When this story first came over the wires last night I discounted half of it, attributing seemingly impossible portions to the inconsistencies of any initial reports. Today the Washington Post has what I believe to be an accurate accounting, and the story remains unchanged from how first told. There is nothing to be learned, no moral to the story, no “don’t do this or that and the other won’t happen”. I guess you could say outlaw all guns and hunting or some derivation thereof.
The basics are a woman walking her dogs out back of her house was shot dead by a neighbor who was deer hunting with a handgun after legal shooting hours. He shot her at 200 yards.
It happened outside Sherman NY, a small town in the very western corner of upstate New York. It is a rural farming area. Lots of fields, lots of trees. It’s not forests, walk in any direction a quarter mile and you are in a plowed field, a quarter mile more and you are on a road or in someone’s backyard. From google the area looks like a great place to grow whitetail deer by the thousands, it also looks like a very difficult place to hunt safely.
My first thoughts were, “200 yards? Handgun!?” it sounded unlikely. Who hunts with a handgun anyway, very few, who shoots at 200 yards with a handgun, no one. I looked up the NY state regs. Hunting ends at sunset which is different for every mile east or west. No half hour after like in many places. Portions of the county are handgun, shotgun, muzzy, bow, only. The NY state web site says rifles ok only S of road 120 and another place only N of 120. It’s a typo, I’m betting this guy was in an anything goes area anyway. It makes sense to limit rifles from the small band of built up area along the great lakes, not as much outside of Sherman.
It’s useless to call the hunter irresponsible. He is obviously so. He was obviously also breaking the law, safety is one of the main reasons not to have night hunting. Identifying your target can sometimes get tricky. People see what they want to see. 200 yards is a long long ways. Two hundred yards is about the extreme distance most rifle shooters will shoot out here in the west where distances are great, we can shoot to 400 but no one should take a shot that is less than very likely. With a handgun I just can’t imagine anyone pretending it was a likely shot.
The hunter is cooperating as they say and charges haven’t been filed yet. No doubt they’ve no need to file in a hurry. The years that guy spends in jail will not bring back the woman walking her dog.
Long as you are reading I’d repeat the four rules mantra, I keep it to four to make it short but there are many more good ones.
Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
Don’t ever let the muzzle of your firearm cover a person.
Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
Be sure of your target and what’s behind it.