Cyclist killed by hunting party in France

[Thatdontimpressmemuch]

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.

He should not have been shot and killed.
There are errors and mistakes and misguided opinions whether you are pro or anti guns or hunting.
He should NOT have been killed.
It really doesn’t matter what he was wearing.
He was killed.
Does it matter whether you hunt or don’t hunt, kill for food or eat meat or live entirely on bean curd 🤢
The point is that this man died in a senseless and unnecessary incident that perhaps we need to look at and examine so it doesn’t happen again

I don't hunt and never have, but the criticism of the poster who hunts is ridiculous. At least the animal that is killed by hunting has had a good life in the wild until that moment, whereas factory farming is disgusting.

Nobody is saying he should have been shot, or killed. Or shrugging at it.

Of course it shouldn't have happened and I hope they look into ways to improve safety. But the bottom line is personal responsibility all round.

I have been a vegetarian nearly all my life, and grew up on a farm which farmed animals for meat. I actually agree with redneck in that if you want to eat meat, you should be prepared to take that animal’s life. The way animals are farmed and killed is horrible, even those which are free range. A deer which has had a lovely life living in its natural habitat, then gets killed with a swift bullet in the head is far better off than most animals which get eaten. Obviously not eating meat at all would be better again. But having the courage to hunt and kill your own food in a relatively humane way is far more admirable than buying something in a supermarket covered in cling film and burying your head in the sand about how it got there.

OTOH, those who just hunt for ‘fun’, and don’t even eat what they have killed are the lowest of the low IMO.

Accidents happen. When I go in the maquis to pick mushrooms during hunting season, I take great pains to holler every 2mn, and to keep an eye out. But there is a risk and I am aware of it. Hunting is also very important there because the boars and wild pigs population is huge and causing great damages to the local fauna and cultures. And also because it is far better to eat an animal that lived free and used none of the shit additives than supermarket meat. Hunting for meat an animal that is in excess population is far more responsible than buying another farmed animal. I respect more such an hunter than somebody that sneers at them but try to ignore where their meat comes from (coward).

I have much sympathy. How awful for you to be forced to torture and kill innocent animals. I presume someone is forcing you into it?

I hope you don't eat avocados.

The US is always mentioned on hunting/killing threads on English-language forums, but in Spain and France hunting is more of a wealthy men's activity. Hunting licences bring in a lot of money for local governments, so there are a lot of them sold, which results in a lot of blokes with guns and alcohol in places where ordinary people go for walks, or cycling, or to pick mushrooms.
Every year in Spain you read reports of ordinary people people killed or injured by hunters. I've been very startled to come across men with guns in what I would consider a beachside suburb. There really isn't enough space for blokes with guns in some of these places, but they bring in money, so nothing is done, despite the obvious danger.

I actually agree with redneck in that if you want to eat meat, you should be prepared to take that animal’s life. The way animals are farmed and killed is horrible, even those which are free range. A deer which has had a lovely life living in its natural habitat, then gets killed with a swift bullet in the head is far better off than most animals which get eaten..... But having the courage to hunt and kill your own food in a relatively humane way is far more admirable than buying something in a supermarket covered in cling film and burying your head in the sand about how it got there

Some ill informed hysteria on here about shooting... and the automatic assumption that being vegetarian is praiseworthy is a bit odd..

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation has the following safety advice, which we follow:

Never, never let your gun
Pointed be at anyone
That it may unloaded be
Matters not the least to me.
When a hedge or fence you cross
Though of time it cause a loss
From your gun the cartridge take
For the greater safety’s sake.
If twixt you and neighbouring gun
Bird shall fly or beast may run
Let this maxim ere be thine
“Follow not across the line.”
Stops and beaters oft unseen
Lurk behind some leafy screen.
Calm and steady always be
“Never shoot where you can’t see.”
You may kill or you may miss
But at all times think this:
All the pheasants ever bred
Won’t make up for one man dead

I eat meat, I don't have a problem with people who know what they doing shooting their own meat. People who don't take the time to differentiate between a deer and a cyclist deserve the full weight of the law to land on them.

I agree with this.

Isn't the problem that it is romanticising the situation to say the deer lives a lovely life followed by a clean shot to the head? How often does that clean shot actually happen, particularly when the hunters include someone who is clearly firing at anything that moves?

Redneck, I live in the USA as well and I know damn well hunters love to kill for bloodlust. They can't get enough of it. During hunting season they will shoot cattle and horses in pastures, even other hunter's horses tied to trees. I own thousands of acres and this time of year I have to chase you fuckers off the place. Landowners are sick and tired of you leaving gates open, breaking locks and cutting fences - not to mention your savagery.

Don't get me started on the hunters who shoot humans - it happens every year. People have been shot in the own yards! And there was that hunter who was shot by another hunter when he was wiping his arse because the other hunter mistook the white toilet paper for a white tail deer. I'm a gun owning vegetarian by the way.

I live on the moors in Yorkshire. When it's grouse hunting season people are not allowed on the moor (the rights and wrongs of this are a whole other thread).

@RedneckStumpy Why not continue to do what you enjoy and shoot the animals with a camera instead [and give up meat and think outside of the box some more]. You'd get some amazing shots as you must already be a good tracker.

@RedneckStumpy could you be any more patronising?

I've been shooting since I was 5. I know what an idiot with a gun is capable off.

Especially a young lad. If the safety culture in his peer circle that he was with is/was non existant then it's entirely possible he was just fucking about with the gun.

Ever seen a 21yr old think he's hilarious to wave a shotgun around and then pretty much blow off his own toes? I have.

Hunting is a big deal in France, the country is much bigger than the U.K. and less densely populated. You can see large gun shops in the country full of items illegal in the U.K. I believe the people who usually get shot are other hunters, especially if they have all been drinking.

There is plenty shooting around where I live it is big business for the big estates, however it is more controlled in the U.K.

People who generally get killed with guns in the U.K. are generally involved with drugs in some way

A friend has a house in rural Gascony. The locals hunt deer and wild boar for food and to sell. It provides an important source of income for the rural poor and keeps animal numbers under control.

In hunting season, you can hear the shooting from a long way off, and the neighbours always tell them and their guests when hunting is going to be taking place in the woods that border my friend's land. Anyone at the house and in the local area knows to keep well away from that part of their land during a hunt.

This sounds like nothing more sinister than a tragic freak accident, although I wonder why the cyclist didn't hear the guns and carried on riding into the area.

Nobody is saying he should have been shot, or killed. Or shrugging at it.

Of course it shouldn't have happened and I hope they look into ways to improve safety. But the bottom line is personal responsibility all round

Bollocks

Only one of the people involved bares any responsibility and that is the person letting off a lethal firearm.

My sympathies for the cyclist's family. How awful. No sympathy for the hunter, though - he set out to kill something and that is what he did.

I don't think people in the UK understand the deer pest situation in many parts of the US
Unless your crop is being devoured by large herds every day, few urbanites will know deer are an increasing problem in the UK too. Deer have no natural predators left in the UK.

The cyclist was on a mountain biking track, it was still light enough to see and descend.

HE should not have needed to worry about getting shot! The 'hunters' with the entire mountain range to choose from should have been the ones taking the precautions.

I love Les Gets. I snowboard and have many mountain-biking friends. I'm horrified by this incident and so so upset for this poor guy and his family and friends.

It was 6 pm and perhaps the hunters caught nothing all day and the 22-year-old who fired the shot, clearly inexperienced, finally saw something move and mistook it for an animal. Horrible situation, and happens a lot in France, where the hunting is a bit chaotic.

That said, the deer and wild boar here have no natural predators. So I certainly won’t be calling for a ban on properly managed hunting.

To the poster that said of they couldn't buy their meat from the supermarket they would become vegitatrian, why on earth do you eat meat? Do you think farming is any better? Hunting wild animals is as free range as it gets. What a strange veiw you have.

We did a cycling holiday along the Danube a couple of summers ago. One Saturday morning, cycling from our hotel through countryside on our way to pick up the cycle path along the river, we heard several gunshots close by and realised that we were potentially in the middle of hunting terrain. It was incredibly scary and we hotfooted our way out of the place as fast as possible.
I can easily see how this French tragedy could have happened.

A friend has a house in rural Gascony. The locals hunt deer and wild boar for food and to sell. It provides an important source of income for the rural poor and keeps animal numbers under control.

In hunting season, you can hear the shooting from a long way off, and the neighbours always tell them and their guests when hunting is going to be taking place in the woods that border my friend's land. Anyone at the house and in the local area knows to keep well away from that part of their land during a hunt.

That sounds very sweet and that's lovely for you friend that they have someone to warn them of the hunts.

Here in a different region in rural France, we have no such warning. We've had hunters murder our pets, waving guns in our faces, telling us whilst on our land that they will hunt where they like and we should go back inside.

Here, there is a fear throughout the entire hunting season that you will be accidentally shot while you are out for a walk. The hunting season coincides perfectly with walking season.

The hunting rules are not strict here, and the mayor will always side with the hunters.