Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher(Update pg.6)
12-18-2007, 11:22 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rural Kansas... Where Life is Good
Posts: 4,139
Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher(Update pg.6)
This type of stuff fires me up! A horrible, senseless tragedy.He great kid, who would have turned 19 today. It really saddens me to hear this type of news...
http://www.kansas.com/275/story/257424.html
Student killed while hunting
BY MICHAEL PEARCE
The Wichita Eagle
An 18-year-old college student was shot and killed while goose hunting Saturday morning in northern Lyon County.
The Lyon County Sheriff's Department identified the victim as Beau Arndt of Americus, a freshman at Emporia State University.
Arndt and two friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a field and were lying in the snow dressed in white when a pickup stopped along a nearby road and fired a rifle shot into the decoys, striking Arndt.
Arndt was pronounced dead at the scene. His hunting companions said the truck left the scene slowly after the shot was fired.
The sheriff's department is asking for help locating a late-1970s model orange and red Ford pickup believed to have a Shawnee County license plate. Witnesses told authorities the pickup had four occupants.
Authorities speculate the shooter mistook the decoys for real geese. Shooting waterfowl with a rifle is illegal in Kansas. The shooter also broke the law by shooting from within a vehicle and shooting onto the property without the landowner's permission.
Wayne Doyle, of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, said Arndt's death is the first hunting fatality in Kansas since 2005. Annually, about 275,000 Kansas hunters log more than 3 million days afield. Doyle said they average less than one fatality a year.
"So far this year I think we've had 11 (non-fatal) accidents reported," Doyle said. "When you consider how much time's spent hunting, that's a very insignificant number, but it's certainly not insignificant to those involved. This is sad. It's tragic."
He said most of Kansas' hunting fatalities come from unsafe gun handling, like removing a loaded firearm from a gun case or vehicle while on a hunting trip. Two within the past 15 years involved unsupervised young children carrying firearms afield without parental permission.
Doyle said Arndt's death was the first fatality involving goose hunters and a passing vehicle he's heard of in Kansas, though the department receives frequent complaints of poachers driving back roads and illegally shooting at game from their vehicles.
Several years ago a South Dakota goose hunter was shot and killed while hiding amid goose decoys. The rifle shot was fired by the man who'd given him permission to hunt the property. The landowner said he mistook the decoys for live geese and fired the shot hoping to spook them from his grain field.
Randy Smith, a friend of Arndt's family, spoke highly of the young hunter.
"You couldn't ask for a better kid," Smith said. "He was big into waterfowl hunting, fishing, deer hunting. Outdoors is where he always wanted to be. He had a really bright future ahead of him."
Smith said word spread quickly around Americus, a small town near Emporia.
Condolences have also been posted on several online hunting sites. Smith said sportsmen are frustrated that Arndt was hunting legally and killed by an illegally fired bullet.
"It's being called a hunting accident but that bullet was fired by a poacher," Smith said. "Hunting had nothing to do with it. There's no way it should have happened."
http://www.kansas.com/275/story/257424.html
Student killed while hunting
BY MICHAEL PEARCE
The Wichita Eagle
An 18-year-old college student was shot and killed while goose hunting Saturday morning in northern Lyon County.
The Lyon County Sheriff's Department identified the victim as Beau Arndt of Americus, a freshman at Emporia State University.
Arndt and two friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a field and were lying in the snow dressed in white when a pickup stopped along a nearby road and fired a rifle shot into the decoys, striking Arndt.
Arndt was pronounced dead at the scene. His hunting companions said the truck left the scene slowly after the shot was fired.
The sheriff's department is asking for help locating a late-1970s model orange and red Ford pickup believed to have a Shawnee County license plate. Witnesses told authorities the pickup had four occupants.
Authorities speculate the shooter mistook the decoys for real geese. Shooting waterfowl with a rifle is illegal in Kansas. The shooter also broke the law by shooting from within a vehicle and shooting onto the property without the landowner's permission.
Wayne Doyle, of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, said Arndt's death is the first hunting fatality in Kansas since 2005. Annually, about 275,000 Kansas hunters log more than 3 million days afield. Doyle said they average less than one fatality a year.
"So far this year I think we've had 11 (non-fatal) accidents reported," Doyle said. "When you consider how much time's spent hunting, that's a very insignificant number, but it's certainly not insignificant to those involved. This is sad. It's tragic."
He said most of Kansas' hunting fatalities come from unsafe gun handling, like removing a loaded firearm from a gun case or vehicle while on a hunting trip. Two within the past 15 years involved unsupervised young children carrying firearms afield without parental permission.
Doyle said Arndt's death was the first fatality involving goose hunters and a passing vehicle he's heard of in Kansas, though the department receives frequent complaints of poachers driving back roads and illegally shooting at game from their vehicles.
Several years ago a South Dakota goose hunter was shot and killed while hiding amid goose decoys. The rifle shot was fired by the man who'd given him permission to hunt the property. The landowner said he mistook the decoys for live geese and fired the shot hoping to spook them from his grain field.
Randy Smith, a friend of Arndt's family, spoke highly of the young hunter.
"You couldn't ask for a better kid," Smith said. "He was big into waterfowl hunting, fishing, deer hunting. Outdoors is where he always wanted to be. He had a really bright future ahead of him."
Smith said word spread quickly around Americus, a small town near Emporia.
Condolences have also been posted on several online hunting sites. Smith said sportsmen are frustrated that Arndt was hunting legally and killed by an illegally fired bullet.
"It's being called a hunting accident but that bullet was fired by a poacher," Smith said. "Hunting had nothing to do with it. There's no way it should have happened."
12-18-2007, 11:23 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rural Kansas... Where Life is Good
Posts: 4,139
RE: Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher
Hopefully someone can recognize the description of the truck.His memorial fund will be dedicated to programs to benefit hunting, be it Hunter's Safety Programs, Youth Hunting programs, KBA Youth programs or Scholarship benefits, anything to do with getting young kids into hunting and the outdoors sports. His father said that any kid that gets involved in hunting will be a good citizen, like all that have come to support the family.
Memorial Funds could be sent if anyone is interested in doing so
They can be sent to:
Beau Arndt Memorial Fund
C/O Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home
605 State Street
Emporia Kansas, 66801.
-----------------------------------------
Witnesses in the area described a truck they'd seen as a late 1970s model Ford pickup with a standard cab and Shawnee County license plate. Eichorn says that a witness now believes there were three men inside, not the four officials originally thought.
The cab and front end of the truck are red; the pickup bed is orange. The rear of the bed has an old Ford logo described as three blocks ; one large, one medium and one small.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lyon County Sheriff's Office at 342-5545, Lyon County Crimestoppers at 342-2273 or 1-800-KS CRIME.
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Memorial Funds could be sent if anyone is interested in doing so
They can be sent to:
Beau Arndt Memorial Fund
C/O Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home
605 State Street
Emporia Kansas, 66801.
-----------------------------------------
Witnesses in the area described a truck they'd seen as a late 1970s model Ford pickup with a standard cab and Shawnee County license plate. Eichorn says that a witness now believes there were three men inside, not the four officials originally thought.
The cab and front end of the truck are red; the pickup bed is orange. The rear of the bed has an old Ford logo described as three blocks ; one large, one medium and one small.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lyon County Sheriff's Office at 342-5545, Lyon County Crimestoppers at 342-2273 or 1-800-KS CRIME.
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12-18-2007, 11:31 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Missouri
Posts: 3,763
RE: Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher
That is HORRIBLE.
I cannot believe someone would ignorantly fire a rifle into a group of decoys...
I hope they catch this guys quickly and put them in prison where they belong!
I cannot believe someone would ignorantly fire a rifle into a group of decoys...
I hope they catch this guys quickly and put them in prison where they belong!
12-18-2007, 11:33 AM
#5
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southeast Central Illinois USA
Posts: 6,969
RE: Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher
My condolences to this family.
Hunting accident my butt! Hope they catch the nogoods who did this and penalize them to the max within what the law allows.
Hunting accident my butt! Hope they catch the nogoods who did this and penalize them to the max within what the law allows.
12-18-2007, 11:41 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 3,606
RE: Fellow Bow hunter Killed by Poacher
that is terrible senseless and stupid . That is to bad a good young kid has to pay the price because of a moron. I hope they catch him and give him a long sentence . people like that don't need to be in society
12-18-2007, 11:43 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Castile N.Y.
Posts: 2,090
RE: Fellow Bowhunter Killed by Poacher
ORIGINAL: Germ
Lock him up, or fry the SOB
Lock him up, or fry the SOB