hunting accident

[waterdog]

everyone be careful out there.....ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. —
The gunshot that killed an Upstate hog hunter Wednesday night was recorded by a night-vision scope on the firearm, investigators said Thursday.

Kenneth Jason Young, 40, of Starr, was hog hunting on private property by himself when he was mistaken for one of the animals by a female hunter, Anderson County chief deputy coroner Charlie Boseman said.

The accident was reported just after 8:30 p.m. on Gentry Road between Highway 181 and Highway 81 near Brooks McGee Road just south of Starr, dispatchers said.

The hunter was using an ATN thermal night vision scope when she saw an outline of something "on all fours in the grass," Boseman said.

She took a single shot, thinking it was a hog, Boseman said.

Investigators said the scope on the woman's firearm has recording capabilities. They said the fatal shot was recorded on an SD card.

Investigators said they have seen the recording. They said an outline of something on all fours is seen in the recording.

Investigators said Young was shot in the face.

All the hunters had permission to be on the private hunting grounds, according to Boseman.

The incident is being investigated by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, as well as the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators have not released the name of the woman, or filed any charges in the case.

[okrattler]

That's why you don't shoot at outlines or certain colors or eyes shining in the spotlight just because it kind of looks like what you're trying to kill. That's dumb and it's exactly how people and other non target species get killed.

[wtb90]

Terrible deal all the way around. Had to be a nightmare for everyone involved.

[8pointer]

That's why you don't shoot at outlines or certain colors or eyes shining in the spotlight just because it kind of looks like what you're trying to kill. That's dumb and it's exactly how people and other non target species get killed.

Couldn't agree more! Sad deal.

[okrattler]

It really is sad. She has to live with that forever now and that's enough punishment as far as convicting her of anything goes in my opinion. Was it a dumb mistake? Yes. Could it have been avoided? For sure it could have but accidents do happen. It's just very unfortunate it was such a costly mistake. I can't imagine walking up and seeing that. Had to of been the worst feeling in the world.

[stevieray54]

Crazy. Who would be on all fours crawling around

[Eric24]

That's crazy and sad. And a very strange scenario.

[RMW]

If you think this is crazy, my wife's aunts husband got shot in the face by his brother hog hunting. He was driving around at night in his pickup when his brother shot through his truck window and hit him in his lower jaw. This was with a very expensive night vision scope.

[Drycreek3189]

Crazy. Who would be on all fours crawling around

My wife asked that same question. I looked at her and said "Me, every time I sit on the ground, I'm on all fours right before I get up. I ain't 20 years old anymore !" Lots of reasons someone might be on all fours. Looking for something in the dark maybe, easing sideways for a better position ? The point of the whole affair to me is not letting different parties hunt on the same place when each is unaware of the other. That, is dangerous ! Night hunting already has an element of danger that is not common to daytime hunting, and that is that you can't see anything except what your optics see, and that's not much. You need to be ultra familiar with the area you're hunting, and what's there. I have some excellent coyote spots that I won't hunt at night, simply because of houses and cattle. It's just not worth the risk.

[WalkieTalkie]

You should never shoot at anything unless you can 100% positively identify it. Its just not worth taking any chances

[tvc184]

Crazy. Who would be on all fours crawling around

A person that just dropped something in the dark and trying to find it, some crawling under some low hanging limbs or under a fence, someone who had just stumbled and trying to get up,.........

Since she killed him, we will never know. I doubt that he was crossing the field/forest on all fours.

[HogHunter34]

Very unfortunate situation. I've seen crazier scenarios. Several years ago a situation happened behind my parents house. An out of town landowner let a group of friends hog hunt one weekend. One woke up from a nap in camp right before dark & decided to venture out to hunt some hogs. He saw movement going across an open area and he decided to open fire with his AR. Turns out the movement was a guy on a 4-wheeler. Dude was shot in the stomach area & was life flighted to Tyler. I believe he lived. I'm sure his buddy had a difficult time explaining how he thought he was a hog. Folks like that don't need to be in the woods. Complete disregard of Hunter safety 101