"Don't Prank the Guy with the Gun"!

[jesse_the_k]

This story unwound as we lounged in the north woods. A tale so twisted I'd reject it as unreasonable in fiction. The air was clogged with pollen and the body politic was polluted with ~$3 million in "outside party" ads for the recall election. Other causes to blame include YouTube, grays in the bogs, and such.

(For non-Wisconsinites, Vilas County is rugged country. Logged and mined in the 19th century, it's home to lots of wildlife, including cougars, bears, moose, and mosquitoes the size of frogs.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=vilas+county+wi&client=safari&oe=UTF-8&gl=us&z=9)


Capsule: Vlias County deputy sheriff is pranked by his wife, sister-in-law, and niece, into believing there's a cougar stalking him in his driveway. Rattled, he grabs his gun to take out the trash. Niece does A+ job of imitating cougar call with rattling branches and ringtone dl'ed from YouTube cougar video. Deputy perceives imminent threat and shoots into shrubbery, and thus into niece's shoulder. Niece takes the blame. Deputy takes the cake, but is held not liable by his department and uncharged by local DA.

http://www.rivernewsonline.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=48674&SectionID=6&SubSectionID=47&S=1

Comments

[laceblade]

Good God!

I think if I or my cousins pranked my dad (who is usually armed when walking around in the woods), he would actually shoot us dead out of anger!

[jesse_the_k]

I hope not!

I do think the deputy had a responsibility to "know his target"; although I've never shot live ammo, even I know that it's a bad idea to aim based on sound alone. Cougar could have been holding Elvis' baby in his mouth; deputy would have destroyed his financial security.

[sasha_feather]

While I personally wouldn't prank a person with a gun, this guy should NOT have discharged his firearm.

[rainbow]

thank goodness for immense common sense from the da and his dept, and good gravy, how incredibly stupid of his niece to pull a stunt like that. and thank goodness she wasn't killed.

i just can't believe the level of stupid here:

on a day that your uncle and his mother have both seen a cougar in the backyard, go and download a cougar cry into your phone;
when you know one of those people is armed because sie saw a cougar earlier, army crawl thru the brush towards them during prime cougar hunting time;
make cougar cries and rattle the bushes;
when the person yells, don't say anything, but instead play the cry again (ie show that you're either mad with starvation or rabid, since any other cougar would be scared away by the yelling);
make sure you have something reflective that can look like cat eyes;
when the person chambers a bulle and yells agian, still don't say anything.

thank all good things that she followed all that up: "In her interview with police, the niece was adamant that she did not want charges pressed and felt the entire incident was her fault."

it's wonderful to see someone who majorly messed up taking the responsibility for it instead of blaming someone else.

man, the comments there are infuriating, though. i'm guessing they're from folks who've aren't familiar with exactly how dangerous cougars can be, though, especially starving or rabid cougars.

[jesse_the_k]

Yes, this was stunning. The three of us sat around shaking our heads and muttering "cougars" and "cellphones" and "the man was armed!" and shaking our heads some more. As you've probably discovered there's four stories at the home town paper (The River News) and Googling for
http://goo.gl/NxszF Ty Peterson +cougar
returns a surprisingly small number of other mentions.

[rainbow]

i'll go check out the link, thank you.

i'm just jaw droppingly bewildered that they thought it aws a good idea. (and yet impressed that she pulled up her big girl pants and took full responsibility).

those comments just horrified me, though.

yes, although you've heard the rattling bushes and the cry, tried scared it off to no avail, and seen what looking like freaking cat eyes, yes, BY ALL MEANS WAIT FOR A BETTER VISUAL before shooting at an animal faster than a human. 'cause that's not a good way to get yourself killed or anything.

*headdesk*

i mean, i'm about as much of a hippie, love everybody, tree hugging, friend to all animals, etc, person as most people will ever encounter in a very long life -- by factor of bazillionty!

either soemthing is wrong with my common sense or a lot of other peoples, and i don't really know which.