. likely, there'll be no winners in this scenario.

Couldn't agree more.

I saw a guy once who decided that instead of dragging his deer through a boggy section of woods, he would hoist it up over his head and shoulders, with most of his body (certainly including all his blaze orange) inside its body cavity and carry it through the bog.

I hollered at him from my tree stand, but he didn't hear me. I was amazed to see him get all the way to the other side of the bog and dump the deer back on the ground without getting shot.

Was the forest ranger doing anything like that?

A 6 foot tall coyote or deer ain't natural. I'd hold off on any shooting as well....

I'd guess somebody was about to get caught and didn't want to.

did ya read the story from the local newspaper? the first thing they did was call 911. they didn't schedaddle, or any such.

we're facing a hunting tragedy, and it's richocheting from one side of the US to the Other.

everyone is sorry it happened. i just wish it hadn't, but it did.

Can't assume that all hunters have 20-20 corrected vision.

I know the shooter. We are in the same deer club in Georgia. He is a nice guy and he is despondent beyond belief. He was looking thru a nightvision scope and hunting legally. The GW was there looking thru his night vision goggles and was over a rise, just his head exposed. The GW was not after Clint, but was looking for some drug dealers that had been in the area. Clint saw the light in the GW nightvision goggles since it appeared low to the ground from his position, the though it was a coyote. He has not been arrested or charged and there was no alcohol involved. I ask my fellow members to give this fellow hunter the benefit of the doubt until all the facts have come out
Thank You
Steve Lassiter

Thanks for the rest of the story.

AFTERUM thanks for the rest of the story too. I don't know what the lesson is here, with this Night Vision business. It's looks like a tragic mistake from were I stand and what I know at this point. Not much when you get down to it. Its going to be interesting to see what the knee jerk reaction will be with regard to Civil use of Night Vision devices.

thanks for understanding. It is so tragic. 2 families will never be the same.

night vision or not...know what you are shooting at. With that said I think(hope) the hunter orange comment was pointing out if hunters are required...shouldn't anyone who is out in the woods during hunting season....wouldn't matter here since it was at night but I am hoping that was the point.

Well Steve, that is indeed sad for the shooter but final for the GW.

I stand by what I said about KNOWING what your target is before pulling the trigger.

While I am sure the fellow that did the shooting is full of remorse it won't bring the other man back. If I am not 100% sure of my target I do not pull the trigger. If he was using 1st or 2nd Gen night vision, well that stuff is kinda blurry and not very good for determining what you are seeing other than a green blurry outline.

I night shoot 'yotes and hog as predator and nuisance control on my daughters place using IR as a spotter and then white light before firing. You see, I am scared to death of doing what your friend did. I would rather give a critter a pass than have to live with that. She is just across a state 2 lane from a large WMA and the GFC guys have been known to wander onto her property looking for poachers and other outlaws, we welcome them doing so.

I will no longer condemn him as a non-hunter but still say his judgment was way off, he should have made positive ID before shooting.

I will say no more, but offer prayers for the dead Officer & his family and your friend as well.

I can understand a lawyer or politician being mistaken for a coyote, but most game wardens are much more upright.

There was a guy shot in TX a couple of years ago thought to be a hog by his "friends." I don't remember if he was killed though.

TLee, you hit the nail on the head - white light before firing.

Add to that, never shoot at eyes.

You real sure of that??

Maybe it was an older gay, female ranger who didn't believe in shaving her legs..

Although, the uniform shoulda tipped him off..

no, in fact it was a 37y/o man with a 4yr old daughter that will grow up without a daddy.

Ditto - what TLee said: Got nothing to do with it. You either identify what you are shooting at or hold fire, BOTTOM LINE.

I hear ya.. It was a poor attempt at humor...

In all sincerity, I hope the judge tosses this dude behind bars for about 10 years...

Terrible tragedy all around. Not to offer an excuse but many times when a person expects to see something they see what they expected and come to find out it really wasn't what they thought they saw at all.

Just saying this guy was hunting at night and expecting to see a coyote and saw a coyote.

There is a certain deer stand on my place and out from it a way is a down log with bush growing up behind it. Many times in low light or fog I have seen one fine buck standing there. Never shot it but I can understand how it could happen.

BCR

BCR,
Well said. I think most hunters can relate to a time when their eyes teamed up with their brain to try and deceive them.

Mr. Redneck,
This guy is a friend of mine and the last thing he deserves is prison. As of now there have been no charges filed and he was not arrested.

Know where you've been on that Boggy! Have experienced the same.

Especially irritating to me, is if someone with you trying to convince you they are sure it is a 'yote', hog, deer, whatever. Well, some times it is and sometimes it isn't!

Don't hunt with those types anymore, next time might be me!

On a lighter note, I had a friend who had a tree limb sticking out on his place that looked just like a nice buck. He decided to play a joke on another guy one season and while driving through the pasture one day with the guy he was going to play a joke on, my friend pretended to look in the direction of the tree limb and say, "Hey, look at that good buck!" He hardly even looked at the limb when he said it and was giggling to himself as his friend had him stop the truck. He was giggling even harder when his friend opened the door and rested his rifle. It was all he could do to contain himself when his friend lined up the shot and shot his "deer".

On the drive over, my friend was now giggling so hard that the other guy was beginning to suspect that something was up. And my friend was outright laughing out loud, right until....they walked up on the very nice ten point buck laying right beside the tree limb that looked like a deer.

Love it!!!!

great story.....thanks

Maybe it wasnt an accident... it has been known to happen!

Read the thread. It was an accident.

Your right, I didnt read the whole thread.

Sorry it happened.

Now I'm no expert, but I do believe my BS detector is going off.

I guess anything can happen, but this one doesn't quite jive, as tragic as it is. Lots of murders have been blamed on hunting accidents. I guess the full investigation will shed some more light on the subject. May have just been a accident some guy will have to live with the rest of his or her life. Being mistaken for a coyote , just makes you wonder.

play with all the conspiracy theories you want...these guys didn't know each other.. and if you knew the shooter like I do and see the state he is in you would not have your "bs" detector go off....it was an accident...tragic, regretable, unthinkable accident.

+1, very tragic.. Your friend will never be the same. This will always haunt him for the rest of his life. It is amazing how many have never made a mistake, therefore can't fathom anyone else doing so

This is a very sad example of why these are called "accidents" and not "on-purposes". Good folks can do things that lead to tragedy by ACCIDENT. I am sure AFTERUM'S friend is a decent guy and now changed forever, as are everyone else concerned.

A tragic accident, to be certain... but shooting at the presumed glow of a coyote's eyes at night? Sorry, but there's no excuse for that. I've done a lot of coyote sniping at night, and the cardinal rule with all the nightime coyote snipers I know is to BE CERTAIN OF YOUR TARGET -- it doesn't get more fundamental than that -- because we've had all sorts of things show up at night, including deer, mountain lions, bobcats, bears, federally protected kit foxes, etc. Things can get pretty tricky at night, and there's often a temptation to shoot quickly before something "gets away." It's easy for your brain to misinterpret what your eyes are telling you. In reality, shooting at night always demands the exercise of extreme caution. You need to be certain not only of your target, but what's behind the target as well.

A sad reminder to all that you can do many things with a bullet... except call it back.

You fail to grasp the "accident" part of this. He thought that he was sure, that's why it is called an "accident"..

Another one that has never made a mistake...

You are right i don't know your friend and i wasn't there and opinion or just that, opinions.

I didn't fail to grasp anything, and I never questioned the fact that it was an accident. It was a gross failure to obey a fundamental hunter safety rule -- be certain of your target. Shooting at the presumed glow of a coyote's eyes hardly qualifies as being certain of your target.

This incident saddens and sickens me. I feel about this the same way I feel about the recent death of young man, a firefighter, who was one of my son's lifelong best friends. He ran out of gas and pulled well off the shoulder of a freeway. A young farmhand jumped a fence and was helping him put gas in the vehicle when a 60-something year old woman drove off the freeway, at midday in perfect weather, and struck and killed them both. An accident? Yes, but she will still be held accountable in both a criminal and civil sense. Manslaughter is still manslaughter, regardless of the intentions. The criminal and civil sanctions won't bring them back, but neither should people be able to just walk away after taking another human life because the act was deemed an accident.

Oh, the I want retrabution point of view., As if the person isn't allready punished enough. More punishment will not fix anything. Again I beleive the man was sure in his mind of the target, only to find out he was wrong.

Kicking a person when they are down serves no useful purpose.

trust me, Clint will not be just walking away....

I get it and understand the what he is going through with such of a tragic mistake. I am amazed at those that do not, as if they are perfect and have always been sure of every thing and have never ever made a mistake

If it was a true accident which it seems to be . He should be able to walk away, because he has to live with this mistake the rest of his life and that is punishment enough. You just can't make a accident better by making it worst on the man who did it. I'm sure this man will suffer enough without going to jail for lack of better judgement.

I never said more punishment would "fix" anything. Quite the contrary. The point was that society does have its rules. I "get it" that the shooter was a friend, and it's a terrible circumstance that he's in. My greater sympathies in this case, however, are with the wife and young children of the victim.

I wasn't trying to kick anyone when they're down. I was commenting on the obvious violation of a fundamental hunter safety rule, the consequences and the lesson everyone needs to take away from this.

That is, after all, part of the function of an open forum.

I saw the same defensive reaction from friends of the 60-year-old woman who snuffed out the lives of the two young men I referred to because she drove carelessly. It's only natural for friends to react that way, but believe me, friends of the victims tend to see things a bit differently.

even if there is no crimminal prosecution (he was not arrested or charged) there could still be a civil suit. Long and drawn out, many more tears to be shed. The whole thing makes me sick at my stomach.

Me, too, especially after recently attending that young firefighter's funeral... Whether there's a criminal prosecution or not, I'd be shocked if there's not a wrongful death civil suit. Rightly or wrongly, those are virtually automatic these days.

yeah I'm sure. There is a widow and a 4 year old daughter to take care of. And lot's of lawyers who will take the case for half (or more) of the money they get.

In the case I spoke of that hits so close to home with me -- I knew the young man for many years and he was like a part of our family -- his mother said publicly that she didn't harbor any anger towards the driver... said she didn't want to see her punished anymore, etc., etc... I just learned last week that she then went ahead and filed the wrongful death lawsuit.

Sometimes you DO identify something....and turn out to be wrong.

I remember one time I ID'd a fox running through some tall grass, kind of jumping along. Got off about 3 shots at it. Luckily I missed, because it was my buddy's dog.

This instance is a terrible tragedy and prayers go out to all affected.

this whole thing is totally senseless and unfortunate, and we all know that.

it's like in turkey season in parts of the world, and one turkey hunter mistakes another hunter for a legal target. another bad day, for sure.

but, one has to look once again, at the whole picture. two armed men/women hunting in the woods, knowing that other armed hunters are present....yes, it's a can of worms.

but, when one armed person shoots another armed person, in the woods, during open season, then is it fair to assume everyone present had a role to play? i'm not making light nor being sarcastic.

two weeks ago in ATL during a ice storm two women bumped into each other. they got out of their respective vehicles, and along came a third vehicle, according to the news, and ran over killed them both. the weather influenced the accident. should accidents occur? no, never, but they do.

again, us Hunters will take it on the chin from the general population because of this mishap, whatever the investigations ultimately yield.

Happened here in NH about 6 years ago......a local taxidermy/SG store owner was shot and killed by someone in his own hunting party who mistook him for a boar.

I just don't get it.......

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ar...t_on_license_of_hunter_who_shot_another/

I think my wife is a fox.

I'll yield judgment to the fella who actually knows the hunter, his opinion has to better educated than my own.

Tough deal for sure.

T, I agree whole heartedly, but let me tell you a story about how easily accidents can happen. Thank God my buddy was a good hunter and made sure of his target. We have a piece of land in Miss. that is gated. We left the gate open and a female wildlife agent came onto the property. The found my buddies truck and since it was muddy, proceeded to follow his tracks into the woods. The particular stand he was hunting was a ladder stand overlooking a food plot. Right at prime hunting time, about 5:20 pm, he sees a dark shape walk into the far end of the food plot. He takes his rifle of of safety and settles the crosshairs. He was looking for a doe for sausage. As he settles the crosshairs on the target, guess who, not what, but who is in the food plot. It was the female game warden WITHOUT ORANGE ON!!!!!. She came very close to being a statistic. My friend was very upset to say the least. Worst part was, she gave him a ticket because his orange was not visible. As it got cooler, he placed his jacket over his orange vest. It was a wonder she wasn't shot. He was shook up for quite some time over that. Bad part is, the game warden was pizzed at him for being pizzed.


Clyde