TX: Dove Hunting Disaster

Gun Watch ^ | 9 September, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Hunting in the United States is an extremely safe sport, much safer than swimming, football, baseball, or soccer.   Accidents are rare.   Accidents involving five year olds are rarer still.   When they happen, they make national news.

In Humble, Texas, a five year old accidentally shot himself while he accompanied his 11 year old brother who was hunting dove.

I started hunting independently, about the same age, often accompanied by younger brothers.  I can relate, and feel an intense sympathy for the young man, his brother, and the family.    From abc13.com:

Neighbors filled in the gaps, telling us the boys often go dove hunting. This time, their parents were left at home. The older brother got into the water-but the younger boy went back to get the gun and accidentally shot himself. Neighbors then say the 11-year-old tried to save his brother, desperately getting the attention of neighbors for help.

I have a theory about what happened, because I have taught gun safety and hunter safety for many decades.   Dove are attracted to ranch water reservoirs, called "tanks" in Texas, usually in the morning and evening.   They are a prime spot to hunt dove.  Dove are normally shot on the wing, and it is common for  a shot bird to fall into the water.  It is very likely that the older boy put down the shotgun to retrieve a downed bird.     That would explain why he was entering the water.

The shotgun appears to be a single barrel model.  He probably had reloaded the gun, but we do not know if he had closed the action.

Then, for some reason, the five year old decided that he needed to bring the shotgun to his older brother.   Perhaps a wounded bird was getting away; perhaps he saw more birds approaching.   Whatever the reason, it would have been easy for him to grab the barrel of the shotgun to drag it toward him.     This is an action that gun safety instructors specifically warn against.  It is all too easy for  a branch to slip off a safety or cock a hammer, a twig to find its way into the trigger guard, and then, the gun is pointed in the direction of the person dragging it, and it goes off.    If the action were left open, the five year old might have closed it.   He would have seen his brother do this many times.

If you look closely, you can see the exposed hammer.  You can easily see how it could catch on a branch or root and become cocked or partly cocked, and then released, firing the gun.  These type of guns are considered one of the safest, because they only hold one shot, and it is easy to determine if they are loaded or not.   No gun is meant to be dragged toward you by the barrel, but a five year old likely does not realize that, and so a hunting tragedy occurs.

Those events may sound unlikely, and they are.   It only takes once to create the extremely rare accident that the story recounts.    The five year old is in the hospital in critical but stable condition.

My prayers are with the family in Humble, Texas.

Two actions could have prevented this accident.  First, the gun could have been unloaded before the 11 year old set it down.  Second, the five year old could have been taught not to handle guns on his own.  

I will use this incident to teach future hunters how to prevent future accidents.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Every problem has a government regulatory solution. Many of those solutions create worse problems than they solve.

[wyowolf]

a 5 year old and an 11 yr old and NO adults?? really?? who is that stupid??

[exDemMom]

When I was a kid, I was allowed to go wherever I wanted without adult supervision. The world was no safer then than it is now. But, for some reason, our culture has changed to the point where kids aren’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything without an adult.

Both kids in this situation needed a bit more safety training. How hard can it be to teach a 5 year old that the barrel of a gun should never point at anyone and that he should never grab it?

[wyowolf]

I grew up in rural Wyo also. But i am pretty sure my dad would NEVER have let me and my brother go hunting alone when we were that young... an 11 yr old is more than capable... but a 5 yr old?? and NO adults?? thats just incredibly foolish...

[SLB]

I also grew up in Wyoming. If memory serves correctly I could get a youth license at 12 but had to have an adult with me until I was 14 at which time I could hunt on my own. Pheasants, Ducks, Geese and Prairie Chickens were my favorites.

[wyowolf]

I think that was the case yes, I believe I got my safety card at 12 or 13? man, that was awhile ago :) my first “goat” when i was 14 with a .243 I got for Christmas. Not sure when I started hunting, it was pretty young, but certainly not 5. Probably 9 or 10ish.. but I had always been with my father.
I do miss the sage chickens... and rabbits.

Hunting here in the south is NOTHING like home :( and worst of all... no place to shoot. In Casper I could go 5 min in any direction to shoot...

[Vaquero]

My kids have been shooting since way before the ‘recommended’ age in my state. The were strictly monitored till they showed signs of gun maturity. Also I constantly repeated the gun safety commandments till they were sick of hearing me.

[WhirlwindAttack]

I remember hunting with my little brothers. I’d send them down the fence row to flush rabbits and birds. I had a .410 single shot and we always brought meat home. I was about 9 at the time. A year later I learned how to drive the truck to bring water to he field hands. At 11 I got to drive tractors. I got in trouble a couple of times taking the truck into town to get yoohoo’s and twinkies with my girlfriend from across the road.

I feel sadness for this boy loosing his brother.

[from occupied ga]

5 is too young. No problem with an 11 yo, but 5?

[Chainmail]

Idiot parents might have well shot that poor kid themselves: a five year old with a loaded shotgun? Insane.

[ontap]

When I was in high school in the mid 60s I took my Uncles 12ga. to my shop class to refinish the stock. Nothing was said....in the parking lot there was dozens of pickups with rifles and shotguns in rear window gun racks...to say the least it was a different time!!!

[Vaquero]

Reminds me of the movie The Stone Boy a movie from ‘84 with Robert Duvall. Sad movie. Even a sadder current situation.

[reed13k]

Good news is he isn’t dead: “The five year old is in the hospital in critical but stable condition.”

Folks who didn’t grow up where kids are given responsibility early have difficulty relating to kids being given responsibility early.

[deport]

Any updates that your are aware of? This apparently happened last
Friday, Sept. 5 but don’t find any other info.

[smokingfrog]

A sad situation.

Never leave a loaded gun unattended.

[humblegunner]

Nope, first I’d heard of it and it’s just a couple miles from my place.

[SLB]

I remember my dad taking me duck hunting for the first time at 12 on the Laramie River right before it meets the Platte . I used a single shot Iver Johnson 16 ga that kicked like a mule to a kid. Still have it.

The Southern hunting I enjoyed most was in Texas. Here in the Bluegrass it is okay, but iffy. Since I am retired military and work at Ft Knox I can hunt there fairly easily.

[wyowolf]

lol... i had a over under 410 22... and yes it “kicked” hard to a little kid at the time :)

[Professional Engineer]

I have a photo of my grandpa as a 6 year holding a 22 rifle and a very large hare. It was his job to help put food on the table while his father was working.

[Hot Tabasco]

How hard can it be to teach a 5 year old that the barrel of a gun should never point at anyone and that he should never grab it?

Actually it's quite easy but a 5 year old is a 5 year old and often times they forget what they're taught...and in this case, with tragic consequences.

Accidents happen.....