A little over a week ago, a 14 year old boy and and his 16 year old brother were dropped off, along with their hunting rifles, by their grandfather early in the morning to take in the early part of bear season in the North Cascades.
Later that morning, the 14 year old spotted a bear approximately 120 yards away, lined up and took the shot.
But it wasn’t a bear that he had seen. It was 54 year old Pamela Almli as she was putting her backpack on.
The kid didn’t miss. Ms. Almli was hit in the back of the head with by his .270 Winchester projectile.
The boy is now being arraigned on first-degree manslaughter charges in Skagit County. The prosecutor charges that he acted recklessly by not being sure of his target. If found guilty, the boy could get nine months in the juvenile detention system.
The reason I didn’t want to have to write about this was because I’m torn about it, and for once, don’t know exactly what to think.
I was hunting when I was 14. Bears, Deer, Elk, Mountain Lions and Coyotes. By myself most times. Especially at the end of the day.
And I want to be mad at this kid, or at least his grandfather for setting him loose without adult supervision. But given my experiences, I just don’t know if that is right or even justified. I mean, he is 14.
This kid got his Hunter’s Ed cert at even a younger age than I did, and had been legal to hunt for five years. No one I know held onto their cert for five years without putting it to use, so I know this couldn’t have been his time out in the woods with a rifle, which means I’m not going to buy too much into a “buck fever” argument. I know that we all get excited at our first sighting of the season, but we all know to stop and look too. The first sight is never the best sight and I have never not had to wait for the animal to turn for me.
I really, really want to be mad at this kid or his grandfather because now the state is looking at raising the legal hunting age. This dude’s fuck up killed someone and will most likely cost all future young hunters something, though we don’t know exactly what yet.
More than 80 years of modern hunting regulations in this state are about to be undone by something that hadn’t happened in those 80 years (at least in local knowledge).
I know that I should be mad at the bastards who want to take one incident and beat hunters over the head with it for the next umpteen months. And I won’t be the least bit surprised if the areas are restricted even further than what they were this year, making it illegal to hunt anywhere there might be a hiker. Which, in the Cascades, means about 75% of everywhere.
And then the bear and big cat population is going to explode again, and we’ll have more attacks on the trails, and so on and so forth, all because this kid couldn’t check his target. Shit, maybe he had the power up too high on his scope. Or maybe he didn’t have it up high enough, or maybe he had open sights on his rifle. Who the fuck knows, because the media and the Fish and Game folks aren’t saying anything other than punitive crap.
So tell me, is there any reason why I shouldn’t be club-swinging pissed off at this kid and his grandfather?
And not to blame Ms. Almli, but if it is hunting season, shouldn’t there be a requirement to wear some damn orange even if you’re not hunting (and yes, I know that it is only during deer and elk seasons that the hunters themselves are required to wear orange).
As a kid growing up in MN, I was never a hunter, but (as all people in MN seem to know) you just do not go into the woods during hunting season. Is that fair? Who knows, but you cannot argue fair if you are killed. I have started to get into the shooting of live animals, and hats off to all who do. I get overcome by “ground squirrel fever”. I am not happy with either the kid, his brother, or grandfather. All of the kids I knew were buddied with an adult. I am a firm believer in a two party hunt, and this helps for target identification, dressing, and emergency help/response. I do think that it is horrible that all other hunters are punished for the transgression of one (or three as I see it). It is a tough call on this one without knowing any more info.
I had a word regarding this last week.
Growing up in WI, everyone knew to wear orange or other really bright colors during hunting season. Hell, farmers would take large blaze orange grease crayons or spray paint and write the word COW on their livestock. And if you lived out in the country like I did, for a few weeks out of the year, the dogs got upset that they could not roam the land at will.
In my hiking pack I have a blaze orange vest and a number of bright flashing lights. I STILL have not seen any media report regarding whether or not this unfortunate woman was wearing bright colors, but if the majority of hikers I’ve seen are any indication, I’ll bet she was wearing the REI palette (subdued greens, greys, blues, browns, and reds).
Hunting accidents happened in WI, it was a tragic part of life, but only the complete nut jobs had any delusion regarding the importance of hunting, both to the economy, and to the health of the lands and herds (and drivers, over-population of deer = more deer/car collisions).
Still, if you were a minor (under 18), you hunted with an adult unless you were on private land, and no one thought this was a bad idea (except for teens who could not find an adult to take them hunting). This was not so much because kids could not be trusted, but rather because kids, even kids who’d been hunting for years, are still kids. Some are perfectly responsible hunters at age 14, others haven’t figured it out even at age 50, but we all know the legal lay of the land, and 18 is the magic age, so yeah, in my opinion, Grandpa should not have left the kids alone, and the families will pay the price.
Hopefully this incident will serve as a reminder to hikers to be visible, and to hunters to be certain of their targets.
And for those screaming about the hunting in general, if the victims family can forgive this, you can all shut the hell up and go back to harvesting navel lint.
This is a sad situation for all parties. They all will live with this for the rest of their lives-Grandfather, grand kids, and the victims family.
Who is to blame? This sounds like it was an accident. If it was I doubt that any punishment could be more severe than what they are inflicting on their selves.
Yes, I hate to see accidents involving firearms but accidents involving cars cause death and injury far more offten. We have a long running campaign of the media demonizing firearms.
For my personal safety I wear blaze orange when I am on any public hunting land. There are some unsafe slob hunters of all ages out there. The majority of the young hunters I see are safe and careful.
Three Words: Know Your Target.
It’s a crappy situation, but the kid obviously did NOT ID his target. Given the circumstances, I think manslaughter is an appropriate charge.
Think about it. If he had killed someone with his car, would you be as torn on the situation?
Manslaughter charges are fine in this case it seems. I know this could raise the cry about hunting in general and young hunters in particular, but as always, punish the guilty and not the innocent.
Of course it easier to tell everyone here that rather than some foaming at the mouth gun hater.
It is patently unfair to blame both the kid AND the rules. He disobeyed the rules, so charge him as if he were an adult, with negligent homicide. If he IS convicted of neg-hom (manslaughter), then it CAN’T be the fault of the rules, which don’t need changing.
I see damn little criticism aimed at Grandpa. There should be some his way, also (as I’m sure there will be, in civil court). No matter whether what, a kid is a kid, and NOT EXPECTED to have the proper judgment of an adult. That’s where adult supervision comes in. I wouldn’t mind seeing an evidentiary hearing to see if Grandpa is criminally liable (or his actual parents).
There are lots of possibilities for responsibility, but, as I see it, the age-rules of hunting are not one of them. In order to find that those rules WERE responsible, one would have to leap to the conclusion that all the thought and expertise which went into drawing them up were somehow wrong from the start.
Those rules MAY be old enough to pre-suppose parental responsibility, though, and if they are, those rules of parental responsibility MUST be applied, even if they seem a bit out of date to the average yuppie who is driving this argument.
FYI according to this article, the victim was wearing brightly colored clothing.
Knowing that, the only extenuating circumstance I can think of for this is that the lighting was bad (early morning, late evening, cloudy/foggy, etc.) which is really no excuse. If you are not able to clearly see and ID your target, than you can not take the shot. The young man is guilty, and RIVRDOG is right, some adult out there should share some of the responsibility.
Hold the youth fully responsible; whatever the details, its the only way to discourage recurrences.
Here’s a question: I’m not a hunter, I do hike, and I do shoot. I carry when hiking. I’ve never bothered with orange vests, even in hunting season, when I’m on marked hiking trails. I haven’t thought I needed to. Is this foolhardy or irresponsible?
Especially given my attitude that anyone who mistakes me for game had better get me on the first shot, because I am returning fire.
The 14 year old was engaged in an adult activity. It is appropriate to hold him to an adult standard of care.
I don’t believe the appropriate response includes raising the minimum age for hunting. I mean, some 17 year old kid runs over someone, do we immediately start agitating to raise the minimum age for a DL to 18? Of course, about 10 years ago in Santa Monica California a 14 year old girl runs out in front of a car driven by a 94 year old man who took half a block to stop, so the moonbats wanted to have a driving test every year for everyone over age 75. That’s the People’s Republic of Santa Monica, though. I expect better analysis from adults.