Heard reports of an accidental shooting that occurred in Houston County a week or so ago. A deer hunter was shot in the leg and almost bled to death when a holstered handgun went off while he was unloading his truck. The bullet struck a femoral artery in his leg. Thankfully, an ETMC medical helicopter out of Palestine was reportedly able to reach him in about 20 minutes.

Another example that points to fact that many if not most hunter-related shooting accidents happen away from the deer stand.

I can almost assure you the handgun didn’t just “go off” in the holster.

Or it’s a cheap POS +/- Bubba gunsmithed

Round in the chamber, pistol cocked, safety disengaged. SMDH. If it "...just went off...", I'd really like to know how it hit the femoral artery on the inside of the thigh.

Likely the safety was off.

What will tear your heart is a story like this one. It's real, a distant family member goes to my church. It was a self-defense pistol. I just can't get this story out of my head.


https://www.chron.com/news/article/Sheriff-Boy-3-fatally-shoots-self-at-his-15673730.php

Please, please, exercise all caution with firearms. Please.

I often watch deer hunting videos on youtube. I have yet to figure out the number of deer hunters who carry a handgun, and often a large belt knife, while hunting. Am I missing something? Is the hunters life at risk somehow (besides from himself)? I have carried a handgun, in different capacities, for over 30 years. When I am deer hunting, I give it a rest.

We do in rattlesnake country.

Not going to last 20 mins if he hit the femoral

Such a sad story I can't even think how this can happen. Reclelss gun owner.
Everyday when I have my carry pistol on you should become ever more responsible.

Friend of mine at work killed himself this way. He carried appendix style while off duty. His son asked him where he carried his gun and he showed him. Report states that his shirt was caught in the trigger guard and when the gun was inserted into the holster it pulled the trigger. It hit his femoral and he was dead in under a minute. Please be careful

The report I was given also mentioned that he had lost consciousness by the time the chopper arrived but had made an effort to slow the bleeding with a tourniquet.

When I first heard about this incident I soon realized it was most likely cellular technology that resulted in this man seeing another day. The incident happened in one of the more remote areas of the county where the victim was several miles from the nearest paved road. I have to believe the helicopter pilot already had the GPS coordinates available to him when he lifted off the pad in Palestine.

Using Google Earth, I was able to determine the flight distance between Palestine and the victim was roughly 45 miles. With the chopper being able to fly at 166 mph, that would equate to roughly 16 minutes of flight time. That would fall in line with one of the locals claiming it took the pilot about 20 minutes to reach the victim, if my math is correct of course.