A Word to the Wise

I'm glad to see that almost everyone here shared my thoughts regarding this "accident". Working alone all the time, sometimes I question my own perspective.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived on the scene were the small children watching tv in one of the houses. ALL I could think about was, "What if..." If I had been their mother, I doubt I would've slept that night. Living in town, I'm sure it is easy to take your safety for granted, at least in terms of hunting accidents.

I was also rather irritated that the hunter immediately dismissed his own actions. He excused them because of the distance. And actually, another officer that came to assist me that day also dismissed his actions. That day the officer said to me, "Well, you don't have anything- he was outside 200 yards." My immediate thoughts were, "But wait...that doesn't seem right".

We teach not to shoot at deer (or anything) that is running up a hill or standing at the top of a hill. Why? Because you don't know what may be coming up the other side. We teach to look beyond your target. Either the hunter didn't pay any attention to what was beyond his target, or he just didn't think his 12 ga. Remington 870 would shoot a slug that far. Well, guess what...a word to the wise- if you lob a slug at an angle, it goes a hell of a long ways.

I told the hunter that he was lucky he didn't kill someone in the process of discovering how far a slug will travel. At that distance it still packed enough punch to go through the siding and shower wall of one house, and the window and drywall of the next house.

And, lastly...if you haven't hit the deer in the first four shots, what are the chances you are going to hit it with a Hail Mary fifth shot? I'd say the chances are slim.

So, I made an appointment with the county attorney. After describing the incident to him, and letting him research "case law" he decided that he didn't feel comfortable prosecuting a "reckless" charge. Careless? Stupid? Yes. But "Reckless", no. Unfortunately sometimes the law works against us. Because of the definition of "reckless" he didn't think he could get a conviction. But my opinion is...isn't it worth a try?

Another word to the wise...it is pretty easy to blame law enforcement sometimes. Why didn't the cop arrest the guy? Why didn't the game warden charge him with this or that? Sometimes it is out of our hands. My county attorneys office is a never-ending source of frustration for me. If I moved one county east or west, they would prosecute, but not here. The county attorney only wants to take time with cases he is sure to win. I guess I realize they are busy with big deal things like murder and rape, but it would still be nice to have fish and game stuff taken seriously for once.

So, if your house is on the edge of town, I guess I would take the sarcastic "advice" of one of the commenters and outfit it a blaze orange vest.

To Charge or Not to Charge

Luckily, so far (knock on wood), this hunting season has been pretty uneventful as far as accidents are concerned. I have had exactly one (knock on wood some more) accident to investigate. But this one simple property damage did leave me with a little dilema. "To charge or not to charge.."

In this accident two separate homes were shot with two different shotgun slugs. Five people had been hunting a section on the outskirts of a small town, which consists mostly of large, expensive new homes--urban sprawl to the two cities situated on either side.

Usually in these types of accidents I never find out who the shooter was. The home owners arrive home after the fact to discover holes in their houses. But this time one of the home owners was home at the time the house took the slug (luckily the person was in the room next to the one that was shot). So, as soon as the houses were shot, the hunters were gathered up by the sheriff's department and were waiting for me at a house down the road from those that were shot.

I pulled up to talk to the hunters. They had already determined who the shooter was- a man in his fifties. The first thing he said to me was, "I didn't see any houses. We were a quarter mile away! How was I supposed to know?" His story was that he was shooting at a deer that was running up a hill (in the direction of the housing development).

We went to the spot where he was when he took five shots at the running deer. The empty casings lay on the ground 450 yards from the first of the victim's homes. BUT, the rooftops of the houses WERE visible from the shooting location. When I pointed this out to the shooter he said, "Yeah, I guess so."

Next I went to the houses that were hit. The first house took a slug through the siding, through the shower wall and  landed in the middle of the bathroom floor. Thankfully, the elderly woman who was home at the time happened to be in the neighboring room (though she told me that she had been in the bathroom a lot that day working on cleaning it).

The other home was shot through the bedroom. The slug burst through the bedroom window located above the bed and lodged in a wall on the other side of the room. Nobody was home at this house, but by the time I arrived, they were home- a family of four with two small children.

So, the dillema...to charge or not to charge. In this state you have to discharge a firearm outside of 200 yards if you do not have permission to be closer, so the hunter was legal in that sense. The only option I had was "Reckless discharge of a firearm."

So, you tell me, is it reckless to discharge a firearm at a deer that is running up a hill when you are 450 yards from a home?

I will tell you in my next post what the county attorney told me.

Slueth Answer

This was great! You answers were all very good. I especially like Brookfield Angler's guess of a "treasure map" or the "fountain of youth". Steve gets the award for the most detailed description- "residue traces of medicinal marijuana, bottle opener, 3 bottle caps and an electric bill to a nearby trailer court with the owner's name and address" (I wish). My all time favorite though comes from Kirk..."Hello Kitty stuff". I think it is my favorite because I am impressed that he knows such a thing as Hello Kitty exists.

But the award to the most accurate guesses belong to those of you who guessed drugs. Actually, there were no actual drugs, just this:

A nice bong made from sockets...very creative...and a corn-cob pipe (and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal).

I must admit I had visions of a stolen gun, or maybe a safe full of drugs. But most of all I wanted a box full of photos of these little &^%^$#$ shooting the pelican that we found full of shotgun pellets a few days ago near this spot.

Someone already asked how we are going to catch them. Good question. The answer is, we probably won't. But we did set up a trail cam. Here is one of the Corps rangers setting it up (can you see it?):

So, I guess we will see what happens. Thanks for all your answers!!

Slueths Wanted

Business was a little slow today. It was 65 degrees. This worries me a little because in this part of the country it should be about -6 degrees. But rest assured, one of the Corps of Engineers Rangers I helped today told me that the warm weather wasn't due to the global warming I was fretting over. No, it was because she purchased a brand new snowblower, so therefore, there will be no snow.

Which brings me to today's activity. I helped out the Rangers with some suspicious activity on the federal property. It seems people have been joy-riding and partying/camping in areas in which it is illegal to do so. Crime of the century? No, but it is still frustrating that whoever is doing this feels that it is completely ok to mow their own private paths for atvs:

And camp, and build bonfires:

And of course we found a bunch of beer cans, litter and other stuff:

And WAAAY back in the weeds and prickly bushes we found this:

Here is a closer look:

Yep. It is a safe. And of course it was locked. So...I thought it would be fun to take some guesses from everyone to see if anyone can guess what was inside (after we busted it open with a pry bar and hammer).
What do you think? Write your guess in the comments section!