Page 2 | Cyclist killed by hunting party in France

Thatdontimpressmemuch · 2018-10-14T22:41:44+00:00

How on earth did this happen? According to reports, the cyclist was wearing a brightly coloured helmet and could not have been mistaken for game.

MicroManaged · 15/10/2018 00:48

Why was an inexperienced 20 yr old allowed to fire off a deadly weapon?

Do you think his age caused the bullet to pass through the deer and also caused a freak ricochet?

I don't know anything about the gun laws in the area but I think putting it down to poor rules/regs or incompetence or laying any blame is a bit of a stretch based on the information.

It's sad and tragic for all concerned...but sometimes freak accidents do happen and it's not necessarily due to anyone or any body being 'at fault'.

Original poster

Thatdontimpressmemuch · 15/10/2018 00:49

But it highlights that an urgent need to tighten regs over shooting.

OP posts:

RedneckStumpy · 15/10/2018 00:49

Aintnothingbutaheartache

It’s hard to say, reading the story it was a freak accident so laws wouldn’t have helped.

Here you have to do a 1 day hunter safety class. We did it as a family me DH, DD(13) DS(15).

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 15/10/2018 00:50

If they shot a cyclist, they were too close to a road, and not aware of their surroundings

I don't think this was the case here. It was a mountain bike track.

RedneckStumpy · 15/10/2018 00:50

Also we cannot shoot within 100yds of a house or road.

MicroManaged · 15/10/2018 00:51

Thatdont so I am. I've followed a link and got the two muddled.

Apologies.

However...after reading the correct article I still have some sympathy for the hunter. It's a shit situation all round.

Original poster

Thatdontimpressmemuch · 15/10/2018 00:52

It’s hard to say, reading the story it was a freak accident so laws wouldn’t have helped

It doesn’t sound like freak accident at all. More like a trigger happy inexperienced hunter not identifying the game before shooting.

OP posts:

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 15/10/2018 00:52

Here you have to do a 1 day hunter safety class

Pretty comprehensive then.

AdaColeman · 15/10/2018 00:53

La Chasse is already controlled in France, each commune has its hunting association, and you have to take an exam and join the association to get a permit.
Hunts are planned, and you can find out where they will be in the commune. But as an immigrant the poor young man might not have known this, maybe he was from a city and hunting was outside his experience.

DulciUke · 15/10/2018 00:55

U.S. poster here. Don’t hunt and don’t own a gun. The state that I live in has over a million deer. They have virtually no natural predators left. Every person I know has been in a deer involved car accident. They eat farmers crops and, despite living in a highly wooded state with thousands of acres to browse in, they destroy gardens and flowerbeds. Oh, and speaking of the woods, they have stripped much of the natural areas of their undergrowth, affecting both plants and other wildlife greatly. They also spread Lyme disease, which is rampant here. As far as just going to the grocery store, there are a lot of the rural poor that actually do count on the meat to last them through the winter. (You think that the social safety net is bad in the U.K.?—it’s very limited here). I have no idea what hunting is like in France, but I wanted to point out that the view of deer hunters as all being drunken bored yahoos that want to kill Bambi is a bit simplistic.

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 15/10/2018 00:56

If shooting is going to be allowed and legal then shouldn’t shooting areas be the same?
I mean if there is an area deligated to people who choose to go out and hunt and shoot wildlife then surely that shouldn’t be a cycle path?
Or indeed any area where others might inadvertently wander into the path of a load of people in the bushes whose whole aim of their day out is to shoot something?

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 15/10/2018 00:58

Ada are you saying it was his fault?

AdaColeman · 15/10/2018 01:00

No not at all.

Original poster

Thatdontimpressmemuch · 15/10/2018 01:01

If shooting is going to be allowed and legal then shouldn’t shooting areas be the same?
I mean if there is an area deligated to people who choose to go out and hunt and shoot wildlife then surely that shouldn’t be a cycle path?
Or indeed any area where others might inadvertently wander into the path of a load of people in the bushes whose whole aim of their day out is to shoot something

Exactly

OP posts:

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 15/10/2018 01:03

I don’t mean to imply that it’s a load of pissed up ‘hunters’ (coff) killing Bambi
It’s just that an innocent man was shot needlessly and surely there has to be some comeback?
Or was it really just a case of ‘tough shit guy, wrong time, wrong place’?
Cos if so that’s very sad indeed

RedneckStumpy · 15/10/2018 01:07

DulciUke

I have neighbors who last year “needed the meat”

AdaColeman · 15/10/2018 01:10

The young hunter will be charged with manslaughter I would guess.

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 15/10/2018 01:14

Well he should be

mathanxiety · 15/10/2018 01:21

DulciUke, I don't think people in the UK understand the deer pest situation in many parts of the US - having had a very near miss with one two years ago I can agree with you. I am not a gun owner and do not (and would not) hunt now, but used to go out with cousins of mine in Ireland - they had guns form an early age and were very experienced by age 20 - and my dad and his brothers used to hunt (and fish).

I suspect there are many people in rural areas of the US who hunt because they need food. Contrary to the impression you might get from documentaries or news programmes, poverty is very much a rural thing in the US.

Hi vis clothing is very much de rigeur in many rural parts during deer season. AintNothing - the hunting seasons are limited and it is a pity to close down areas that are attractive for leisure activities just because of danger, when head to toe hi vis clothing can help mitigate risk, as can signage allowing walkers, campers, and cyclists to assess risk themselves.

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 15/10/2018 01:32

Are we back to blaming the dead guy here? He was wearing bright fluorescent cycling clothes.
Would it be unreasonable to put up a sign during hunting season that says something like “do not enter, there is a very high risk of you being killed because some people are armed with deadly weapons because they are shooting wildlife in order to survive because they have to go out and shoot any meat they hope to eat because for some reason the poor bastards are on the bread line despite living in the ‘free world’ and I know you are just out on your bike for a bit of fresh air, but really, don’t risk it......”
I think we are are having 2 very different arguments here.

mathanxiety · 15/10/2018 01:37

He had a 'coloured helmet' and a 'coloured' mountain bike, and darkness was approaching.

This is not the same as hi vis.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/14/british-cyclist-shot-dead-hunter-french-alps/

Riding around in mountains as darkness approaches is probably not safe no matter what the season.

mathanxiety · 15/10/2018 01:39

I am not blaming him at all.
However, I am not blaming the hunter either.

Signage would be very appropriate, and during the hunting season maybe advice on peak times for deer to be out foraging (i.e. at the approach of darkness and around dawn).

RedneckStumpy · 15/10/2018 01:40

I think both parties need to take some responsibility.

mathanxiety · 15/10/2018 01:43

I personally would not go near the state of Wisconsin in deer season. I can get my fresh air elsewhere.

dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/dates.html

15 September to 6 January will find me enjoying the outdoors in a suburban setting.

Likewise, I will stay away from the public forests near me when advertised deer culls are taking place.

mathanxiety · 15/10/2018 01:44

Apparently the hunter was admitted to hospital suffering from shock. I would say he is very remorseful.