A very sad and tragic story to report on the Eve of our bow season opener.

Link

Terrible tragedy! Something that all hunters, and people doing outdoor activities need to be aware of. My Little League Coach's son who used to help out with the team was killed by lightning in the late 1960's while fishing.

Terrible…

Prayers for the Family.

That's just heart-breaking. Doubt she knew what hit her. Rest in peace, Baylee.

Lightning is one of those bizarre threats, sort of like the threat of bears. There is a lot of potential for harm, but very infrequent, and when it does happen, sometimes people die. Depending on whose stats you read, we get something like 25-40 million lightning strikes in the US each year with 300-600 people struck. About 20-50 will die from the strikes. So given all the lightning strikes, getting hit by it is very rare and dying from being struck, even rarer. However, if you are struck, there is a really good chance you will end up in the hospital, and you may suffer long term issues, often central nervous system issues, but there are a variety of maladies that may result.

Several of my landowners have reported losses of livestock due to lightning, usually a cluster of animals all killed at the same time, hooves blown off, etc. Just sort of shows that it can happen anywhere. Unless you are in a shelter, lightning can be a threat. I think the worst part is that it can be a threat before you realize it is a threat. People have been known to be struck by lightning when no clouds are overhead and conditions are sunny (proverbial "bolt out of the blue"). https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/w...e-blue-strike-without-a-cloud-in-the-sky

India has it much worse. They lose some 2500 people a year to lightning. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59006609

I saw that on FOX the other day, that is truly tragic. I cannot imagine how hard it will be for the dad who was her best friend and hunting partner.

I had no idea a bolt could travel 20 miles out the side of a cell! Thanks for that heads up, DNS.

I had heard only 10 miles, but that's still crazy in any sense.

Terrible.

Tragic! Feel for her family.

Very sad to hear this. Hate to read about this type of tragedy

Truly sad! Prayers for the family.
I’ve seen lightening strike trees twice while i was hunting. One tree literally exploded the other was stripped of it’s bark like a cork screw. Scary stuff when your up close.