Reply #244: Appears the boys were hunting the trail, but that the trail was in a designated hunting area...

[Barack_America]

Police: Boy who killed woman while hunting was not with adult

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. -- The 14-year-old boy who killed a woman while hunting Saturday in the Sauk Mountain area was not with an adult, sheriff's officials said Monday.

Skagit County Sheriff Chief Deputy Will Reichardt said the boy was with his 16-year-old brother on a ledge looking down onto a hiking trail when Pamela Almli stopped on the trail to put something into her backpack. The 14-year-old boy mistook her for a bear and fired one shot, which killed her, Reichardt said.

Reichardt said visibility was low that morning due to some fog in the area.

Reichardt said their investigation determined that the boys' grandfather dropped them off in the area of Sauk Mountain near Rockport Saturday morning. The grandfather may have then been waiting for them at the foot of the mountain, but was not with them at the time of the shooting, Reichardt said.

-snip-

It is legal to hunt at any age, and investigators said the two boys had passed a safety test, were properly licensed, and were in a designated hunting area.

http://www.komonews.com/news/26254529.html


Anyone else have a problem with designated hunting and hiking areas overlapping in areas with known visibility issues? I do wonder if they realized they were looking at a hiking trail. If they did, and still fired without using binoculars to identify the target, then I hope charges would be filed.