Michigan hunter, 14, dies after being run over by corn harvester: reports

https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-hunter-14-dies-run-corn-harvester-reports

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Good Lord.

Well DAMN! hope the kid didn't suffer.

I read that yesterday. From this it sort of sounds like he was run over by a tire rather than going through the blades. He's dead either way but I shudder to think about being chopped.

Deer season is open in Michigan? Bow hunting? But then, who bow hunts deer in a un picked corn field and then lays down for a nap and doesn't wake up to the sound of a combine picking and shredding corn?
The story doesn't make sense.

That is one sound sleeper!

Poor kid. Prayers sent.

May be some sort of early youth hunt.

It was our youth hunt weekend which most use a firearm.

Speculating here ,but I see a lot of youth wearing ear phones / air pods to listen to their phone (music). Could have fallen asleep and not heard the machine coming. I'm also thinking without looking into it, the corn was being cut for silage ,which is what's going on here in mid Michigan.


If the kid was left alone to hunt by himself, the parent is going to have more trouble besides the loss of child.

Bad deal to all around. Feel bad for the driver ,life changer for him. (no pun intended)

Bucks will spend a great deal of time in standing corn. There is a tactic whereby a hunter can slip in with a bow and walk right up on them. The problem is what happens if you get lost. I never much liked the tactic, because visibility was about 10 feet at best. Once you're in, there are few directional cues. You can use a compass, a gps (nowadays), or listen for traffic on a nearby road. I much preferred to catch them going in or out, often using a small penninsula or other structure as a key. I can see where a 14 yr old got in, got turned around, and decided to take a nap before heading out.

Youth / disabled hunter this weekend in MI.


Most states youth hunts require an adult to be present to take over control of the wpn at all times.

Per article???
So this kid gets dropped off alone?
Goes in a standing corn field ?
Falls asleep.
Gets run over by a combiner tire.
Family land???
Or was permission given by landowner?


Really fugged up situation.
Tragic .
100% should not have happened.

Some very stupid adults need to be held accountable and answer some big questions.
Not the combine driver, that guy had no idea and probably feels horrible about how all this happened .
If I was him I would be mad as hell at the adults involved in dropping this kid off .
Livid.
Talking to the media and MI game commision or whatever they are called up their.

If it was family land.
Then that could answer alot of stupidity involved.
But how in the fugg if that was the case.
How did they not know the field was gonna get cut that day.

The whole thing sounds really strange and fishy.



The article leaves ALOT of questions unanswered.
Bottom line is that kid should have never been alone.
I couldnt find it but I would bet MI youth hunt regs require an adult presence at all times just like other states do.


JMO.....

You have to accompany a kid on a youth hunt here in Michigan.

That’s terrible

Agreed 100 %

Wow. Horrible.

My hell!!! Some adults are to stupid for words. Unreal.

Not enough details to determine what really happened in this tragedy.

But at 14 yrs old! Good grief.

Many of us here at The Campfire have hunted alone since we were 8-9 yrs old.

i guess i'll be talking about this at our next hunter safety ed class

The young guy in the story above is most certainly a hell of a tragedy for for the family and the operator. As loud and noisy as those machines are it's hard to understand how the kid never heard it working and getting close to him.

When growing up on a farm in SW WI, my father did custom harvesting and drying of oats, soybeans and corn for other surrounding farms. We had two JD hydrostatic combines, a 6600 Side Hill and a 7700 4WD both with just 4 row corn heads. After school and holidays/weekends I ran the 6600. When the corn was good and dry and temps cool with the drum and shakers set up right we could really cover some ground. We used to joke about fast we could go and still get a very clean test of the grain and very, very little loss out the back.

I was working the 6600 late one afternoon in late Nov. WX was kind of gray and overcast, temps just above freezing, with an occasional little snow flake here and there coming down, but the corn was dry and I was moving. The farm and the piece of property I was on was a bit rocky and you needed to keep the tips up a bit higher than normal to make sure you didn't pick up a rock and jam up the snap rollers that would plug that row or worse yet bust a roller or bearing.

I'm cruising along and all of a sudden the far right snap roller clutch starts slipping/hammering hard and the corn stalks pile up. I'm thinking I picked up a rock and hoped I didn't really break something. After I shut the machine down and got down into the head and started pulling the corn stalks away there was a yearling doe's head jammed in the rollers. She was dead. Field dressed her and pulled the carcass over to the perimeter fence and hung her up on a fence post and took her home late that night when I finished for the day.

The joke became when asked, "how fast can we go", the reply was, "fast enough that we have hit deer".

Is that for sure? I know during regular firearm a kid that age (14) can be left alone on public land legally.

It's a 2 day youth hunt. Michigan's hunting version of a participation trophy for kids.

LOL

Where do you come up with this fugking bullschit?

Outdoor Life????
"It happened to me" picture story next to the last page maybe?


I was gonna mention something.
But I'm a nicer user now.

I think?????

You got it Gunner.

A very sad deal. I do understand the being in the corn though, as there is deer in there. I have sat in it many times, never fell asleep though, but the sound of the wind in the corn is therapeutic and some kids can sleep in a microsecond.

Dunno if it was a factor but seems like most teenagers have earbuds/headphones nowadays. Heck, I've read of people getting hit by trains like that, and we had a kid in this town some years back run over by a car like that.

Man, if bullszchit were music.....

I’ve tried walking for arrowheads in Willy’s graveyard spot while the corn is 6-7 ft tall

It was nearly impossible, constant mouthfuls and eyes fulls of spider webs, sharp edged floppy leaves in your face,making little paper cut sensations on my ears, that and Garnett sets his drills at about 28” width.

How in the fouck could you draw a bow, much less carry one around in that chit, THEN to be able sneak up on a deer in all that , or even to get kill shot? Spatially the alignment, the unimpeded path of your arrow, would have to be

Ah fouck it



Just ass shoot them with a 44 rem mag

Don't forget your compass and/or GPS to navigate a fugking cornfield.

JFC.

While I can't speak for other areas, around here the corn right now is standing over 10'. With all the latest GPS on equipment these rows can be perfectly straight. Yes, it is a pita to get into it and walk without getting gnarly, but when one knows how to use it it is oftimes easier than walking the field edges which are planted right up to the fence and overgrown with burrdock, etc. Deer make a path through the corn, find it, sit downwind of it with a bow or gun and sometimes you have a shot. Kids do kids stuff, and I am just a 62 year old kid who likes to hunt.

30 years ago you could bowhunt cornfields effectively but now the rows are planted much too closely together...at least in this part of the country.

Lucky guess, sad deal all around.

Yep. That’s what I figured happened too.

Same here, I am just across the river. I live on a farm, there is this one spot on this one field by a little swamp that always has this little open area where the corn has been decimated by coons and deer, about ten rows in from the field edge, it is a thoroughfare as the little water hole (on private property) is only 100 yards away. It is an ambush zone before the corn gets chopped or picked.

Didn't the Wensels show how to hunt standing corn way back on the video "Bowhunting October Whitetails" ?

Yep, seems kinda odd to be bow hunting in standing corn. Little hard to get a clean shot. The whole thing sounds very sketchy. Prayers go out to the family and the poor kid that was driving the combine.

Yeah that was a good vid.

In Idaho, a kid can hunt alone at 12. If accompanied by a licensed adult, they can hunt small game at 8 and big game at 10. I got my 1st deer at 13. I was alone but Dad was maybe 200 yds away.

another fatality in the same area:



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Boy, 11, shot and killed by stepfather during deer hunt in St. Clair County

CLAY TWP, Mich. (FOX 2) - An 11-year-old boy has died after he was shot by his stepfather while hunting deer on private property in Clay Township in St. Clair County.

The Clay Township Police Department said the shooting happened around 8 p.m. in the 6300 block of Benoit Road Sunday.

Clay Township Police said the 11-year-old was with his family in the woods, hunting for deer, when witnesses heard gunshots and saw the boy on the ground. The child had been hit by a round that was discharged by his 40-year-old stepfather.

According to police, the boy was being treated by family members when police arrived and CPR was being performed. While they were there, police said another gunshot went off.

Police said the child's mother had shot herself in the hand as she was trying to unload a gun and it mistakenly went off.

The boy was taken to McLaren Hospital Macomb where he was later pronounced dead.

His stepfather is currently in custody and the case is being reviewed by the St. Clair County Prosecutor's Office.

The boy is the second hunting-related death in eastern Michigan. On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy was killed when he apparently fell asleep in a cornfield and was run over by a harvester.

This past weekend was Michigan's Liberty Hunt, open specifically for minors and hunters with disabilities.

WTF??? She shot herself in the hand while unloading the gun? These people need to go take a hunter's safety course before they kill their whole family.

I wonder if it was an accidental discharge, or the guy was a dumbschit and mistaked him for a deer.

This..
Early Youth & Disabled Vet weekend

How could this youth not have heard the combine?

I agree that there's a lot of unanswered questions. Horrible.

Prayers are on the way for the youngster.

This is a tragic accident.I don`t understand that the first thing people want to do is condemn someone before they know the whole story??

It's because the whole story sounds fishy, to put it mildly.

Youth got hit by train in Nashville while back, walking down the tracks with ear buds in.

Still you would think that a train would vibrate the ground, enough to make a quick enough alerting reacting to dive outta the way.

Probably had some of those pimp ass Dr Dre headphones on.

This sounds like a good one too.

Stepson Stepdad issues ????

Gotta wear orange on private land in MI????

Then mom pops herself in the hand???


What the fugg is going on up their????
JFC......

Liberty Hunt. 100% disabled vets, blind, deaf, or have a DNR issued permit for laser device and/or hunt from a standing vehicle. If Mr. 40 year old stepfather didn't fall into this category, he's in a world of schit. Mom needs a Hunter Safety course too.

Liberty Hunt is also for youths 16 or younger. Youth must be accompanied by a mentor at least 21 years old and within arms reach if they are 9 or younger. Youths 10-16 without a Hunter Safety cert must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. This parent or guardian must be within sight and/or reasonable voice distance. Youths 10-16 WITH a hunter safety cert must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older unless they are on their parents or guardians land.

Complicated as hell, but this kid could've had a Hunter Safety cert and was hunting on his parents land by himself. Gets up at o' dark thirty and falls asleep or has ear pods in like kids do these days. Tragic all the way around.

Bad day in Michigan. We certainly don't need any more real world examples to teach our students in Hunter Safety class, which - by the way, Herr Whitmer has canceled this year due to COVID.

Had the exact same thing happen here about a month ago. 19 yo female walking the tracks with earbuds in. She didn't die but she's in really really bad shape. I don't understand how she's not dead.

Step-father is in custody...which is interesting. Doesn't normally happen in hunting "accidents".

Blaze Orange is required (hat, vest, or coat) in all firearm deer hunting everywhere in Michigan unless it's during bow season.

Interesting.

I looked up the sunset time there, if at 8PM it was going to be getting dark real soon. Is MI a "half hour after sunset" State? If so, and if 8PM, then he was likely good on shooting time as sunset was about 7:40

Can't wait for "the rest of the story"

What a clusterfu-ck.

Was the stepchild read-headed by any chance?

Apparently mom was unloading her gun through the muzzle.

Yes, up here we're 1/2 hour after sunset closing time. It's a very specific time, down to the minute, posted in the hunting guide. I know I can't see a thing at closing time during firearm deer in November - even with a scope. I usually leave the stand at least 15 minutes before actual close because it's too dark to shoot. Of course, I'm usually in the woods where it's darker. Snow can lengthen that time too.

I think I read about it in Bowhunter Magazine back in the 80's. It was about then I gave it a try. My first time out in the corn was out by the Wilmington Airport. I was able to keep my bearings by listening for the airplanes. It was not as fun as the article indicated, and after a half-hour, I got out.

Later, I tried it up around Mason Ohio. In that case I got turned around. The corn was on a corner lot with traffic on two sides. I finally went to the compass and went due-East until I got out. It was then I decided the technique was not my cup of tea. I had about 10 foot visibility, and I'm a big guy, so I couldn't move with a bow quietly.

Once I got out, I decided to hunt the little penninsula of trees that stretched out into the field. There was a ditch there, and I got into the ditch and took a nap. The deer woke me up at sundown coming out of the nearby woodlot and heading for the penninsula. They got close-- maybe 15-20 feet, but I couldn't get the bow up and get a shot in time. I ended up hunting that penninsula several more times-- either out of climbing stand or sitting in the ditch. That went on for a couple of seasons, before my buddy sold the land. It's now a mega church and the woodlot is a subdivision.

I really don't know why folks would think I was making this up. I grant that it wasn't the smartest idea, but then I was prone to this kind of failed experimentation before I got my act together. The biggest problem in those days was finding a place with a huntable herd actually on the property. My point in bringing it up is this is the sort of thing a young, inexperienced hunter my try.

Mom shot herself in the hand.

As a paramedic I worked many, many GSW. Most were small caliber pistols as you might expect. .22LR, 9mm, .38 Special and so forth.
I did see a few patients hit with a deer rifle.

Scary to think what a .30-30 would do to the hand. Depends on where it hits of course but right there at the bone where it joins the wrist, it would blow the hand off of the arm.

obituary. This is the kid who was run over by the corn harvester.



Jeffery Lewis Powell
January 12, 2007 - September 12, 2020
https://www.champagnefuneralchapel....xzDbDWuSeYPblfPeJR7m_gD6anGi3JTRYC2FBroc

You can sneak thru corn rows bow hunting when it's very windy, looking up and down the next row.

I don't know how the hell anyone would get lost in one though.

In the tenth grade I fell asleep in geometry class. I woke up half way through the next class. The teacher chuckled while some in the class laughed out loud.

It’s true. There’s a technique of still bow-hunting standing corn rows into the wind or at least from a favorable direction. But I learned it to be used with snow, a step at a time and with constant glassing to the windward side into adjacent rows.
With a breeze, the stalk leaves make a rattling noise, and with snow I’ve come within ten feet of deer and pheasants without them knowing of me.
But I cannot explain the not hearing the machinery even of this kid was knowingly trying this technique. Very sad indeed.

Seems weird that a combine would be in a cornfield this early in the year, especially downstate. Just stating an opinion, not speculating.

It may have even originated right in my area with a grizzled, old traditional bow hunter who passed it along to Doug Stange, now editor of Infisherman magazine. Doug was an elementary school classmate of mine.

Could've been chopping it for silage I suppose.

I thought the same thing. Not passing any judgement or opinion on the matter, just surprised. I’m in the Tri-Cities/Mid-Michigan region and the corn is still half green.

Are all these tales of the great corn stalk stalk before GMO corn and more narrow rows?

I suppose if I was pondering the glory days of a 1962 Outdoor Life article in a corn field with 3ft wide rows. Yes


The corn I walk a hell of lot more narrow, it only gets about 7ft tall too, if that. Obviously different hybrids in different locales.

My guy that I hunt rocks on; spaces his pretty darn tight, hence my doubting comments. So please forgive. The land Im on, the farm mgr plants 18,000+ acres. He squeezes all the science he can out of it. You won’t be slipping easily thru his stalks. Barely sideways.

So, different soils, different regions, different hybrids, I suppose it’s unchanged in other areas. I don’t know.

————————

https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/row-spacing-corn

Row spacing - corn


Row widths continue to decrease as time moves forward. Current row widths employed by producers typically vary from 15" to 38", with most producers at 30" today.

Yet more and more acres are planted to narrower row widths. In general, this means 15" or 20" row widths. Numerous advantages exist with narrower row widths; these include using the same planting equipment for corn and soybean, reduced weed competition, increased shading of the soil, increased light interception per plant, and less in-row crowding. Plant populations continue to increase every year (400 plants per acre per year). Using wide row widths force more plants to be in a concentrated area, whereas narrower rows allow better dispersement.

In general, more of a yield response to narrow rows is expected to occur in northern production states, likely due to their shorter growing seasons. What has Iowa State University research shown in terms of yield response? Six years of research (1995-2000) conducted in Iowa showed a null yield effect when comparing 15" row width to 30". This data is included in the Corn Planting Guide (Table 6) and is extracted here for your reference. Year to year response varied; yet in general, corn planted in a 15" row width yielded the same as 30". It is important to note that yields will not be reduced when using narrow row widths.




Ongoing research is conducted at ISU investigating the yield response of a twin row corn production system compared to 30" row widths. Previous research (2003-2005) conducted at the SW Research and Demonstration Farm (Lewis, IA) has shown no significant yield difference between a twin row configuration and 30" row spacing during any of the three years. A twin row configuration places two rows atop the previous row. The twin rows are only 7-8" apart. See the Image Gallery for a picture of what this system looks like.

As plant populations significantly increase from where they are today, we expect the yield differential to shift more towards narrow row systems than 30". Yet at this time, we recommend producers use 15", 20", or 30" row widths. These three options will allow maximum yields to be realized if other factors have been properly managed including plant population, weed control, hybrid selection, and residue management.

George, it is true indeed. I used to love spending time in cornfields with bow and gun - especially with a decent wind or rain.
I believe folks (self included) were calling BS at the "getting lost" nonsense.

They were chopping, not combining. The operator found him. DRT.

I suppose there’s a small chance a wheel could’ve run over him, but that’s unlikely.

bad deal in my op.

George, it is true indeed. I used to love spending time in cornfields with bow and gun - especially with a decent wind or rain.
I believe folks (self included) were calling BS at the "getting lost" nonsense.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yes guys, unfortunately there are 'some' here on the 'fire' who don't know EVERYTHING, like they think they do.

I have TWO, umm I'll call lost pups instead of TROLLS. They follow me around and chew on my britches leg and
growl like big dogs. They tell me I don't know what I'm talking about......

problem is they DON'T know what they DON'T know! ! !

NOW to this HORRIFIC situation

So SAD

Prayers and Condolences to ALL who knew him.

Jerry

I grew up in Midland County and had a neighbor who farmed. He often didn't cut his corn until mid-late November

Yes, much wider rows. I couldn’t go down a corn row now sidewise and holding my breath, and I doubt you could even draw a bow and shoot between the stalks now.

It was much different fifty years ago.

For me, getting into a 20 acre plot of standing corn was more of an annoyance than anything. I was a big guy and not naturally meant to be a pussy footer to begin with. My biggest problem was that the leaves were always in the way and I had to bend down to see anything. I finally said screwit! and went to the compass to find the quickest way out. However, I can well imagine that someone young and less experienced could get lost.

As a matter of fact, Granpa Whitey did just that back before 1910 at age 4. They were having a family get-together and little Whitey wandered off into the corn. They had to post someone in the attic window to direct the men towards the movement out in the middle of the field.

wth is going on, kid shot, another shot trying to clear, not many details yet

2 shot at youth deer hunting event in St. Clair County

My heart goes out to thr family of the 14 year old. These things are horrific!

Story I read they were chopping silage... Goggle Albert Lea MN Woman hit by train...70 year old woman carrying fishing gear .. You'd think they hear it. Aperentlyy not..I fished the Alma dam from MN and Wi side

He also enjoyed online gaming and Xbox. there it is, ear buds on the ph gaming.

Yeah I grew up around a lot of corn and I know two things:

1.). Nobody arrowed a deer in September corn

2.). Unless your name is Corky, you ain’t getting lost in a midwestern cornfield

..Deflave...I had a BIL used to shoot deer every year sneaking through semi dry corn fields in Wisconsin..With a bow..60-80 acre's fields...We always knew witch way we were going.. Probably different in Florida, gatores and iguananas in a 30x 50 lot.

Ahhh, Flave knows corn. Big corn is where he spent his formative years when he was spankin' it to a Cindy Crawford poster. Sadly, now it's Cutler, but he showed promise back in the day.

It’s the “new” America.

When I was 12, I saw what a twelve 12 would do to a hand!! My friend’s brother was using a Browning auto 5. He stood with his hand on the barrel and pushed down, on a loaded gun. When it. Hit the firing pin it went off!

You can say it couldn’t have, put I saw it form about 4 feet away! It wasn’t pretty!

His hand was right over the barrel. So it made a hole about 3/4 inch diameter in the hand.
Were they able to save his hand?

They were able to save the hand, but it was useless! I had bbs up to his shoulder. I remember him screaming my hand my hand. It looked like a pound of hamburger! It was 60 years ago, and I remember like yesterday!

Chopping silage as some have already pointed out. Krone chopper I saw pictured in another article is 1100+ horsepower.

Good reason to check in each day you hunt, or better the day before if it is off hours at staring time..

Poor kid though...

Took the kid to the big city for medical today.
Some corn had been chopped for a while.

But...........I saw a bean field harvested and no chit............a grain truck on side of picked cornfield. The gold visible in the trailer.

Dunno WTH that was about.

Stuff is yellowed most places, but not yet dull tan like normal harvest color.

And.............yeah, you can hunt standing cornfields. Would think windy is best.
But I have a corn allergy and getting sick and cut up trying to slide through that, w a 58" recurve............screw that.


CRP and corn are hell on strings/cables too.

More details on this from local media. Stepfather is a two time felon who has done a nickel and a dime in the pen for firearms related crimes. The deceased boy's mother married this dipstick. The boy wounded a deer, and two relatives from his father's family were helping him search for the deer. The stepfather was in the woods separately, and thought he saw a deer and hosed the woods with 8 rounds from his 9MM. One round went through the boy's head. Since the stepfather was a felon and couldn't own a gun, his kind hearted wife (and the boy's mother) bought a 9MM and gave it to him. Wife/mother was trying to unload this weapon when she ventilated her hand.

Horrible.

Stepfather is a convicted felon who has served time on firearms violations. So he is out "deer hunting" with a 9mm and he accidentally kills his stepson.
He is going away for a long, long time.
And his loving wife bought the pistol and gave it to him. She is a straw buyer and she is going to jail also.

The waffen ATF will probably plead it down to misdemeanor charges. They are only interested in convincing Legal Gun Owners

No corn yet, silage time now.

The kid is a terrible loss but his mom and stepdad sound like Darwin award contestants. Jfc if Michigan didn't have enough problems.

I don't really know how a chopper could kill a man in a corn field by "running over him" in the conventional sense. The cutting head on those machines extends beyond the wheelbase by three to four feet on each side, and they usually have a eight to ten foot wheelbase.

I well know a couple guys who own and operate such choppers. They occasionally run a stray mule deer through the chopper without a hiccup. The deer just gets chopped, and goes into the silage pit. There might be a short flash of red in the chopper stream going into the harvest truck. IF anyone were to be watching close enough.

No matter the scenario, what a tragic loss for the family. I sincerely hope the young man did not go through the chopper.