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4 Minnesota Deer Hunters Shot Opening Weekend

Four Minnesota Deer Hunters were shot on the opening Weekend of Minnesota’s Deer Season. One was killed.

Here’s a run down of the shootings from Channel 9 in the Twin Cities:

Craig Rupp, 60, was killed after being shot in the chest Saturday morning in his hometown of Elbow Lake while hunting. Elbow Lake is about 80 miles northwest of Willmar in western Minnesota. Rupp was shot while his hunting party flushed deer out of tall grass. A deer jumped up and shots were fired, with one shot hitting Rupp.

Duane Kaster, 62, of Aurora, Minn. was shot Sunday while hunting near Biwabik on the Iron Range. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s office says the man was apparently shot by a 15-year-old member of the hunting party. He was taken to a hospital in Virginia, Minn. and later airlifted to Duluth.Kaster has been transferred to HCMC where he is in critical condition.

Brooks Lee Marti, 26, of New Ulm was shot around noon Sunday in Brown County. Marti and his hunting party were flushing a deer in a wooded area east of Sleepy Eye when he was shot in the left arm by another member of the group. Marti was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

In Clearwater County in northwest Minnesota, Jeffrey Pike of Chaska accidentally shot himself around 1:30 p.m. Saturday when he put his gun down and it fired, striking his right bicep. He was taken to a Fargo, N.D., hospital.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

For one, all could have been prevented. Second, it seems that most of the accidents occurred when the hunters were flushing Deer. This could have been during a Deer drive or flushing Deer like Pheasants.

This is the most dangerous way to hunt Deer in my opinion. Especially when young hunters are part of the group. Regardless, these accidents shouldn’t have happened at all.

My heart goes out to the Families of these Deer Hunters. I wish the wounded ones a quick recovery and my thoughts and prayers goes out to the Family of the deceased hunter.

I think we all need to emphasize safety before each Hunting season. Not only that, but if you’re hunting with a group of Hunters, you should be going over safety rules before each hunt. Every hunter should know where everyone else is located at all times. Even if that means before a morning hunt and an afternoon hunt. You can never be too safe.

Talk to all in your party nad get a concensus that no rapid fire shots will be taken – especially during drives. Wisconsin does not allow driving deer, and Minnesota could do the same.
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Outdoor humor

The Pope goes Bear Hunting

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the
rugged mountains of Alaska for some sightseeing. He
was cruising along the campground in the PopeMobile
when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge
of the woods. A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals,
shorts, a ‘Save the Whales’ hat and a ‘To Hell with
Bush’ T-shirt, was screaming while struggling
frantically and thrashing around trying to free
himself from the grasp of a 10-foot grizzly beaar.
As the Pope watched in horror, a group of Republican
loggers came racing up. One quickly fired a 44
magnum into the bear’s chest. The other two reached
up and pulled the bleeding, semiconscious Democrat
from the bear’s grasp. Then using long clubs, the
three loggers finished off the bear and two of them
threw it onto the bed of their truck while the other
tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the ba ck
seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over.
‘I give you my blessing for your brave actions!’ he
told them. ‘I heard there was a bitter hatred
between Republican loggers and Democratic
environmental activists but now I’ve seen with my
own eyes that this is not true.’

As the Pope drove off, one logger asked his buddies:

‘Who was that guy?’

‘It was the Pope,’ another replied. ‘He’s in direct
contact with Heaven and has access to all wisdom.’

‘Well,’ the logger said, ‘he may have access to all
wisdom but he doesn’t know squat about bear hunting!
By the way, is the bait still alive, or do we need to
go back to Minneapolis and get another one?