# Kid hunts bear on hiking trail, kills hiker (not the RO you think) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 5, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931 "2008-08-05T16:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/81 "2008-08-13T21:28:34Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I don’t know whether it’s Federal Law, but it’s illegal in NYS for anyone under 18 to handle a deli slicer. [/QUOTE] Kind of makes me wonder what unfortunate situation prompted that particular law. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/82 "2008-08-13T21:43:50Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Kind of makes me wonder what unfortunate situation prompted that particular law. [/QUOTE] There may well have been a horror story specific to deli slicers. OTOH, it could also simply have been an extension of the laws in the state preventing minors from working on heavy machinery. NY is not exactly known as a _laissez-faire_ state. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/83 "2008-08-13T22:01:13Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] There may well have been a horror story specific to deli slicers. OTOH, it could also simply have been an extension of the laws in the state preventing minors from working on heavy machinery. NY is not exactly known as a _laissez-faire_ state. [/QUOTE] Quite possibly so. However, I prefer to imagine a terrifying, moralistic anecdote that involves a group of bored teens trying to operate the deli slicer with their butt cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/84 "2008-08-14T03:00:04Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Kind of makes me wonder what unfortunate situation prompted that particular law. [/QUOTE] I have an inch long scar on my thumb from an accident with a deli slicer when I was about 16. Fortunately I withdrew my thumb before a slice was taken clean off. Still, I’m not sure I would ban their use. Allowing kids to use guns unsupervised does seem unnecessarily reckless, though. There again, even when with adults, 14-year olds can apparently shoot at [unidentified targets](http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/taah-sh-20080505-2.html). ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/85 "2008-08-14T14:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I’m guessing the usual: Take it to the taxidermist and have a rug made, clean the skull and eat the meat. [/QUOTE] And they were gonna get the carcass to a taxidermist how? When my little brother was old enough to hunt in PA, he got a deer in the woods behind our house. He came running home, all excited, but had no clue how to field dress his kill. I was a kid myself, but went with him into the woods and gutted the deer. The two of us dragged the buck home. A field dressed bear can weigh anywhere from 200 to 600 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/86 "2008-08-14T15:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] And they were gonna get the carcass to a taxidermist how? When my little brother was old enough to hunt in PA, he got a deer in the woods behind our house. He came running home, all excited, but had no clue how to field dress his kill. I was a kid myself, but went with him into the woods and gutted the deer. The two of us dragged the buck home. A field dressed bear can weigh anywhere from 200 to 600 pounds. [/QUOTE] Well, it doesn’t sound like these particular kids were winning any awards for clarity and forethought anyway, so they probably hadn’t thought those details through. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/87 "2008-08-14T16:18:46Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] And they were gonna get the carcass to a taxidermist how? When my little brother was old enough to hunt in PA, he got a deer in the woods behind our house. He came running home, all excited, but had no clue how to field dress his kill. I was a kid myself, but went with him into the woods and gutted the deer. The two of us dragged the buck home. A field dressed bear can weigh anywhere from 200 to 600 pounds. [/QUOTE] Without asking them, I have no idea how they had planned for it. My _guess_ is that one person would field dress while the other would arrange for some sort of transport help. That’s what I would do. They couldn’t just leave it there. They’d know that. From [here](http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=77.15.170): > [@](#): > > RCW 77.15.170 > > Waste of fish and wildlife — Penalty. > > (1) A person is guilty of waste of fish and wildlife in the second degree if: > > ``` > (a) The person kills, takes, or possesses fish, shellfish, or wildlife and the value of the fish, shellfish, or wildlife is greater than twenty dollars but less than two hundred fifty dollars; and > > (b) The person recklessly allows such fish, shellfish, or wildlife to be wasted. > > (2) A person is guilty of waste of fish and wildlife in the first degree if: > > (a) The person kills, takes, or possesses fish, shellfish, or wildlife having a value of two hundred fifty dollars or more or wildlife classified as big game; and > > (b) The person recklessly allows such fish, shellfish, or wildlife to be wasted. > > (3)(a) Waste of fish and wildlife in the second degree is a misdemeanor. > > (b) Waste of fish and wildlife in the first degree is a gross misdemeanor. Upon conviction, the department shall revoke any license or tag used in the crime and shall order suspension of the person's privileges to engage in the activity in which the person committed waste of fish and wildlife in the first degree for a period of one year. > > (4) It is prima facie evidence of waste if a processor purchases or engages a quantity of food fish, shellfish, or game fish that cannot be processed within sixty hours after the food fish, game fish, or shellfish are taken from the water, unless the food fish, game fish, or shellfish are preserved in good marketable condition. > > ``` From my personal experience: They’d drop off the whole bear or a badly skinned hide, bitch about the price of a rug job, bitch about the price of a skull cleaning and sometimes offer us the meat because they didn’t want it. I won’t get into the state of some of those hides, especially the ones that came in the summer. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/88 "2008-08-14T18:40:45Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] Well, it doesn’t sound like these particular kids were winning any awards for clarity and forethought anyway, so they probably hadn’t thought those details through. 😃 [/QUOTE] The police who were initially investigating said the kids didn’t seem to know the basics about hunting their prey, so I don’t expect they had the slightest notion about what they were going to do if they shot a bear. They probably figured they’d shoot something and then call for help. In a related article, I read that under federal law, people under 18 are not allowed to purchase rifles or shotguns. But in almost every state, anyone who has purchased a hunting licence can go into the woods without adult supervision. :dubious: Someone in one of the articles I was skimming also pointed out that from a pure “outdoor survival skills” point of view, there are a lot of reasons children shouldn’t be deep in the woods on their own. A good kid, can take the hunter education course, be diligent and careful, the perfect conscientious hunter that is never any risk for accidentally shooting anyone, but still get lost in the woods and not have the skills to survive overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/89 "2008-08-16T14:56:12Z")
I can’t fathom that anyone would think that it’s a GOOD idea to use their scope to identify a target instead of binoculars. [Teen charged with manslaughter in shooting of hiker](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008117555_hiker16m.html) ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931/90 "2008-08-16T15:09:22Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I can’t fathom that anyone would think that it’s a GOOD idea to use their scope to identify a target instead of binoculars. [Teen charged with manslaughter in shooting of hiker](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008117555_hiker16m.html) [/QUOTE] The last part of that article blows me away: > [@](#): > > According to state records, more than 5,200 big-game hunting licenses have been issued by the state in the first seven months of this year to children age 15 and younger. > > More than 600 of them were awarded to children 10 and under, and 50 were issued to children 8 and younger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kid-hunts-bear-on-hiking-trail-kills-hiker-not-the-ro-you-think/458931.md?page=4)