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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Cyclist killed by hunting party in France

98 replies

Thatdontimpressmemuch · 14/10/2018 23:41

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.

OP posts:
CoalTit · 15/10/2018 09:21

@charolais, that was awful to read

During hunting season they will shoot cattle and horses in pastures, even other hunter's horses tied to trees... the hunters who shoot humans - it happens every year. People have been shot in the own yards!

but thanks for refuting the inevitable claims that hunting is only done by humble, down-to-earth people for food in the USA. I'm embarrassed to say I'd sort of assumed they were true after hearing them repeated so often.
Remember that bloke who apologised to then vice-president Dick Cheney after getting shot in the face by him when they were all out together kiling quail in 2006? They obviously weren't doing it to tide them over a harsh US winter.

BarbarianMum · 15/10/2018 09:24

Could I just add that many parts of the UK have a deer population problem and that we cull deer here too. And when we do, guns are used, they're not just stroked to death.

OnceUponATimeInAmerica · 15/10/2018 09:31

I'm a gun owning vegetarian by the way.

What do you plan to shoot? Avocados?

Pissedoffdotcom · 15/10/2018 09:38

I'm a bit Hmm at the posters berating someone for shooting their own food...whilst admitting they pay 'conscience money' to the butcher for the meat they then eat??? Hypocrite much? Pretty sure an animal would much rather spend its life running free before it is killed. And if you think being slaughtered in a slaughter house is any better than the potential for a not so clean kill you are deluded.

I feel hugely for the family of this cyclist. I hate seeing references to 'wrong place, wrong time' because he was doing nothing wrong. As much as i am all for hunting for food, i detest sport hunting & think that some 'hunters' are compensating for something. I hope the bloke who shot him faces consequences

TemptressofWaikiki · 15/10/2018 09:52

Hunting isn’t just for shits and giggles in rural France or some elitist sport but part of keeping numbers of deer, wild boars and other wild life in check to sustain a healthy balance. Without natural predators, there has to be some population control. Richmond and Bushy Park cull their deer herd twice a year too. In rural villages, most hunters then will have a community dinner and eat what they shot. As someone explained, it was a bullet that ricocheted. Also, hunts are generally clearly advertised with signs up and warnings. There are stewards in high viz vests along the roads. It is a tragic accident but the cyclist should have not entered that area during the hunt.

RedneckStumpy · 15/10/2018 11:37

Charolais

I am aware of the damage some dumbass hunters cause. We are landowners also but nowhere near your scale (130 acres) we only hunt on our own land.

This time last year I did go out for a walk and found someone had put traps out across out land without telling me.

ButchyRestingFace · 15/10/2018 11:45

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

Has anyone seen the movie Calibre with Jack Lowden?

frozentree · 15/10/2018 11:49

Where I am in France, hunting is carried out mainly by old retired men, but also by people like my neighbour, a 40 year old bus driver who fills his freezer with meat for the winter.

It is not exclusively a rich man's sport, but as is increasingly the case, there are now not enough local people with hunting licences to control the wild boar and deer population. What then happens is you get trigger happy city-living guests of the mayor and others, who are far more likely to be inexperienced and may also not have a licence. This apparently is the situation of the man who shot the cyclist.

Racecardriver · 15/10/2018 11:52

A stray bullet surely? Clearly the person who did the shooting didn't know how to shoot properly.

SkySmiler · 15/10/2018 19:33

RedneckStumpy - Both parties need to take some responsibility?! Shock Exactly what should the dead man take responsibility for??

showmethemonkey · 17/10/2018 00:21

www.thesun.co.uk/news/7511062/brit-cyclist-mark-sutton-34-shot-dead-raped-sister/

“cyclist Mark Sutton shot by French hunter was ‘rapist who deserved to die slowly’ says ‘utterly relieved’ sister he ‘repeatedly attacked’”

mathanxiety · 17/10/2018 02:11

Yikes..

Really?

If so, karma works in very strange ways.

mathanxiety · 17/10/2018 02:16

...thanks for refuting the inevitable claims that hunting is only done by humble, down-to-earth people for food in the USA. I'm embarrassed to say I'd sort of assumed they were true after hearing them repeated so often

The vast majority really are down to earth people who will eat what they kill. You get the odd exception, but there are literally hundreds of thousands of Americans out there hunting during each hunting season, and they most certainly do not fit Charolais' wildly overheated description.

mathanxiety · 17/10/2018 02:27

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

Sunset in the French Alps today was at 6.45 pm.

I seriously doubt there was enough light to be on a mountain track in Les Gets the past week, especially in the forested areas which is where the hunters would have been, for cover. You ride in and out of forested areas on the bike trails.
goo.gl/images/jBmKh3

Mamaryllis · 17/10/2018 02:46

Oh my. What a very strange twist.
A vegetarian cafe owner shot by a hunter, who turns out to be a child rapist and woman-beater. I’m pretty much speechless.
He was living and working in the community - he would have known it was a stupid place to be in hunting season.

ItsalmostSummer · 17/10/2018 02:51

Wow! Yes interesting update. Sadly his family are saying he was not a very kind person (using careful words here). It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If it’s true what he has done why wasn’t he convicted for his criminal activities?

mathanxiety · 17/10/2018 02:55

Because his sister never went to the police. She never even told anyone in her family until a few years after he had stopped. Read the Sun article for more.

It's not at all uncommon for women raped as children to never go to the authorities.

Sarcelle · 17/10/2018 03:03

Major twist to this story!

BusterGonad · 17/10/2018 06:45

I read a different article about this, and am shocked after clicking on The Sun article, for some reason I didn't realize it was his OWN sister he raped! What a complete and utter shit excuse for a human being! I hope the shooter gets off lightly, I know it shouldn't make a difference who he shot, but the fucker deserved to die!

Hippywannabe · 17/10/2018 06:56

Just read this in the DM who didn't identify his sister but I did wonder after reading his Mum's comments.
I understand the shooter is facing charges, I wonder if these revelations will influence that. They shouldn't but one does wonder if anyone would argue if charges were dropped.
I wonder if his partner knew, it does seem like he had built a completely new life.

BusterGonad · 17/10/2018 08:11

Yes hippy I read the Daily Mail one too!

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