Another victim !

brutus54

Active Member
Messages
820
If you don’t know what the hell you’re shooting at you shouldn’t be issued a license and be in the woods with other hunters. Condolence to the family.??

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I am not defending anyone here, but it does not say he mistook a hunter for an elk. He could have missed an elk and hit the bowhunter. With the large increase in OTC hunters in bow season they need to require archers to wear fluorescent orange (even camo orange) during muzzle season or stop the archery season during muzzle. This was bound to happen and is awful for all families. Prayers to all of them.
 
If any of you are familiar with the area, this is the trail that goes around the foot of Mt Wilson.

Lot’s of bad stuff happens on Mt Wilson every year, but it is a beautiful spot.
 
I have bow hunted that exact location! One of the reasons I started wearing blaze orange camo when I bow hunt. As noted above, it doesn’t always help, but I suspect the Loren shooting was regular rifle season.
 
My friend Loren was mistaken for an elk. He was wearing an orange vest and an orange hat. Shot through the neck while hunting with his 7 year old son. Southern CO, just outside of Saguache.
Yup, rifle season Likely 3rd, if that division was in place at the time. The dude that shot him already killed his elk 3 days prior.

If I recall the year correctly, another guy took a 7mmRM round through his truck door and through the hip that same year. The shooter found out the (eventual) dead guy was sleeping with the shooters wife. There is a barely visible cross where the guy died, on the west side of CR 41G.
 
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If any of you are familiar with the area, this is the trail that goes around the foot of Mt Wilson.

Lot’s of bad stuff happens on Mt Wilson every year, but it is a beautiful spot.
I drove a gas/diesel delivery truck for an oil company one summer. One of the other 2 drivers lost a son during goat season. Fell off a cliff. I'm pretty sure it was near/on Mt. Wilson. 1980s.
 
Update for those following!

DOLORES COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
State of Colorado
P.O. Box 505
Dove Creek, Colorado 81324
(970) 677-2257 Fax (970) 677-2880
Don Wilson
Sheriff

Date: 09-18-2021
To: Dolores County Residents and Visitors
From: Sheriff Don Wilson
Subject: Hunting incident

On 09-17-2021 at approximately 1048 hrs Law Enforcement personnel, emergency medical personnel, Rico, West Fork, Dove Creek Search and Rescue personnel, Dolores County Coroner, and Colorado Bureau of Investigation were dispatched to Forest Service Road 535 at the Kilpacker Trail Head for a report of a hunter being shot. The hunter who was fatally shot was identified as 31 year old W/M Gregory Gabrisch from Houston, Texas. The individual shooting Gregory was identified as Ronald J. Morosko from Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. Ronald was arrested for Criminally Negligent Homicide and taken to Montezuma County jail. This incident continues to be under investigation.
Thank you for the support from Dunton Hot Springs, Keith Keesling for supplying food and water for personnel involved with the recovery of Mr. Gabrisch. Dolores County Sheriff’s Office appreciates all the volunteers and those who have and continue to assist us with this incident. Please keep the families in your prayers.

_______________________________________
Sheriff Don Wilson
 
There was a boy killed in Unit 62 a couple years ago. About time CO requires orange for archery hunters during the Muzzy season.
It's about time people shooting any weapon need to know the difference between the animal they have a license for and a another human.
 
I am completely shocked how someone....anyone can mistake a human for a game animal.
I had a buddy tell me a story that when he and his friends would go up to NE Wyoming to hunt antelope on a private ranch that they would chase antelope on the prairie in a truck...they thought it was fun. I vowed never to hunt with that nitwit. That really opened my eyes to the different levels of "hunters" there are. And, when alcohol is involved, things can get that much more dangerous.
 
Tragic situation for sure! I really believe they need to separate the Muzzy and Archery seasons in Colorado but also definitely agree that we as hunters need to do better about taking safe shots. The hunter orange excuse has never registered with me. There are a lot of states that do not require any orange even during rifle seasons. Most important thing is to know what you are shooting at and where your bullet could travel if you miss.
 
Tragic situation for sure! I really believe they need to separate the Muzzy and Archery seasons in Colorado but also definitely agree that we as hunters need to do better about taking safe shots. The hunter orange excuse has never registered with me. There are a lot of states that do not require any orange even during rifle seasons. Most important thing is to know what you are shooting at and where your bullet could travel if you miss.


You really accidentally describe the primary purpose of hunter orange, IMO. When you're taking aim on an animal with a gun, you won't notice the well camouflaged hunter beyond that animal, but it's hard to miss seeing a patch of blaze orange. No details have come out about this incident yet, so none of us really know what happened. My sympathies go out to all parties involved.
 
I’ve never understood how someone could be so trigger happy. There is a pretty big part of hunter safety that covers knowing your target. And not to mention always know what beyond your target. There is not excuse for shooting a person in Camo.
 
I’ve never understood how someone could be so trigger happy. There is a pretty big part of hunter safety that covers knowing your target. And not to mention always know what beyond your target. There is not excuse for shooting a person in Camo.
I agree in principle and it is what many of us have been taught all of our lives (know what is behind your target), but if someone is in full camo directly behind the elk and not moving (standing next to a tree) and the bullet either goes through the elk or is a very close miss...man it could be really tough to see that person in full camo who is not moving. Now if this person shot another person thinking they were an elk, we have a totally different situation on hand. No matter the situation, it is awful for all involved, prayers to all families. Hunter orange should be required in this situation, even camo orange may have prevented this awful incident from occurring.
 

More details. Appears a decoy was NOT involved. Just hearing a “bull” coming and shot at a patch of white…..

saw this quote on another website:

“it isn’t an accident if it could’ve been prevented.” This was a conscious poor decision”

IMO: guilty of negligent homicide if story is factual. His gun didn’t discharge accidentally. He fired at an “animal” without know what it was.
 
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More details. Appears a decoy was NOT involved. Just hearing a “bull” coming and shot at a patch of white…..

saw this quote on another website:

“it isn’t an accident if it could’ve been prevented.” This was a conscious poor decision”

IMO: guilty of negligent homicide if story is factual. His gun didn’t discharge accidentally. He fired at an “animal” without know what it was.
Thanks for the update.. It’s a sad day all the way around for the Hunting community. It definitely could’ve been prevented with some better decision making.?
 
This can happen if the hunter shoots at moving brush.

In the White Mountains in AZ in the 80's I was working a brushy draw and when I came out on top there was a guy with his gun pointing right at me. I threw my hands up and yelled and walked towards him. I asked him what the hell he was doing and he said he thought I was an elk. I was IN hunter orange hat and vest.

After a few choice words and threatening him him with an ass whooping we parted ways.
 
Prayers sent to both families.

Around the same time frame and DH53 above, we were hunting Deer in Ohio, and we had a newer hunter with us that day. He was an older guy and seemed responsible.

After the morning sit, I decided to work my way around the hillside along the rim and see if i could move any deer around that bedded. I knew the new hunter was on top of the hill side as I approached his area, a shot rang out and a slug whizzed by near me. I had hunter orange jacket and hat on. In Ohio at the time it's with shotgun with sabot slugs/slugs only.

I hit the ground and and slithered behind a tree and started yelling as another round came my way. The guy never responded. I find out later he supposedly wasn't there and it wasn't him, but I knew better. It was private property. When I got up there yelling the whole way, no one was there. He didn't even own up to it. Told my friend I do not want that guy hunting with us/me ever again.

You really don't want to be hit with a 400 grain or so slug-it's just sad that this stuff happens.
 
In the 60's, Colorado averaged 10 fatalities a year?

I’m surprised it’s not more than that with some of the dumbasses we get here.

I just watched some a-hole take a 200 yard ml shot (open sights) at a deer skylined on a pond where an old man sometimes sits. :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
You really accidentally describe the primary purpose of hunter orange, IMO. When you're taking aim on an animal with a gun, you won't notice the well camouflaged hunter beyond that animal, but it's hard to miss seeing a patch of blaze orange. No details have come out about this incident yet, so none of us really know what happened. My sympathies go out to all parties involved.
 
I’m surprised it’s not more than that with some of the dumbasses we get here.

I just watched some a-hole take a 200 yard ml shot (open sights) at a deer skylined on a pond where an old man sometimes sits. :mad: :mad: :mad:
I was in southern CO about 15 years ago. Just going from point A to point B, trying to get my handicapped son (he had shoot from vehicle permission) a chance at *seeing* and elk.

I came up over a hill and watched a handful of guys wandering around in the trees and drove to a likely flow point.

Sure enough, about 6 spike elk came out of the trees. Before I could get my son to take a look, a truckload of guys in orange opened up all four doors.

I counted 43 pieces of brass from where they were stopped. Not a drop of blood on the ground. 43 (maybe more) shots fired. And not a legal bull in the bunch. I've never been so disappointed.

My son never saw the elk; he has field of vision problems due to birth defects.
 
Prayers to the family such a tragedy. I still can’t believe how people will shoot at movement they see I mean besides identifying your target don’t you need to make sure it’s a legal animal Bull or cow first? Just a sorry excuse of a person in my opinion
 
That does not always help. I just borrowed a muzzy from a guy. When I took it out of the case I broke open the action and Saw a 209 primer. Went out back aimed at my target and pulled the trigger and it went boom. This is from a 55 year old man who has hunted all his life. He blamed his son. That gun was loaded since last year
 
I too have been shot at by a muzzy during archery in 511 the old man that shot at me actually said he took a sound shot meaning he heard me and my buddy bugling and cow calling and shot into the herd!! I couldn’t believe it have since been out only once during muzzy with my bow scared me and all involved buck fever is real
 
No excuse for this incident it’s unimaginable. Is it possible it wasn’t elk responding to the call by Pepke but the archery hunter calling back and called in by the two muzzy hunters?
 
No excuse for this incident it’s unimaginable. Is it possible it wasn’t elk responding to the call by Pepke but the archery hunter calling back and called in by the two muzzy hunters?
I thought about this quite a bit. Definitely no excuses for the muzzleloader Hunter pulling the trigger at a white patch. I was wondering if the Archery hunter didn’t know there were muzzleloader hunters calling nearby. And put himself in the middle of what he thought was elk calling back and forth trying to get a shot? Sadly he’s only one that knows what he was thinking and doing when it turned bad.?
 

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