Michigan Hunter Gets Jail Time for Sabotaging Another Hunter’s Treestand, Causing 20-Foot Fall
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 11 months ago
Steele left his phone number and asked for the hunter to contact him. The unnamed hunter also discovered that Steele had deleted the pictures from his trail camera. The hunter called Steele and apologized, only to have Steele insist that he must stay away from the area, which the hunter eventually agreed to.
Weeks went by. Eventually, the hunter returned to his stand, pulled the memory card from his camera, and started climbing the stand. The stand looked normal and the climbing sticks were sturdy. But as soon as the hunter climbed onto the platform, it collapsed underneath him. He fell 20 feet to the ground, where he injured his back and ankle after landing on his feet.
The hunter worried that Steele was watching him on camera and left the area, limping. Upon returning home, he dialed 911 to report the incident. While at home, the hunter discovered his SD card had been wiped of images again. DNR conservation officer Josh Boudreaux responded, and opened a hunter harassment investigation.
Weeks later, the hunter returned to the same spot again with new straps. The next day, he received a text from Steele.
“Are we going to work something out for this spot or what?” the text read. “I got a picture of you yesterday going in there with climbing sticks. Just not gonna respect I was there first?”
Investigating officers paid close attention to the hunter’s treestand after learning Steele was “using a camera to spy on the hunter.” They soon discovered that Steele had gone out to cut the hunter’s straps a second time.
Good Lord. He was ready to sacrifice the life of a man for the sake of a chance to kill an animal. What a jerk.
He should have been charged with attempted murder and prohibited from hunting ever again in the state. A hunter harassment investigation should have been a criminal investigation.
What do you want to bet – he wasn’t trying to feed his family. He wanted to kill a trophy buck to brag to his buddies and show pictures around.
What a jerk.
On January 27, 2023 at 10:37 am, snuffy said:
As with the married couple who were recently convicted of poaching via archery, the Bowmars, in such cases, the nuclear option is called for. Permanent nationwide ban on hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges, forever. And a fine so big, the only way he’d ever be able to pay it all would be if he hit the Powerball. In addition to the attempted murder charges. Send a message.
On January 27, 2023 at 11:08 am, Paul B said:
There are jerks like that all over the world. If you find one in the wild it is better to not provoke them. The police will only get involved once someone is hurt and that someone will probably be you. Deer frequent spots but they move around.
Do something to spoil the spot would be a better approach.
On January 27, 2023 at 1:27 pm, Herschel Smith said:
You being sarcastic snuffy? Can you really not see that this post is about one man trying to murder another?
Most falls above 6′ are fatal.
On January 28, 2023 at 7:06 am, RCW said:
Herschel: Usually I’m on board but not your above fatality odds calculation. At 100′ the odds of a fatal fall are 100%; at 75′ it’s 75%; at 50′ it’s 50%; at 25′ it’s 25%. Therefore at 6′ it’s 6%. My info comes from an instructor in the safety portion of a machinist/CNC course. He attributed his %s to insurance actuarial data.
On January 28, 2023 at 9:12 am, Herschel Smith said:
@RCW,
Very convenient formula, yes? 100% at 100′, 75% at 75′, and so on and so forth. Not meters, not decimeters, not some other measurement, but EXACT percentages for EXACT number of feet.
And you believe that formula?
I reiterate my numbers. Here is one such source.
https://hardhattraining.com/falls-how-high-is-deadly/
But if I pull the numbers from NIOSH I can develop a curve fit for you. It WILL NOT BE LINEAR. It will be a polynomial (probably order five or six to get R about 0.999.