When Washington State – which had not recorded a hunting fatality that involved a non-hunter in more than 25 years – saw two non-hunters killed during a single season last fall, more than eyebrows were raised.
Also raised last year were voices—sometimes shrill—and blood pressures, but curiously, one of these tragic deaths elicited a lot more emotional reaction than the other. The first victim, Pamela Almli of Oso in Skagit County, was a hiker, and she was fatally shot while standing on a trail on the wide open slope of Sauk Mountain on the opening day of last year’s black bear season.
Compounding matters, the hunter who shot Mrs. Almli once in the head with a Tikka rifle chambered in .270 Winchester was a 14-year-old who was hunting under the “supervision” of his then-16-year-old brother. This youngster fired a shot at a target without absolutely confirming that he was shooting at an animal, not a human. That is a violation of the most basic principle of hunting, and while one can try to analyze it (as some attempted), one cannot excuse it (as nobody did).
The more I read about last week's incident, the stronger I feel that this isn't about land use or sharing terrain, and it isn't about people being too young to hunt. It's about a lack of supervision.
That youngster was convicted this week in Skagit County Court of second-degree manslaughter, and could face up to 15 months in detention. This may or may not provide “closure” to those involved and many others who argued on the sidelines, but it demonstrated that we still have the rule of law and while it may not make everyone happy, it does suggest that the system works when we allow it to.
The outrage that followed Almli’s death was epic. A popular hiking forum had a chat thread that spanned a remarkable 90 pages, garnering 1,349 comments (some of them mine) and more than 59,400 visits. Anyone familiar with Internet chat forums will recognize that as significant, though it still pales in comparison to the traffic generated by discussions of the 2006 Pinnacle Lake trail murders. Reading through the Sauk Mountain discussion, one just might get the sense that some (certainly not all) hikers get hysterical pretty fast, some hunters could improve their people skills, there are sharp divisions between user groups and people get lost in rhetoric when emotions take control.
There is no reason to believe the "kid" will never hunt or own firearms again, in fact when school starts he may be bragging to his buds how he killed some beyotch ecoterrorist.
On the Washington Hunting forum, another discussion played out. It was somewhat more morose, the anger was more subdued, there was disappointment and in comparison to the hiker forum, this thread was almost sedate. There was little sympathy toward the youngster who fired the fatal shot, but there was talk about establishing a memorial fund for Almli, something that didn't appear elsewhere. It hardly spanned 90 pages of comments, nor elicited the level of emotion as did the hikers’ discussion.
Outrage flared up again on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s reader feedback page after the young shooter’s conviction was announced.
Hunting is such a primative activity - enjoyed only by the intellectually and emotionally stunted individuals.
In the aftermath, legislation was proposed to more tightly regulate hunting by teenagers, but it died in committee. Another measure was introduced that would have required hikers to wear hunter orange, and it also died after angering even the hunters, who thought the idea to be nonsense.
Contrast the anger and emotion following Almli’s death with the aftermath of the Nov. 1 killing of Juan Rojas Cortez by an elk hunter. Rojas Cortez was not a hiker, but was with two other men, harvesting bear grass in Clark County, which is used in floral arrangements. The man who allegedly shot and left him, Craig A. Sjoberg, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter. We will see how that plays out.
Gone from the relatively brief discussion anywhere about this second fatality was the fury, absent was the righteously indignant outrage, yet Mr. Rojas Cortez was certainly just as innocent, and certainly just as dead, as was Mrs. Almli.
You can’t compare hunters to any other group, except maybe snuff film producers.
I’m not certain what to make of this disparity of reaction.
One might wonder if, perhaps, the Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Hunter Education program is up to snuff. The man who runs that program, Mik Mikitik, is a longtime acquaintance, and anyone suggesting that Mik doesn’t do his best to offer a solid program is a liar.
Others might argue that the WDFW’s enforcement division should stop trying to be “police” and go back to being “game wardens.” If that seems unfair, consider the cover of the Winter 2009 enforcement bulletin, featuring a cadre of game cops outfitted with camo clothing and assault weapons, and define the message sent by that photograph. (Would you want that bunch checking your kid’s fishing license on opening day?)
We can all learn from both tragedies, not just one or the other. Perhaps the thing we need to learn first is that screaming at one another, pitting one user group against the other, accomplishes nothing, and it proves even less.
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Comments
The difference in reaction is simply one of prejudice. NO, not racial prejudice, but economic and social prejudice. Hikers are a lot like joggers, usually snobs. Sorry, if that seems prejudiced, but in my many years that is an observation that was forced on me by the people referred to.
As snobs, they cannot identify with a man, Cortez, who was outdoors (OMG!)working. Identifying with hikers is not such a stretch, because of the image of the hiker/jogger in their minds. If it could happen to her enjoying leisure time outdoors, it could happen to them. Thus the fear and the outrage.
They just can't imagine being shot dead by mistake or accident when outside (OMG!) WORKING. Hence, the disinterest comparably speaking of the death of Mr. Cortez than exhibited for Ms.Almi.
That says something very ugly about us, doesn't it? Both deaths were tragic, both were the results of careless negligence and possibly criminal negligence, but only one scares the people who "leisure" outdoors
Ahhh, couldn't just be that the hikers don't know about Mr. Cortez. That and they have spent all their energy on the first case...
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