Hunter Safety...A cautionary tale:

There is a story that comes up ,as a reminder, every year about this time, on another forum, about a grandfather who had his granddaughter in the passenger seat of a hunting truck with the windshield down. He shot at a Javi and a piece of shrapnel ricochet back and hit her in the heart and killed her. I will look for the story as the father of the daughter tells it. Very sad...

Is this the one?

Ryleigh

Is this the one?

Ryleigh

Yes sir, here is the story. Very sad.
First of all I hope everone has a great hunting season. Not just the harvest, but much needed valuable time spent with friends, family, kids, etc at the deer camp and in the woods. We ourselves will be out there. Make some lifetime memories.

Now onto the subject. Many of you know me and some do not.
On December 4, 2005 my Little girl 6 1/2 Died in a freak accident. She was hunting with my father on his ranch and they saw some hogs run across the road. They stopped to shoot one. Ryleigh was sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's jeep Cherokee with ear protection/ safety glasses on. My dad always concerned about hunting safety.

My Dad opened his door, used the jam as a brace and shot down the road at a pig. But something had gone wrong. The bullet fragmented/Ricocheted and a very very very tiny fragment had come backward into the jeep striking Ryleigh in the heart. So tiny you would not believe it. She never cried and was not scared. There was very little blood. A drop or 2.

The entrance looked like a tiny paper cut. It was just in the wrong place. At the time he was not sure what or how bad it was. He just rushed her to the hospital. They taked all the way there until she passed out from internal blood loss. Then they found out where and what. Unfortunately they could not save her. This has been so hard on us and my dad(58yrs old). Because he felt like he was keeping her safe.

We miss her more everyday, But the boys 10 and 12 and I are still out hunting and living as she would want. I have no problem with how my little girl died. She was doing exactly what she wanted to be doing and she was with someone that loved her so very much. I could only be so lucky. Many death's in this world are much more horrible. She was my dad's favorite person in the whole world. Thats why she was there.

We lived a wonderful life with her and are so very grateful for the 6 1/2 years that the good Lord gave us with her. We could have never had her at all. So we are thankful for what we had. We have many awesome hunting and fishing memories to cherish until we see her agian.

Her Life and death has been such a life changing event for so many. I have seen and continue to see so much good come out this that it amazes me. I was told another story by someone this last Saturday on how her death change this person's life and saved their family. God works wonders through all things.

You have a 1 in 500,000 chance of being killed in a hunting shooting in Texas and a 1-5,000 chance of being killed in a car wreck. Much more dangerous to be in a car wreck. But things still happen. We were the 1 in 500,000

All I ask is to THINK MORE ABOUT SAFETY this year while out hunting. Talk to your campmates about it. We sometimes after years of doing the same thing get to comfortable and forget about Safety. No loaded guns in camp, trucks, etc. And PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT FROM YOUR TRUCK.
http://ryleigh-shelton.memory-of.com scroll through her photo album. We are still loading pictures. I have alot of hunting/fishing pictures still to add.

Not all people live to be old. Today is a gift. Use it wisely.
Yesterday is gone for ever, Tomorrow is not guaranteed, all you really have is Today. Make the most of it.
Have a great Year and Good luck.

PLEASE do not feel sorry for us. We were lucky to have known the value of time well spent together. And have many wonderful memories together. Those memories and experiences are worth any amount of pain that I have had to go through. We could have never had her at all. Sure it was short and it hurts but it was awesome. I just pray that all of you can have such an awesome life together.

I hope through these efforts to just get one person to make a change in the way they do things or to make a last second decision that might save their or someone else life.




Is this the one?

Ryleigh

Not all people live to be old. Today is a gift. Use it wisely.
Yesterday is gone for ever, Tomorrow is not guaranteed, all you really have is Today. Make the most of it.

IMO, there's a question every hunter should consider when thinking about all the risks we take by climbing into tree stands 30 feet off the ground, leaving a gun loaded when walking to and from our stand because we "think" we might see a deer, or any of the many other things we might do in our eagerness to find an opportunity to pull a trigger. Why did we feel it was so important just to shoot something?

IMO, there's a question every hunter should consider when thinking about all the risks we take by climbing into tree stands 30 feet off the ground, leaving a gun loaded when walking to and from our stand because we "think" we might see a deer, or any of the many other things we might do in our eagerness to find an opportunity to pull a trigger. Why did we feel it was so important just to shoot something?

So what if you don't have a loaded gun in your truck when you see a deer? Do you really have such a strong need to kill one that you need to create the strong potential for an unsafe situation? It's not like any of us are starving to death.

A day may come for some of you when you realize you love staying alive and being with family a lot more than you hate deer and hogs.

Complacency and testosterone - each can be bad, but when mixed, the results can be deadly. Be safe people!

Second, many years ago we were riding in friend's pickup on way back to camp. It was cold and there were three of us in the cab, I was in the middle, and another friend against the door with his gun laying muzzle down to the floor. Driver asked if it was unloaded and was told no, but safety was on, and to prove, he pulled trigger. Uh huh...no one was hurt, but my ears rang for a month. The bullet also traveled through floor of truck and blew out the front right side tire.

A family member shot himself in the stomach while dragging his 12 gauge across the front seat, muzzle first. Stupid? Yes. That’s a mistake you’d only make once.

It was a 1953 Chevy truck with a seat spring poking thru.