The fatal accidental shootings of two hunters in Idaho — two days apart — is weighing heavily on the minds of some seasoned Wyoming outdoorsmen as rifle hunting seasons here hit full swing.
Kaylanee Orr, 21, of Blackfoot, Idaho, died Friday from a gunshot wound to the chest while on a hunting trip in a remote area of Fremont County, Idaho.
Early Sunday, California resident Nathan Thomas Kaas, 48, died from blood loss after suffering a gunshot wound to the leg in rural Clark County, Idaho.
Both victims were apparently accidentally shot by hunting companions, according to reports.
As some hunting areas across Wyoming and the West become more crowded every season, the potential for accidental injuries or deaths from other other hunters increases.
‘It Just Happens Around Vehicles’
A Wyoming hunter education instructor told Cowboy State Daily that hunters can never take firearms safety for granted.
“From Day One, hour one, we discuss firearms safety in hunter ed class, because complacency kills,” said Nathan Warren, who teaches hunter education in Platte County.
Retired Wyoming Game and Fish warden H.R. Longobardi said that in his experience, many hunting accidents occur in or near vehicles.
“A lot of the time, it just happens around vehicles. I don’t know exactly why,” he said.
It’s legal for hunters to keep loaded firearms in vehicles in Wyoming and other states, but many states have banned that practice, which he considers dangerous.
“Probably one of the most dangerous things I saw hunters do, and it’s not illegal in Wyoming, was driving around with a rifle, with one in the chamber,” he said.
He’s spoken with game wardens from Eastern states, where loaded firearms in vehicles are banned, and said they related stories that were at once humorous and terrifying.
“They (game wardens) would be approaching a vehicle, and the guys inside were quickly trying to unload their guns and accidentally blasting holes through the floor or the roof of the vehicle,” he said.
Avid Wyoming elk hunter Kyle Wendtland said hunters should never assume that safety switches will prevent accidental firings.
“If anybody relies on a mechanical safety for their firearms safety practices, they should know that mechanical safeties can fail, because anything mechanical can fail,” he said.
Two Tragedies In Idaho
Orr’s aunt, Amanda Graff, told KSL-TV that Orr was hit in the chest when a relative’s hunting firearm accidentally discharged.
The relative tried for over an hour to save Orr’s life by performing chest compressions before rescuers arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to reports.
Orr was recently married and had recently returned home from a mission in New Zealand for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, KSL-TV reported.
Early Sunday, Nathan Thomas Kaas, 48, died from blood loss after suffering a gunshot wound to the leg in rural Clark County, Idaho. He was accidently shot by a hunting companion, East Idaho News reported.
Kaas was from California, where he was a lieutenant with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
Rifle Was Being Removed From Case
A request for more details in Orr’s case from the Fremont County, Idaho, Sheriff’s Office wasn’t answered by publication time.
News reports didn’t specify what kind of hunt she was on, or what type of firearm was involved.
Clark County, Idaho, Sheriff Mark McClure told Cowboy State Daily that Kaas was struck in his right thigh by a bullet from a .270 rifle, while preparing to embark on a mule deer hunt.
A call for help came into dispatch at 5:55 a.m. Personnel responded to the scene quickly, but Kaas was dead when they got there, he said.
The apparent cause of death was massive blood loss, likely caused by the bullet severing a major artery in Kaas’ leg, McClure said.
He said that Kaas and a friend were in a pickup with “wing doors” opening to the back seat, he said.
Kaas and a hunting companion were preparing to go hunting and retrieving their rifles from the back seat through the open doors, with Kaas on one side, and his hunting partner on the other, McClure said.
The other hunter was attempting to pull his rifle from its case when it discharged and Kaas was hit in the leg, he said.
The incident was ruled an accidental shooting, and no charges will be filed, McClure said..
Empty Firing Chambers
In most instances, when hunting with rifles, it’s recommended not to have a cartridge in the firing chamber.
Longobardi said he recently helped guide a women’s antelope hunt and made sure that the hunters with him kept their firing chambers empty, until just before taking a shot at game.
“I didn’t have them put a round into the chamber until things were about to happen,” he said.
While hunting birds with shotguns, it might not always be practical to keep an empty firing chamber.
Longobardi said that can cause spooky situations in duck blinds, when hunters are in close quarters, with loaded shotguns.
He added that on a recent upland bird hunt, one of the hunters was carrying an “over-and-under” shotgun. That’s a double-barreled shotgun, with the barrels arranged one on top of the other.
Such shotguns are hinged near the firing chambers. They can be “broken open,” meaning hinged open, so the firing pins can’t strike the primers on the shells in the chamber.
He noted that the hunter kept his shotgun “broken open” until Longobardi’s hunting dog indicated that a bird might soon flush.
“A lot of guys won’t do that, so I really appreciated that he did,” he said.
‘Nothing More Dangerous And Sillier’
Another dangerous undertaking is crossing fences while hunting. There’s too much that can go wrong with trying to vault or clamber over a fence with a loaded gun, Longobardi and Warren said.
Warren said he teaches his students to unload their firearms and open the actions when reaching a fence.
Then, the firearms should be laid down on the other side, and the hunter should cross “behind the butt of the firearm, never in front of the muzzle,” he said.
Longobardi recommended the same; never try crossing a fence with a gun in hand.
“Nothing (is) more dangerous and sillier than someone hung up by the crotch on a barbed wire fence waving around a loaded firearm, be it a shotgun or rifle. The consequences can be bad,” he said.
‘Super-Selective’ About Hunting Partners
Wendtland said firearms safety is one reason why he prefers to hunt alone and is “super-selective” about the people he’ll let hunt with him.
“It (firearms safety) comes above everything else in the field. Assume every gun is loaded, all the time,” he said.
Warren guides youth hunts and makes sure that everybody is wearing lots of fluorescent orange, so they’re highly visible to each other, and any other hunters out there.
“Wyoming regulations require only one fluorescent orange garment for big game hunting, I make sure everybody is wearing two,” he said.
“And we go over firearm safety in camp, every morning before the hunt, and every evening after the hunt,” he added.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
