Oklahoma Department Of Wildlife Urges Caution When Using AR-15 To Hunt
BY Herschel Smith
6 years ago
Hunter Scales was sitting in a deer stand in Southern Oklahoma last weekend when his semi automatic rifle went off twice, hitting him in the stomach and thigh.
He’d forgotten to make sure the gun was on safety.
Hunter’s family says he fell nearly 25 feet from the stand. Thankfully, his brother was nearby and called 911.
He’s still recovering tonight in a Tulsa hospital.
Captain Wade Farrar with the Oklahoma Department Of Wildlife says many people use these types of firearms to hunt animals like hogs or deer.
“It is becoming more common. We’ve taken the magazine restriction off of the 22 caliber versions of the assault rifles and that’s making it a lot more common for kids and things like that to hunt with,” Capt. Farrar said.
He says although the AR- Rifles are lightweight, they have a lot more parts than other rifles.
“Hunting with an AR-Rifle is more complicated. There’s a lot more moving parts. It does have a safety that is very easy to use. You have to flip a lever. It points towards fire when it’s off of safety and safe when its on safety.”
Farrar doesn’t think semi-automatic rifles are any more dangerous than other weapons, but he admits this type of rifle is still pretty powerful.
“The only way a semi-automatic rifle would be any more dangerous to hunt with than a bolt action rifle or a more conventional type of hunting rifle, it`s that every time you pull the trigger, if there`s ammunition in it, the gun is going to fire.”
Congratulations to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife for the stupidest article of the month. This is an ignominious and shameful award.
Other rifles have safeties. My daughter, who is a nurse practitioner, sees hunting accidents on a regular basis, from folks getting shot to guys going to sleep in deer stands and falling out. Every accident is potentially life threatening, and more so if, say, you’re shooting a .270 Win than if you’re shooting a 5.56mm / .223.
This advice above is bordering on completely irresponsible, with the hint that you’re safe if you use a bolt action rifle rather than an AR. Message to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife: all rifles can be mishandled, all rifles have safeties, all rifles require proper training, and it only takes one shot to make a kill, whether a deer or yourself. You don’t need followup shots on your own torso to kill yourself.
Morons.
On November 25, 2018 at 11:20 pm, Fred said:
In fairness, we should give them some credit for this; “..admits this type of rifle is still pretty powerful.” He’s right, semi auto rifles do have a certain amount of power to strike fear into the hearts of tyrants.
On November 26, 2018 at 12:23 am, BRVTVS said:
And here is another propaganda piece relating to the push to make ammo prohibitively expensive: http://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/us/ammunition-lead-bullets-condors.html
N.B. If you go to this link, please use an ad block. Don’t fund the enemy.
On November 26, 2018 at 12:57 pm, Bram said:
“his semi automatic rifle went off twice…”
Nope. He broke at least two of the four rules and shot himself.
On November 27, 2018 at 1:25 pm, June J said:
Good thing he wasn’t hunting with an AR-10 and it’s real “high powered” cartridge. Don’t know if he would have survived two .308 rounds.
Hard to feel sorry for anyone who can violate multiple firearm safety rules and shoot themselves twice.
On November 27, 2018 at 6:03 pm, Jean said:
Strange, stomach and thigh??