Hunting fatality first since 2012

A Jefferson County deer hunter became Kansas’ first hunting-related fatality in three years earlier this month.

Jeff Herrig, Jefferson County sheriff, said Gene Robertson, of Winchester, appears to have shot himself accidentally.

“He went deer hunting and he had his rifle in one of those gun racks that goes in the back window of his truck,” said Herrig. “He had the rifle loaded and as he went to pull it out of the truck it appears the trigger caught on the gun rack and pulled the trigger. It shot him in the head.”

The 54-year-old hunter was killed Dec. 7, in the middle of Kansas’ firearms deer season.

Kent Barrett, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism hunter education coordinator, said several things could have prevented the accident, such as not having a loaded gun in a vehicle and not pulling a gun toward you, muzzle first.

“We have to go back to 2012 to find the last fatality. That was when a 16-year-old shot his 15-year-old friend while they were turkey hunting,” said Barrett. “We had 17 incidents reported that year, which is closer to our long-term average.”

Barrett said he’s received five reports of known incidents for the current year, but added reports may still be coming from game wardens who often help work cases. There were 12 incidents last year, and a record-low seven in 2013. He said low pheasant and quail populations may have contributed to those low numbers those years.

Mike Miller, Wildlife and Parks information chief, said Kansas hunters often total about 5.2 million days afield.

“Typically someone swinging on game, and shooting a hunting partner has been our main concern,” he said. “When we have a lot of pheasant and quail hunters in the fields that becomes our most prevalent accident. During years when we don’t have as many bird hunters, unsafe gun handling is usually our biggest problem.”

This year’s incident in Jefferson County is not the first time a hunter has been shot improperly removing a loaded gun from a vehicle. This year a bowhunter also shot himself in the hand with a handgun.

“He’d had his .45 cocked and locked on his hip, and when he got to his truck he decided to unload the handgun,” Barrett said, “and he somehow managed to shoot himself in his left hand.”

Several times in the past hunters have been shot when their dog fired their shotgun. Barrett said it’s usually been when the hunter has laid his shotgun down, like when crossing a fence. The dog first steps on the safety, then the trigger, firing the gun.

“We try to get across to students, when crossing a fence to put the gun under and then get away from it,” he said. “If you’re crossing a fence you know where that dog is going to be, all over you as you go under or through. If the gun’s there, they’ll step on it. The best thing to do is to unload the gun before you put it under the fence. If the gun is unloaded, and the action is open, it will not go off and people will not get hurt.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Hunting fatality first since 2012."