“Matter of Time” Until a Hiker Got Shot
Sometimes an incident happens where it just strikes a nerve. This is one of them.
I have spent a lot of time hiking in the woods during my lifetime. I have heard hunters shooting in the background, but fortunately have never been too close. There has always been that worry in the back of my mind, though.
I am not comforted by today’s Seattle Times article that offers an interview of the sheriff’s deputy who has been patrolling the forests of Skagit County for the last 18 years. He candidly tells us that this type of incident happens all the time, referring to hikers or other forest users being in the line of fire when hunters are around.
He notes that he sees a lot of unreported dangerous behavior and a lot of close calls as part of his job. Despite this revelation, he is frustrated by only being to tell victims, “Sorry, what they’re doing is perfectly legal.” We currently live in a society where is is perfectly legal to be shot at, and perhaps killed. All because it is more important for hunters to walk uncontrolled through the forest killing animals they see.
I am proud of the fact that every time I have ever shot at an animal, it has been with my camera.
Whether we like it or not, the population of Cascadia is growing at an amazing rate. As the urban areas grow, there is a corresponding shrinking of rural and forested land. The National Forest is in the same place that it has always been. We are living closer to its borders and as our population increases, there will be more people looking to enjoy these areas through camping, hiking, wildlife viewing, skiing, and other outdoor activities. In today’s culture, it makes no more sense to have people walking through the forest shooting at deer and bears than it does to have people walking through our city parks shooting at squirrels.
While I believe that the “sport” of walking through the forest and killing live animals is barbaric at best, i do understand that others have a different opinion. If we want to preserve hunting as a forest activity, so be it. But we need to put regulations into place to separate this inherently dangerous activity from those that pose little danger to other forest users. We place fences around construction sites. We block lanes of the highway near where there are workers present. We block off areas around demolition sites. If we choose to use areas of our National Forests as weapons shooting ranges, would it not make perfect sense to do so in a properly cordoned off area to prevent outsiders from wandering onto the rifle range? We have rules that restrict where we can go snowmobiling or bicycling or other activities that can disturb other users. It would only make sense to offer special areas where the shooting sports can be safely practiced. Of course, the young man in question who killed another human this weekend was in an area where he was prohibited from shooting anyway.
Our National Forests are available for a wide variety of people to enjoy. We live in an age where we go to sometimes ridiculous lengths to protect ourselves from the dangers around us. Would it be too much to ask to put precautions into place, so we might be able to enjoy outdoor recreation without the risk of being shot to death?
August 9th, 2008 at 10:34 am
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