It's the personal attitude of the the individual, a poor and irresponsible attitude will seduce a "hunter" into a quick low quality observation and action for instant gratification.
I have passed up several shots in several terrains because I was not ABSOLUTELY sure of the target or backstop. I was disappointed that I did not bag that game, but never sorry for my decisions.
“...I have passed up several shots in several terrains because I was not ABSOLUTELY sure of the target or backstop. I was disappointed... but never sorry for my decisions.”
I was born in the State of New York and grew up there, in a rural upstate area so far from big cities that half the boys were absent each opening day (this was long before girls entered the ranks of hunters to any degree).
Despite being the first state in the Union to mandate hunter safety education and severely restricting handgun ownership for 106 years, New York remains overpopulated by a number of clueless urbanites; some convince themselves they are hunters. Growing up there 50 years ago, I frequented several public hunting areas. They all sounded like war zones then.
I’ve been in situations like the ones Navy Patriot encountered; uncertainties prompted me to pass up more than one shot for the very same reasons. Never regretted any such decision.
But despite all the training and education nationwide, there are still would-be hunters who lack judgment (or who refuse to practice it). In overpopulated places like New York, even a tiny percentage of such people can still amount to an alarmingly large number.
Having met a number of “shoot-at-the-sound” hunters, I believe the perp here. Hate to say it, but there are guys like him out there ... disaster is only a heartbeat away.
The flip side is people like the victim. Though I hate to say it even more, I have to cast a doubt or two on her prudence, in going afield at the worst possible time of day. Of course she should not have been shot (by anyone), but - given the unhappy realities of hunting in New York - there was a risk.
She took it.
There are likely more non-hunters in New York who dismiss the risk of becoming a target during hunting season, then there are hunters who will take an uncertain shot, like the one who hit her.
One might liken it to playing in traffic. It isn’t precisely illegal to cross many streets and roads, but doing so isn’t smart and all citizens ought to know it.
Now I live in a remote region of western South Dakota. I stay home during deer season (being too feeble to hunt any longer), and often keep the domestic animals inside too. Risks of a mistaken shot are not very big at all: in this state, most everyone shot by a hunter gets hit during pheasant season east of the Missouri River. One every couple years. Fatalities are fewer still. I am thankful.
But - if the season is open - keeping a low profile is prudent. And not very demanding.