Dade City hunter shot after dog bumps high-powered rifle

tampabay.com ^ | 10 Dec 2011 | Danny Valentine

[smokingfrog]

WESLEY CHAPEL — A 78-year-old man was shot in a bizarre accident early Saturday when a dog bumped a rifle and caused it to fire, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Billy E. Brown of Dade City, a friend and a bulldog set out before dawn to hunt deer, which has been a tradition of theirs for more than 25 years.

They were traveling down a bumpy, rocky road in a pickup truck to their hunting stands when the dog got excited and bumped a high-powered Browning .308-caliber rifle. The bullet struck in the right thigh as he was driving. The dog, named Eli, was between Brown and a passenger, but it was not immediately clear how the rifles were positioned or if the safety was engaged.

[smokingfrog]

Loaded rifle in vehicle? - check
Rifle not secured? - check
Safety not engaged? - check
Bumpy road? - check
Excited dog? - check

Let's go hunting!!

[DManA]

Big media LOVES these hunter shoots self stories.

[dragnet2]

Morons in a clown truck

[cripplecreek]

I don’t allow my dogs to carry around the house.

[ColdOne]

Loaded rifle in vehicle? - check Rifle not secured? - check Safety not engaged? - check Bumpy road? - check Excited dog? - check Let's go hunting!! Exactly! A recipe for problems.

[tickmeister]

I use only low-powered .308 Browning rifles. Much safer than these deadly high powered ones.

[exDemMom]

I thought the Constitution said something about arming bears, not dogs.

[OHelix]

As a VEGAN, too bad he didn’t shoot him a little higher.

[rfp1234]

Did the dog ‘bump’ or ‘hump’ the gun?

[OHelix]

(Don’t take me too seriously)

[bgill]

The dog is 25 years old?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL...that’s how I read the headline, too, at first — “dog humps high-powered rifle”

[muir_redwoods]

So suddenly my .308 is a high-powered rifle? Who knew?

[tickmeister]

Now I’m confused. Is he daid or just wounded.

[org.whodat]

Loose nut between dash and seat check. Did not know you could deer hunt with a dog in Florida. Darwin, honorable mention.

[verum ago]

You know, two of the last three times I read about a dog shooting a person, it come out some weeks later that it was another person shooting someone accidentally, with them agreeing to blame the dog to prevent punishment and [worse] embarrassment.

[org.whodat]

Ok, the dog has a vision problem, I get it. LOL

[smokingfrog]

If it will shoot your eye out, it’s a high-powered rifle. /s

[driftdiver]

ummm shouldn’t you wait until you get out of the truck to load the rifle.

But the real question is what the heck is he doing hunting deer in florida with a .308!!

[JRandomFreeper]

About the only thing he didn't do wrong was yell "Hold my beer and watch this!"

Well, if he did, the story doesn't say.

/johnny