In this day and age, there are far worse things a 14 year old girl can ruin her life over. A hunting violation shouldn’t be one of them . . . ‘Lock her up’: Girl who mistakenly shot elk ‘bullied’ as wildlife officials decide her fate
Abby Wilson, 14, shot the elk on Saturday in Boone County, thinking it was a large white-tailed buck. Her father, Donald White, immediately called the Conservation Department upon realizing his daughter’s mistake.
“There is no elk season in Missouri, so free ranging elk are protected,” said Tom Strother, an MDC Protection Regional Supervisor. “It is a Wildlife Code violation to shoot a free ranging elk as there are no provisions that outline a hunting season like there is for white-tailed deer.” …
Abby’s story went viral Monday, with hundreds of people posting comments about her mistaking an elk for a white-tailed deer. White said he was upset by some of the comments that he felt amounted to bullying his young daughter over her mistake.
More girls gone hunting wild. This fourteen year old knows the difference between a white tail and an elk. Geez look at that monster . . . Fourteen-Year-Old Nebraska Girl Shoots Potential State-Record Elk
On Sept. 24, 14-year-old Nebraska hunter Hannah Helmer shot an elk that could be a new state record. The teenager’s dad, Joel, an official Boone and Crockett scorer, green-scored the rack at 428 1/8 net, Omaha World-Herald reports. The current state record stands at 409 7/8 for a nontypical elk, and the typical state record is set at 390 3/8. The rack of Helmer’s bull must dry for 60 days before it can be officially scored, though it seems likely that it will have no problem securing the record.
Helmer has been hunting alongside her dad and older brothers since she was 5 years old. Last fall, she shot her first whitetail. She and her brothers then applied for an elk permit, which she was successful in drawing. On the opening day of the season, Helmer and her dad went out to a Sioux County ranch, where she zeroed in on the monster elk from about 200 yards away. “I tried not to think of how big he was,” she told Omaha World-Herald. “Mid-bugle, I shot him.”
She then burst into tears. “All the emotions just weighed me down…and all the adrenaline.”
Safe gun-handling procedures could have saved this teen. Some mistakes don’t give you second chances . . . Alabama teen fatally shot in hunting accident, police say
News outlets report the 15 year old was shot on Monday about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies believe the girl and an adult family friend had been on a youth hunt. Authorities say the girl climbed down from a tree stand while they prepared to leave. As the friend passed down her rifle, deputies say the gun fired and struck the teen.
The county coroner identified the victim as Alyssa Scott, a student at Oak Grove High School in Bessemer, CBS Birmingham, Alabama, affiliate WIAT-TV reports.
Selling elephant tags for controlled hunts funds the management of entire herds, not that the anti-hunters will ever acknowledge that . . . Trump family’s hunting history reexamined in light of new elephant trophy policy
Donald Trump Jr. caused an uproar among some when pictures surfaced of him holding the tail of a dead elephant after a big-game hunt in Africa years ago. Now, new policy changes proposed by his father’s administration may allow Americans to bring the carcasses of elephants and lions killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia back to the U.S.
The importing of so-called hunting trophies was banned by former President Obama in 2014, but the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will allow Americans to bring back elephant and lion trophies. Fish and Wildlife officials began issuing permits for lion trophies on Oct. 20, and had been ready to issue permits for elephant trophies on Friday. The elephant trophy ban will remain, at least for now, as Trump tweeted late Friday the administration would further review the facts.
The African lion population has decreased 42 percent in the past 20 years, according to the African Wildlife Foundation.
Hunting Cape Buffalo — the “black death” — with an air rifle? Good luck with that.
SkyNet some to the forest: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is using “robo-deer” to entrap catch illegal hunters who shoot from their cars.
Shooting a 50 Cal Air Shotgun with Crossbow Bolts
Well I feel sorry for the girl in Missouri, but damn, Elk vs. Deer, quite a bit of diff even if it was a little elk. …..I’ve seen the robo deer, they look pretty real, funny thing is most I’ve went to look at were first reported to me by poachers….. Sad for the girl shot while hunting, happened to a friend of mine.
The three S’s.
Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.
Works for mistakes like that, dispatched “protected” animals attacking your livestock, and burglars, squatters, and general riff raff.
You sound like my neighbor. Did that to his wife. Worked for a while but his pattern of poaching and lying about it finally caught up with him. Didn’t take the cops long to dig up his wife.
Sounds like poor body disposal….
I.e., don’t take responsibility for your actions. That does seem a widespread attitude in today’s society.
Sure, but taking responsibility for your actions shouldn’t be rewarded with bullying and stalking. They could have absolutely just walked away, but they did the right thing, and now they’re being punished for it.
I don’t know what those people doing the complaining expect to happen. All they are doing is teaching people to NOT self-report, which will just lead to more crime, more punishment, more laws, and… oh, never mind, now I see it.
That’s one heck of an air rifle. Arrows at 500 fps!
430 grain arrow at 500 fps = 238 fpe.
Not bad. I may need to look into one of these.
That air rifle has a rated muzzle energy of 250 foot-pounds, is that enough for cape buffalo?
Mebbe TTAG can rustle-up one for you to test…
If it was a bullet I’d say no, but from an arrow, probably yes. That’s a whole lot of PSI at the tip of that broadhead.
Thank God I don’t live in Africa, because I think I would only really piss off that cape buffalo if I shot it with even a broadhead arrow…
Wouldn’t that be considered ‘legislating from the Oval Office’ and not valid or enforceable, to ban the importation of legally harvested game by executive fiat?
Yeah, nah, I’m not going after any of the Big 5 (or anything else that could eat me or trample me) with anything less than a hot .45-70.
A former African guide once told me it’s very bad form to make your guide (who is standing behind you with a bigger gun than yours in case you screw up) angry.
Seems to me telling them you’re planning to use an air gun on a critter that will then try to kill their client is a surefire way to get on their bad side. 🤠
I hate it for that kid that shot the Elk. Buck Fever can blind a hunter. Especially a young hunter.
I think they should make her work off her “debt to society”. Educate her then make teach hunter education classes. Make her a positive poster child for ethical hunting. These are evidently good people. They didn’t try or run or hide or lie.
My wife told me recently that her brother made the same mistake years ago. Like the people in the story, they immediately reported it. All they got was a small fine, and in my opinion that is the appropriate punishment. Now if you try to hide it and deny it, then I think there should be more severe consequences.
Oh, and keep that shit off social media if you want to avoid the trolls and idiots.
Let’s fill in a few facts to see if that changes your mind. From Fox News: “There’s no hunting season for elk in Missouri. The state’s conservation department reintroduced the animal at Peck Ranch Conservation Area in 2011 and is currently growing a herd. However, the elk Wilson shot was about 200 miles away from the herd, Springfield News-Leader reported.
“There are no reports of elk in this area. It was kind of a surprise to us. There was no evidence of any ear tags or collars on this one,” Strother said.” In other words, seeing a brown animal with antlers–and here a very small elk with a very small rack–would not lead anyone, much less a 14 year old to suspect that the animal was an elk and not a white tail buck since elk are not indigenous to the area at this time.
This is getting ridiculous.
The comment section still doesn’t work right.
How hard can it be? Other blogs manage to get theirs to work.
A facelift was more important? Really?
How can this even be a thing??? Leave her alone! Why attack a child over something like this?
She is a just a kid not many seasoned hunters can properly identify all the types of game in the field in low light behind brush etc……
In bird hunting which takes a keen eye and experience to identify a fast moving duck in a split second there wa no penalty as long as you did not pick it up or have it in your possession which seemed a waste but, kept you out of jail,fines etc.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Tasty Animals are here for our use….they are not people get over yourself or naw…