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That title should read, "Trespassing Vietnamese nutjob murders 5 hunters."

The more accounts I see of this story, the angrier I get about the sloppy reporting and the continued reference to this criminal as a "hunter".

Two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land, when they reportedly saw the suspect in one of their tree stands, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

This guy is not a hunter; he is a POACHER. He was on private property without permission. He attacked the rightful owners of that property. He is a trespasser, a poacher, and a murderer. He is certainly NOT a hunter.

Let's see ~ this is Minnesota, right? I believe their hunting laws, and Constitutional reference, are going to be based on the same laws used throughout the old Northwest Territory, Indiana Territory, and then subsequently the various territories carved out of Indiana Territory, and turned into states, each entity in turn adopting the law previously in place.

So, what's the law here? If I were in Virginia (which I am), Kentucky, or Indiana, I would know I had a right to hunt UNLESS the land was posted. If it wasn't posted, then I really didn't need to talk to the owner about being there, particularly outside of cropgrowing and harvesting time.

Someone could check on Minnesota laws governing hunting, but it's dollars to doughnuts the wild game still belongs to the people of Minnesota and they have a right to take game on private property unless it is properly POSTED.

Going beyond that into the question of who or who does not have a right to "use" a deer stand, I would suggest that folks using deer stands who are not paraplegic are cheating ~ there are more than enough deer out there these days, so it'd be good for you all to get out there and walk around a bit tracking down the deer rather than waiting around drinking beer and eating potatochips waiting for the deer to come to you.

We can imagine all sorts of things that led to the shootings. At the moment I would imagine someone fired a "warning shot". Around here that'd get you some return fire, and this is an urban area. What might happen out in the country when you have a single armed man surrounded by 8 or more antagonists who seem to have him in their sights, I don't know, but it could be gruesome if he was a good shot.