Posted on 02/01/2010 9:12:10 AM PST by JoeProBono
A hunter is recovering from non-life threatening injuries after being shot by his dog on Saturday.
The Merced County Sheriff's Department said the 53-year-old man was hunting with a partner off Highway 152 near Los Banos Calif when he set down his shotgun to retrieve his decoy ducks.
The shotgun was loaded but the safety was on, according to authorities.
The victim was about 15 yards away, retrieving his decoys, when his female black Labrador retriever stepped on the gun.
Authorities said the dog disengaged the safety and hit the trigger at the same time, firing a shell with #2 shot. The man was struck in on the left side of his upper back.
The man was treated and released at the hospital the same day.
How many times did the dog reload and shoot? ;-)
Opps!
May not have been anything to safely wedge the firearm into (like a forked tree trunk or a training bag) to ensure it was pointed in a safe direction. But if it's on the ground, it ought to have at a bare minimum the action open and the safety on. And if he was done shooting for the day and collecting the decoys, unloading the thing wouldn't have hurt either.
I don't ever put down a loaded gun except on the staging table at Cowboy Action shoots. And there's a Range Officer and three spotters keeping an eye on it (and no stray dogs).
Labs are good dogs. Great around kids and a great dispsition.
Must have referred to her as a bitch one too many times.
Pretty standard around here. I prefer 3's, but he may have been going for reduced pellet number while shooting over decoys.
That’s one beautiful creature.
I have two Labs that are crosses - one is a half and halfer, one is about 1/4 show and the rest field. They both are very easygoing, friendly, and great with kids. And they're decent hunters, in fact my oldest Lab has two siblings that have gone all the way in HRC (to Grand Hunting Retriever Champion).
My middle Lab is 100 percent field bred (with a small admixture of what's called a dual purpose dog - they're getting rare) and she is a loon. She is MUCH better at pure retrieving than my other two, she was born to do 200 yard retrieves and run all over hell's half acre. Very stylish and very very fast - the judges at the hunting tests just love her (so long as she doesn't get overexcited and get completely out of my control - amateur trainer-handler here, she'd do fine with a pro). But even at 3 years old she would run over a small kid and not even know she hit a speed bump. She'd be very sorry afterwards - she's a sweet affectionate girl, but that wouldn't do the squashed kid much good. It's like having a Ferrari in the living room. I call her "Marley to the Third Power". Great dog but not for everybody.
I'm a bit prejudiced because of course in hunting tests all our shots are quite close. 4s are plenty under the circumstances. Somebody one time issued the gunners a box of 2s at a Junior test, and I unfortunately was running the test dog. I wondered why my ultra-reliable older dog was putting down the duck and picking it back up again repeatedly . . . until I took it from her and my hand went right through. Gack. If I'm going to be drawing a bird I like to know ahead of time.
The judges (1) retired that bird; (2) took back the No. 2s and gave the gunners 4s. That worked much better, although of course then we have the wounded birds to deal with. Lots of unintentional humor in a confrontation between a young retriever and a wounded and angry mallard.
Maybe the guy’s wife/ex-wife held some special training sessions on the side when the guy wasn’t looking.
Well, it was a girl dog....
My dogs have always been unconventional breeds, if mutt is a breed. The current one's first retrieve consisted of swimming to a cripple, getting pecked on the nose, and swimming back.
Did the dog have a “man hunting” license?
2’s are standard for ducks with steel shot, I think you’re remembering the good old days and an ounce and a quarter of lead 6’s. I still have some of those loads, kill btr than steel 2’s any day. Now they are just good for head shooting turkeys.
Obviously it was the hunter’s fault. Its bad enough to put down a loaded gun but its grotesquely stupid to walk off in the direction the muzzle is pointing. If the gun was pointed in a safe direction the accidental discharge wouldn’t have hurt anyone. An accidental shooting requires violating at least 2 safety rules at the same time.
Dick Cheney’s dog could not be reached for comment.
This just proves the old adage.
Guns don’t kill people. Dogs with guns...
Oh, never mind.
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