If a person can't identify their target they shouldn't have firearms

[Dakotaranger]

Normally, I'm all for more people having firearms, but there are some people that shouldn't even look at them on the tv. This guy is one of them:

The undersheriff in northern Michigan's Benzie County says he doesn't see how anyone
could confuse a 1,400-pound pregnant cow with a coyote, which typically weighs
between 20 and 45 pounds.
And anyway, shooting coyotes is illegal during
firearm deer season. Authorities asked the county prosecutor to bring charges
against the shooter.
A 42-year-old man told authorities he was out to shoot
coyotes near his Colfax Township home Saturday when he killed the cow,
Undersheriff Rory Heckman told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story
published Wednesday. Heckman said the man then tried to drag the cow home.
"The part of his story he his holding to is he shot at a coyote. I don't
know how he hit a several-thousand pound cow mistaking it for a coyote," Heckman
said.
The cow was named Hannah and had wandered away from its farm, about
205 miles northwest of Detroit.
"My husband thought that he should go through
some therapy looking at repeated pictures of cows and coyotes because they look
nothing alike. It didn't make any sense to me," said owner DeAnn Mosher.

To say I don't believe his story is an understatement. While there is a whole host of things he really could have been doing, but to make a mistake that big there just has to be some chemical inducement, or revenge this idiot is trying to mead out.

I'm not one for wanting someone's tools confiscated, but this is one time he should not be allowed to own as much as a pea shooter.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Black Oak]

Oh, He knew what his target was all right. It was the cow. He was dragging it home to butcher.

Criminals almost always think that they are smarter than every body else and make up stories like this. In their minds it sounds like a good excuse.

The fact is that they are almost always dumber than almost everybody and it does not take Columbo to put them in jail where they belong.

[ccw9mm]

I wonder whether Michigan's laws on cattle rustling are still on the books?

[jeephipwr]

Here in Arkansas a hunter was recently shot in the neck by another hunter who thought he was a deer. The hunter was killed.

Part of being a responsible firearms user is knowing what your target is and what may be behind it. It is a major mistake and tragedy to commit such an error. I have mixed emotions about people who make such mistakes.

[FN1910]

Here in Arkansas a hunter was recently shot in the neck by another hunter who thought he was a deer. The hunter was killed.

Part of being a responsible firearms user is knowing what your target is and what may be behind it. It is a major mistake and tragedy to commit such an error. I have mixed emotions about people who make such mistakes.

I don't have any mixed emotions at all about someone who shoots a person thinking they are a deer, coyote or whatever. If they are too trigger happy to be sure of their target and mistake a person for something else then hang their butts. I am not talking about the accidental "Cheney" shootings but the ones where hunters are advised not to wear anything white because they may be mistaken for a whitetailed deer. If you can't tell the difference between a man and a deer then stay at home.

[SIXTO]

I forgot about the whol cow/coyote thing when I read the part about him trying to drag home a cow.

[simon]

Sounds like he was rustling a cow to me.....live or dead it is stealing for starters.....layer on other charges as needed and hang the sucker.

[ron8903]

Sounds like hes trying is explain his way out of a felony charge.

[aus71383]

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I didn't like the title of this thread though - no one should decide who does and who does not exercise their inalienable rights. Punishing the guy by cutting off his hands would effectively prevent him from using a firearm...

Austin

[P95Carry]

Forgive my cynicism but someone was after some free beef ... end of story.

Still struggling with the attempt to see someone drag 700# plus of bovine carcass !!

[retsupt99]

I agree, he was just looking for some free burger...they should throw the book at him...for whatever that's worth!

Stay armed...know your target...stay safe!

[P7fanatic]

I wonder whether Michigan's laws on cattle rustling are still on the books?

I believe that may still be a hanging offense in Texas.

[Captain Crunch]

Yeah, anyone with functioning brain cells should know the difference between a cow and a coyote.

Not like this guy...

Several years ago, a deer hunter in Montana shot a farmer's llama in a pasture. Field dressed it and tagged it. He didn't realize his "mistake" until he stopped to report in at a Fish & Game check station. He told the wardens he thought he had shot a "trophy doe".

[SammyIamToday]

Make him pay restitution to the owner imo.

[Geezer]

I've lost a few to "hunters". They don't try to drag them home, just remove the back straps and the hind quarters, and leave the rest for the coyotes. I hope to catch them one night.