14 year old girl bullied over killing an elk in Missouri

[RED]

The left never ceases to amaze me. Here there are people ostracizing this kid because she thought the animal was a deer. She saw an animal in Boone county that had antlers and was brown. Since nobody in the past 100 years has ever seen a wild elk in Boone County MO she thought it was a deer and shot it. It is kinda like shooting a mule deer in Alabama, they don't exist there in the wild and even an experienced hunter could make that mistake. Or how about somebody that shoots a Grizzly bear in Arkansas thinking it was a black bear... An honest mistake by a 14 year old girl doesn't warrant this abuse.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/15/missouri-girl-14-faces-social-media-bullying-after-shooting-elk-mistook-for-buck.html

[Marty T.]

Ah the modern social media. She made a mistake. They called the Conservation people immediately to let them know what had happened. Then they SHOULD have kept their mouths shut and the cameras off and not publicize it. No one would have been the wiser. There are idiots out there just looking for thing to gripe about. If you don't want everybody out there knowing what you are doing and then complaining about it, DON'T PUT IT OUT IN PUBLIC!!
And apparently it was a good shot.

[bruce]

Glad for her that she got the elk. Cannot see any problem with it. Very much doubt that shooting an elk is illegal in MO. Hopefully the St. G&F Dept. will not insist on retaining the carcass or antlers. As to those who are harassing her, hopefully folks will overwhelm such nonsense with positive affirmations sent to her. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[Ken The Kanuck]

Unlucky, that being said there is reasonable expectation that a hunter identifies the animal which he or she is shooting at. Unfortunately given the circumstances I can understand why the mistake was made. Really just bad luck in this case. Personally I hope that she is applauded for coming forward, she did the right thing. Also I hope she gets to keep the meat, mighty tasty.

KTK

[Sunray]

"...doesn't warrant this abuse..." Agreed. However, the kid should have been taught the difference between a white tail and its cousin. She should also have been taught not to shoot at something when she only saw the antlers.
Kid needs a hat that fits too.

[RED]

"...doesn't warrant this abuse..." Agreed. However, the kid should have been taught the difference between a white tail and its cousin.

And why is that? She went through the standard hunting safety course required by and managed by the MO Dep't of Cons. How come the Cons instructors didn't stand up before the class and say this is an elk... don't shoot it... The reason is that according to that same Dep't of Cons, wild elk don't exist in MO. Farm raised elk have ear tags and sometimes escape. Shoot one of those and it is like shooting a farmer's hog that escaped and went feral... not a crime or a violation.

I have been hunting whitetails since 1955... for over 60 years and bagged dozens of whitetails I can't say with 100% certainty that I wouldn't (under the same circumstances) have taken that shot. I would have, however SSS'd, ( Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up). Or in this example Shoot, Grind-up, Shovel, and shut up.

I would never trust the MO Dep't of Cons. for a NY second. BTW, "cons," is also a abbreviation for convicts and con artists.

[Marty T.]

Unlucky, that being said there is reasonable expectation that a hunter identifies the animal which he or she is shooting at. Unfortunately given the circumstances I can understand why the mistake was made. Really just bad luck in this case. Personally I hope that she is applauded for coming forward, she did the right thing. Also I hope she gets to keep the meat, mighty tasty.

KTK
Agree, but I read in one of the latest articles about it that she will not get anything, meat, antlers, nothing. It will go to "feed the hungry" or so they say.

[p246]

There is no recent history of elk in Boone County. Historically in that area its white tail only. It will be a good lesson for her. I don't post any Hunting pics on social media anymore. Nowadays if someone does not agree with your hobby you are to be destroyed.

[leftyo]

agree she should not be abused or harrassed. her parents on the other hand should have done some more work on being positive of your target before pulling the trigger. even a small bull elk doesnt much resemble a white tailed deer( quite a number of horses have met their ends for the same reason). hopefully she learns from this and doesnt let the bullies push her away from enjoying outdoor sports.

[JB White]

Fourteen years old. First hunt? Buck fever? She saw the rack. Fourteen and inexperienced. Spotted her target, watched it, and was convinced it was a deer. Made a clean kill. Reported the error as soon as it was known to be one.

Reminds me of a time in Iowa sitting on a wooded hillside. Off to my left I spotted brown fur moving through the growth. Raised my Mossberg and watched over the sights. Through a small opening I could see a shoulder. Looked like a big one. Waited until it would pass through another opening to see if it was a buck or a doe. Finger slides off the trigger loop and hovers in front of the trigger....waiting for a few more steps. Thinking "If you're a buck you're burger". It was burger, but she was a cow. Lowered the gun and thought, "So that's how they do it!". I was in my early thirties, not my early teens.

Another incident involving a former classmate and friend of a friend. Going fishing and the guys told him about bear attacks in the area. Just getting him nervous as there are no known bears in the area. While hiking from the car through the woods to the fishing spot, there was movement in the bushes. Suddenly a big black head pokes through. In a flash the guy drops his tackle, whips a .41 mag out from under his open jacket and fires two rapid shots. He killed a blackfaced sheep. Then he had Hell to pay along with the farmer. Needless to say that fishing hole was off limits after that.

[Sako]

We are very lucky to have 14 year old girls willing to hunt and it would be a shame to penalize her. The elk bull would die of old age 10 times before it would find an elk cow in Missouri.

[Vern Humphrey]

Or how about somebody that shoots a Grizzly bear in Arkansas

I have a neighbor who is frequently mistaken for a Grizzly bear.:icon_lol:

[Major Tom]

Off topic some but, My friend lives in rural Iowa and raises cattle. A few years ago he hired a company to build a rather large pond on his property. When construction was done and the pond filled with water he paid to have several species of fish put in his pond. Now the pond is about a city block from the nearest road. One day he and his grand children were fishing the pond when along comes a game warden. He wanted to see their fishing licenses which they did not have and wrote my friend up with a ticket. WOW, was he ever mad! In court the judge upheld the game warden's actions. So, even tho you build your own pond, pay to have it stocked, you still need a fishing license.

[leftyo]

Off topic some but, My friend lives in rural Iowa and raises cattle. A few years ago he hired a company to build a rather large pond on his property. When construction was done and the pond filled with water he paid to have several species of fish put in his pond. Now the pond is about a city block from the nearest road. One day he and his grand children were fishing the pond when along comes a game warden. He wanted to see their fishing licenses which they did not have and wrote my friend up with a ticket. WOW, was he ever mad! In court the judge upheld the game warden's actions. So, even tho you build your own pond, pay to have it stocked, you still need a fishing license.

always, in the eye's of the law you can own the land around water, even if you built the pond they dont see it as you owning whats in it.

[blackhawknj]

Don't think I'd bully a girl who knows how to shoot and likes to hunt.

[JB White]

It's easy to bully someone when hiding behind a keyboard. Especially if they're over thirty and living at home with mom.

[RED]

It's easy to bully someone when hiding behind a keyboard. Especially if they're over thirty and living at home with mom.

I wonder if any of the people saying they wouldn't have taken the shot are really hunters. I took my second whitetail for this season late yesterday afternoon. I meat hunt and wouldn't shoot a buck (unless it was a record book whitetail). I saw two and thought it was a doe and a yearling. I had a any deer tag so I shot the bigger of the two. It was a 150 yard, off hand, shot and the deer jumped over a fence and disappeared. It managed to travel about 50 yards and dropped. When I found it I was surprised it was a 2 year old buck. It had 4 points on one side and 3 on the other.

Now all those naysayers are going to claim I am a bad sport, and a bad hunter. I don't care. I'm going to be feasting on lean and healthy venison all through next year while they are eating grocery store grease burgers.

[Critch]

The only wild elk I know of in Missouri are at the Peck Ranch Conservation Area in the county to the west of here...I'm curious how an elk wandered from Carter County across the Missouri River without being noticed......BTW, it's a good 3 hour drive from Carter County to Boone County...couild the elk have escaped from captivity, or even turned loose?

I think her shooting that elk is a mistake that even an experienced hunter might make...

[pcox]

I was selected for a managed bow hunt for deer at Peck Ranch two consecutive years. All the Elk at Peck Ranch have GPS collars. I doubt that it escaped from there. The Elk are inside an eight foot fence which encloses sixteen hundred acres.

[RED]

I was selected for a managed bow hunt for deer at Peck Ranch two consecutive years. All the Elk at Peck Ranch have GPS collars. I doubt that it escaped from there. The Elk are inside an eight foot fence which encloses sixteen hundred acres.

Local scuttlebutt is contradicting the story. I met some guys at the processing site that swear the event happened in Miller Co. not Boone. In any event I believe all the the Peck Ranch elk have ear tags as well, and IIRC the elk on private ranches must have ear tags. The Dep't. of Cons are doing DNA research to see where the elk originated.

I have personally seen two wild creatures that are not supposed to be in MO... A wolf and a full grown Mountain lion. My wife and I saw the wolf twice. It was as big as a German Shepard dog but you could tell from his gait that it was a wild creature. My neighbor lost a calf to a predator he thought was a mountain lion. I got up one morning and sure enough there it was walking across the dam on my pond. I would have killed it if I could but by the time I could get my rifle it was gone. Two weeks later a mountain lion was killed by a car a few miles from here.

[Critch]

If MDC runs DNA on the dead elk they may figure it out....We've all known about the mountain lions here in the Southern Ozarks for years which MDC says didn't exist...I know of creditable sightings of wolves..

[ClintBarret]

Ah the modern social media. She made a mistake. They called the Conservation people immediately to let them know what had happened. Then they SHOULD have kept their mouths shut and the cameras off and not publicize it. No one would have been the wiser. There are idiots out there just looking for thing to gripe about. If you don't want everybody out there knowing what you are doing and then complaining about it, DON'T PUT IT OUT IN PUBLIC!!
And apparently it was a good shot.

The truth has been spoken. :sign13:

[AZshooter]

I was once mistaken for a whitetail & was fired on several times. At the time I was driving along a ridgeline in a dirty blue International Scout. The fire trail was bad enough that I couldn't hotfoot it outta there & heard 2 clinks as bullets went thru an open passenger side window and out the roof just behind the drivers side.

I got out & shined a stainless signal mirror at them, but they fired more at me, hitting dirt a few feet from where I was standing. I ran around to the back & pulled out a Ruger Mini-14 & bag of magazines & fired back, dozens of rounds into 2 ATV's & coolers attached to the ATV racks.

Around sundown I stopped at a check station and told what happened & showed the bullet holes. The Ranger took pictures of the bullet holes & noted the location where the people in the canyon were located. He asked to see the mirror, to ensure I had one & told me that there will be jail time for these guys when they're located, but only if I file a complaint. It took a couple of hours to write it up. This was before GPS and Internet were available, but the people would have been easy to find - only 1 way out of the canyon & they would be on foot.

It was about a year later & I was already living in Munich, when mail from Game & Fish & State Police was forwarded to me telling of court dates & that I was welcome to attend as a spectator -they had my statement and that was enough to convict the 2. I later found out that one was a former felon & not eligible to hunt with modern firearms & the other was on the hook for letting a prohibited person fire his gun(s). Never did find out their sentencing, but from the letters it indicated compulsory lock up time for all the charges.

[Allen]

I was once mistaken for a whitetail & was fired on several times. At the time I was driving along a ridgeline in a dirty blue International Scout. The fire trail was bad enough that I couldn't hotfoot it outta there & heard 2 clinks as bullets went thru an open passenger side window and out the roof just behind the drivers side.

I hate it when that happens !

Sounds like you had quite a memorable day.

[togor]

AZshooter I give you credit for exercising comparative restraint in that situation. Anti-social types simply did not want you around.

[jon_norstog]

Unlucky, that being said there is reasonable expectation that a hunter identifies the animal which he or she is shooting at. Unfortunately given the circumstances I can understand why the mistake was made. Really just bad luck in this case. Personally I hope that she is applauded for coming forward, she did the right thing. Also I hope she gets to keep the meat, mighty tasty.

KTK

The girl did right.

You gotta do it. I shot a moose once thinking it was an elk. It had the antlers and the brow tines, it was facing me head-on and didn't look black, it looked silver-gray, like a Roosevelt Elk. It had an elk face. I looked at it through the cheap scope on my brother's 8mm Turk ... trying to decide if it was an elk. It started to make like an animal that was going to run so I shot it. It jumped 4 feet straight up and turned, so I saw it was a f***ing moose. Damn! No blood trail, I thought it had made a getaway7 so I searched the whole damn water meadow downhill with no success. I returned to where I fired, looked around and found the moose. So with what was left of the day I gutted and skinned the kill. next morning I drove out to Kamiah and reported it to IF&G. The ranger who met me at Canyon Junction asked why I didn't just keep quiet. I told him "these animals are a gift of the Creator and you shouldn't waste them."

I thought I was in the soup, but I was not going to leave that animal to rot. The ranger wrote me a warning - he said I would be toast if one of those S. Idaho Mormon judges heard my case.



jn