What?

What?

Was it a Ford, chevy or Dodge? Might have been a justifiable shooting.

All kidding aside, glad no one was hurt!

I had my first AD on Sunday -- and in a box blind. I fired at a buck under the feeder. I believe in not "admiring the shot" so I quickly reloaded. As I brought my hand off the bolt handle, my longest finger snagged the trigger and "kaboom"!

"The vast majority of ADs are the result of human error. They are only funny with hindsight because there wasn't a person in front of the barrel when the weapon discharged."



Uhhhh


That's why it's called an Accidental Discharge

X2 could have been bad.

Walter

More shooting related accidents happen when hunters are around vehicles, than when they are in the woods hunting.

Not once have I heard of a hunter accidentally shooting their deer stand. Vehicles, transmissions, and engine blocks are another matter.

Well, if nobody is around and you do manage to shoot your stand, who is going to know but you? You don't have to fill out insurance, call a wrecker, or tell your spouse about it. We know NDs happen in stands as people sometimes get injured or killed as a result. These are documented.

True.

Still, if you spend a few minutes reviewing the opening summaries of the TPWD Hunting Accident Reports, which are available from the TPWD website, you will see many years when most accidents happened around vehicles, rather than in the woods.

I have done that. I know the data. If you take a closer look, I believe you will find a lot, if not most of those vehicle-related incidents to be intentional discharges with unintended consequences. I have also spoken with numerous hunters and been with hunters (2) when NDs occurred...none of which were ever reported. Why? Nobody was shot and no insurance claims needed to be filed. What you will notice of the TPWD reports and IHEA reports is that most of the reports only pertain to when injury or death resulted, or when a warden/leo needed to be summoned. MOST NDs happen with no injuries or death and do not necessitate the need for any sort of report filing. So Billy Joe Bob shoots a hole in the top of his plywood box blind. You aren't apt to hear about it. BJB is just going to get some duct tape or a piece of wood, patch the hole, and that will be the end of that. Little Jimmy is squirrel hunting, trips and discharges his .22 into the ground. Nobody will hear about that. Allison props her cocked and unlocked rifle across the antlers of a deer when it slides off and discharges into the woods, hitting a tree. Won't hear about that.

What you are talking about is a significant sampling bias, not necessarily a reality of when NDs occur.

And as Chad pointed out, these are most commonly NDs and not ADs. Gotta agree with that 100%. It may be an accident in that it was unplanned, but if an unintentional discharge occurred due to negligence on the part of the operator, then it is an ND. ADs, such as with the defective Walker trigger system of the Rem 700 rifle system, are much more rare.

Ouch.... I can't tell you how many times I've flipped the safety to shoot and the chamber was empty. I've a big habit of not loading my gun until I'm in the blind. But it has never cost me a deer, as I've managed to put one in the pipe and shoot. Every time it has happened I will laugh at myself for forgetting, but since I hunt alone most of the time I'm extra safe. I'm glad nobody was injured and hopefully a lesson learned for everyone.