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Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Hearing some talk of a hunter shot west of Spences Bridge yesterday? Heard police and ambulance and police helicopter beside highway and a friend hunting in that area was talking to police officer who confirmed a hunter was shot. Not good to hear on the last day of deer season.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
any info?...was it by accidental self injury or another hunter or another random shooting in the area like the guy on the bike and 1 other IIRC...
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Accidental self inflicted is the word from the locals.
*apparently* leaned over a loaded gun and it went off.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Depending on the circumstances,it may not be reported in the media,but tragic anyway
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Dang . Hate to hear this.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
My brother is part of the Merritt search and rescue and got a call to go but couldn't, it was apparently accidental.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Shot in the guts..Horrible way to go
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
That's horrible news.....
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Not good news, always have to be so careful when handling our firearms.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
are you saying he died?
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Originally Posted by
ratherbefishin
Shot in the guts..Horrible way to go
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Hopefully he makes it. That is terrible. Heavy reminder to mind muzzle direction and never pipe one until you need it.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
whitlers
Hopefully he makes it. That is terrible. Heavy reminder to mind muzzle direction and never pipe one until you need it.
X2 on muzzle direction and keeping it unloaded until you need to. Very sad to hear of this.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
wideopenthrottle
are you saying he died?
that’s the word locally, I’d be elated if it’s incorrect though!
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Wow,,,thats a terrible thing...
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Deadly mistake..very sad to hear.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Buddy gut shot a buck in the early season so we were dragging it to a creek beside the road to wash out when "BANG!" a rifle went by his buddy's truck. The buddy's girlfriend, a new hunter, was dicking with her rifle and it went off. I don't know if it was still loaded from earlier or if she had loaded it right then for some reason. Fortunately she had had the common sense to have it pointed in the air. Could have turned out real bad if she'd had it pointed elsewhere.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Terrible News and Very Sad if he's Dead ! :icon_frow RJ
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Very sad to get hurt or worse, doing something you love.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Oh this is terrible news, here's hoping all is well for our fellow hunter.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Prayers to him and his family.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Wow that’s awful.you have to be so careful with a loaded firearm
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Terrible news, but it generally takes a situation like this to remind us to treat every firearm as loaded regardless whether you know it is or not, firearm safety 101. Let's hope there's a positive result from this.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
It’s like how many guys out there check their safety’s. it’s something mechanical and can easily fail. You walk around with a shell in and put the safety on but does it work. Just a heads up stay safe.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Safeties are not infallible. Not having a round in the chamber is infallible and completely safe from accidental firing.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Terrible news. Hope that he is going to be ok.
I have been thinking more about gun safety this year than any other as I got my son his first "real" gun, a 12 ga., and have been shooting with him every weekend this season. He is conscientious and careful but I am always watching, reminding and pointing things out. Safety is first every time and I am more aware of that with him there than I have been since my dad first taught me.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Terrible news. I test my safety when I load every gun, load it, safety on, pull the trigger, they ban break, become old, many things can happen.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Safety's should be thrown in the bush. I would not and will not trust a firearm safety. It takes a fraction of a second to put one in the pipe when needed. Probably not much longer to take the safety off.
I best wishes to the hunter and his family.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Why does anyone need a safrty. Only load it when it will be shot!!!
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
Onesock
Why does anyone need a safrty. Only load it when it will be shot!!!
Yes, when you see your opportunity , if you don't have time to load your chamber you don't have time to make a decent shot IMO.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
tomcat
Yes, when you see your opportunity , if you don't have time to load your chamber you don't have time to make a decent shot IMO.
That doesn't make much sense imo.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Bird hunting, still hunting up close and personal, moving to get a better shot. There are lots of times and reasons to have your gun loaded while hunting so dont act like you know better, a safety is one thing but treating every gun as if it is loaded is rule number one even then accidents do happen.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
Firstblood
Bird hunting, still hunting up close and personal, moving to get a better shot. There are lots of times and reasons to have your gun loaded while hunting so dont act like you know better, a safety is one thing but treating every gun as if it is loaded is rule number one even then accidents do happen.
Agreed, and I think that muzzle control and assuming every gun is loaded helps to increase safety.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
I think that actual safety failure is a pretty rare occurrence on most makes of guns. If it does happen, it's most likely a cause of some sort of dirt built up in the trigger mechanism preventing the safety from fully engaging to the ON position.
As long as the safety is kept clean by proper maintenance, I believe human error to be more of a factor in rendering a gun unsafe (ready to fire). There are two ways this can happen.
The first is when a safety is switched to the the ON position, but some time later is then inadvertently switched to the OFF without the user realizing it. The second is when the user THINKS they have put the safety ON, but have actually in fact not done so. It might be hard to image this could happen, but it does, and happens more often than many people realize.
Another potential problem (not a fault of the safety though) is if someone without sufficient knowledge, attempts to adjust the trigger and does so improperly. If this happens, depending on how the adjustment was made, the simple act of switching the safety from the ON position to OFF position, could make the gun fire. Another possible result of an improperly adjusted trigger is the potential to fire if the gun is jarred hard enough, or if a round is chamber from the magazine rapidly enough.
Remember these are only potential problems and only if the trigger adjustment is changed improperly from the factory setting. If not changed, there is no need to be concerned. As a side note, if someone is not comfortable with adjusting a trigger themselves, it's a good idea to either leave it alone, or get assistance from someone who is.
Personally I rarely rely on a safety. The only time I will, is if I'm trailing an animal that has already been shot. The rest of the time, while I hunt, the chamber is either empty, or there is one in the chamber but the striker is uncocked. Even then I check periodically to confirm the rifle is indeed uncocked, while always maintaining safe control of the muzzle.
It's definitely saddening to hear whenever a hunter has been shot, for whatever reason. My heart goes out to his family!
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
None of us know what happened, I think the best thing to do now is to send up prayer/good vibes/positive thoughts to the victim and his/her family.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
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Originally Posted by
375shooter
Personally I rarely rely on a safety. The only time I will, is if I'm trailing an animal that has already been shot. The rest of the time, while I hunt, the chamber is either empty or there is one in the chamber but the striker is uncocked. Even then I check periodically to confirm the rifle is indeed uncocked, while always maintaining safe control of the muzzle.
I’d agree to never trust a safety and to always practice good muzzle control. But safe muzzle control is the key because un-cocking a firearm on a live round is about as dangerous as it gets. When un-cocked, the firing pin is resting against the primer. Accidentally drop that firearm and there is a very good chance it will go off when it is left in the un-cocked state. Who knows where a dropped firearm could end up pointing so leaving it un-cocked is not a safe practice and I’d never hunt with someone who did it.
Un-cocking a rifle on an empty chamber is another thing all together but there would also be no point in doing so...
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
I know it SOUNDS pretty scary to many, but really it's not very dangerous at all. Statistically it's very safe. I believe there has only been something like 3 instances of it actually happening and those may have been with guns other than bolt actions. It would take more than dropping it onto the ground while walking along hunting, to make it discharge.
Dropping it from the height of a tree stand might do it, though. In this case be extra careful, or keep the chamber empty. The noise, and the time it takes to chamber a round could result in lost opportunities though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fuzzybiscuit
I’d agree to never trust a safety and to always practice good muzzle control. But safe muzzle control is the key because un-cocking a firearm on a live round is about as dangerous as it gets. When un-cocked, the firing pin is resting against the primer. Accidentally drop that firearm and there is a very good chance it will go off when it is left in the un-cocked state. Who knows where a dropped firearm could end up pointing so leaving it un-cocked is not a safe practice and I’d never hunt with someone who did it.
Un-cocking a rifle on an empty chamber is another thing all together but there would also be no point in doing so...
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Really sad to hear. As a newer hunter just starting to feel more "comfortable" with my firearms, it's unfortunately a good reminder you can't get lazy with gun safety.
Even in limited experience though I have to agree with what someone said above. I do a lot of still hunting, and it really just isn't feasible not to have a round chambered. In my limited experience, I think there would be a significant risk of a poor/unethical shot if forced to hurry through chambering a round while trying to get on target.
Muzzle control is everything, a safety is there as a backup but of course never to be relied on.
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Re: Hunter shot west of Spences Bridge
Carrying an unloaded rifle in griz country is like carrying a club.