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Two Injured During Final Shotgun Deer Season

blake

blake

Life Member
From the Iowa DNR website:

Two Injured During Final Weekend of Shotgun Deer Season

DES MOINES – Two Iowa deer hunters sustained non-life threatening injuries during the final weekend of the shotgun deer season.

Michael Otto, 50, of Madrid, was treated after sustaining an injury to his elbow while deer hunting southwest of Madrid in Dallas County on Saturday. Otto was hit in the elbow by another hunter who was shooting at a running deer at approximately 11 a.m. Saturday. He was treated at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.

Holden Hillegas, 21, of Charles City, sustained a flesh wound to his upper back when he was struck by a deer slug fired from approximately 200 yards away by another hunter in his party shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday while hunting near Floyd. He was treated at Floyd County Medical Center in Charles City.
 
And that is why we stopped our annual shotgun group hunts. No matter how well coordinated someone gets hurt.

We used to hunt with a group every year but the bigger the groups got the more irresponsible the hunters got.

Glad they were minor wounds.
 
These guys were Inches away....could have ended everything, or on the other hand who knows how many people come inches away but are missed ...hunt the way you want, but hunting safe becomes a whole new issue when pushing deer in big parties. I don't care how much orange you wear.

Random thought, if we are going to allow pushing in big groups let's limit the # of hunters per acre? Less bullets more distance between people? Or some form of that?

Just an idea I am not for or against pushing in parties, but something's got to be done to make it safer.... How many people get hit by arrows every year? The can travel 100 yds easily, but there aren't 10 + people plus blockers dodging arrows?

Sorry my two cents...I just think of my 3.5 yr old son and if he was 16 would I feel safe with him out part hunting? I don't know...
 
You can try to pass all kinds of rules to make it safer, but the rules that really matter are already taught in hunter safety: know what is BEHIND your target is one that comes to mind.
 
Spades8 said:
These guys were Inches away....could have ended everything, or on the other hand who knows how many people come inches away but are missed ...hunt the way you want, but hunting safe becomes a whole new issue when pushing deer in big parties. I don't care how much orange you wear.

Random thought, if we are going to allow pushing in big groups let's limit the # of hunters per acre? Less bullets more distance between people? Or some form of that?

Just an idea I am not for or against pushing in parties, but something's got to be done to make it safer.... How many people get hit by arrows every year? The can travel 100 yds easily, but there aren't 10 + people plus blockers dodging arrows?

Sorry my two cents...I just think of my 3.5 yr old son and if he was 16 would I feel safe with him out part hunting? I don't know...
Click to expand...

Your comment on how many are hit by arrows is comparing apples to oranges. Answer this, how many more are hurt while falling out of treestands? Higher statistics for bowhunting accidents/deaths than gun.
 
Reminds me of a personal experience in MI. I gave up going into the woods during gun/rifle season, early in my deer hunting life up there. Way too many crazies in the forest. Is not even safe walking to the mail box. One morning while doing that, I heard a whistle pass thru the air just a couple feet above my head. A bullet passing from who knows where?:mad:
 
Bowtech bandit said:
Your comment on how many are hit by arrows is comparing apples to oranges. Answer this, how many more are hurt while falling out of treestands? Higher statistics for bowhunting accidents/deaths than gun.
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I guess I'm not sure what you mean. Both are lethal weapons both can travel at least 100 yds and injure or kill someone, both are light enough to carry and party hunt with if desired. Both require the same ethical approach and responsibility and/or consequences and repercussions. You can hunt an animal with both in the relative same area.

You can fall out of a deer stand with a gun or a bow so that stat would be irrelevant or even just hanging a stand.

Because there are gun hunters pushing in parties this makes it inherently more dangerous than bow hunting is what I am stating. Therefore something needs to be done to make it safer.
 
Bowtech bandit said:
Your comment on how many are hit by arrows is comparing apples to oranges. Answer this, how many more are hurt while falling out of treestands? Higher statistics for bowhunting accidents/deaths than gun.
Click to expand...

Spades8 said:
I guess I'm not sure what you mean. Both are lethal weapons both can travel at least 100 yds and injure or kill someone, both are light enough to carry and party hunt with if desired. Both require the same ethical approach and responsibility and/or consequences and repercussions. You can hunt an animal with both in the relative same area.

You can fall out of a deer stand with a gun or a bow so that stat would be irrelevant or even just hanging a stand.

Because there are gun hunters pushing in parties this makes it inherently more dangerous than bow hunting is what I am stating. Therefore something needs to be done to make it safer.
Click to expand...


I think a part of this argument is that in a treestand injury, hopefully (and probably in most cases) no one is pushing the victim off or otherwise causing them to fall off of their ladder/tree steps/stand (I say probably most cases earlier because I do realize there is room for this to happen if you are hunting with another person in the same stand/tree). Whereas with a firearm injury, except in the case of a firearm malfunction, someone is pulling the trigger to fire a slug/bullet in someone else's direction. And yes, this could happen with a bow/arrow, but apparently is less common.

I doubt that anything can be done to stop deer drives in Iowa, short of ending deer hunting altogether. And I do like to do a few "drives" with my brother each year. Safety just needs to be more on everyone's mind, and if the shot is questionable for any reason, don't take it. But, I realize this won't stop the shots that are taken under the impression that it is a safe shot, and just happens to turn out that it wasn't.
 
Pushing is done in more than just shotgun season. As many have stated, know whats behind the target or where you are shooting. Most people dont get that. I know people who push deer with bow, muzzeloaders, and hand guns too, so you cant just lump it as a shotgun group. Accidents happen no matter where you are. Compare hunting accidents with car accidents, suddenly it doesnt look so bad.
 
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