Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Why does this happen???

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- A Wisconsin hunter who died this week was shot by a friend who mistook him for an elk, the county coroner said.

Gerald Holverson, 44, of South Wayne, Wis., died early Saturday about a mile west of Waller Reservoir in southern Routt County. He was shot below the right shoulder with a .54-caliber muzzle loader, authorities said.

He was wearing some orange apparel, and alcohol was not suspected to be involved, County Coroner Dwight Murphy said Wednesday.

The Sheriff's Office would not release the name of the person believed to have shot Holverson. The investigation was continuing.

Holverson had been hunting with a group of six people from Wisconsin and Illinois for about a week.



How stupid. I guess I'll never understand why anyone'd shoot w/o knowing what you're shooting at.

RNR: I find this part:

"a friend who mistook him for an elk"

quite difficult to believe. I suspect there is more to this story that is not being told. Who would take a shot at 'something' without knowing what part of that 'something' he was shooting at? And the guy WAS WEARING BLAZE ORANGE! This may indeed have been an accident, but I doubt very seriously that the man "mistook him for an elk". A thorough investigation is needed.

I've often wondered the same thing.How can you shoot at an animal that you can't see clearly enough to pick out a vital spot?

But then a few years ago I read an article in a hunting mag. I think it was PA Sportsman, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, the gist of the article was how the eyes can play tricks on you, especialy in an area you're framilar with, and where you have seen lots of game other times before. Basicly you expect to see game, so your eyes pick out what aint there. Even veteran hunters make mistakes, and rookies much more so.

I know from experience how this can happen, though, thank God, I've never been involved in an accident, and have never fired an errant shot You set there, watching a snow covered hill, and pretty soon the stumps and logs form into deer and start moving around. Glassing closely usualy turns them back to stumps, but not always. Last year I set statue still for 5 minutes, waiting for a deer to turn broadside so I could get a shot. After a long time of watching its ears move, but not its head, I took a look through glass, and it turned out to be a funny shaped stump. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

The writer made me see how things like this can happen, and I've become a much more careful hunter from it. You are the final saftey, and once the trigger has been pulled, no amount of wishing can bring that bullet back.

That doesn't tell you a whole lot about the situation. Around here, 250 sq inchs is the minimum in all but archery and ML season. Even then, an orange hat is the least I'll wear.

I'm not making excuses for anyone, but knowing that I'm not infalible, I'm not going to cast stones without knowing more about the situation. The bottom line is, you can't be TOO careful
7mm

One explination. STUPID, CLUELESS NIMRODS WITH GUNS!

Maybe the dead friend has a really hot looking wife that the shooter wanted to get to know. Food for thought. Flinch

7mm,

Sounds like he picked the perfect vital shot ... right behind the shoulder! Accident? ... we'll see.

7MM, yeah, I guess now that you explain it, I can see how this could happen.

A couple years ago in Yellowstone, I'd have swron (sp?) I was looking at a Grizzley along the side of the river. When I moved 100 yards down the road, it turned out to be a rock!

I've also looked at stumps thinking that I saw ears or head moving. But, I've never shot unless I knew with out a doubt what it was.

It still gives hunters and hunting, guns etc a bad name tho.

And maybe the guy made the biggest and worst mistake he has ever made in his life. This is something that he will live with and have to think about the rest of his life. I feel sorry for everyone involved and hope that god gives them the strength to go on with there lives. Had a guy where I live that shot is good friend while turkey hunting one spring. There was some drinking involved but both guys where hard working family men that was well thought of in the community. Both worked at the local Weyco papermill but after the accident this guy just went down hill. He lost his job and family and eventually lost his life to alcohol. He had always been a casual drinker but after the accident he went to Sh*t. So may God Bless everyone involved.