Articles Posted in Hunting Accidents

As Syracuse New York personal injury lawyers, we often represent construction workers who fall from ladders and roofs when no safety line or harness is provided.  In such cases, we sue the construction site owners and operators for failing to provide this essential equipment. This happens far more often than you would think.

However, as a recent New York Times article points out, deer hunters who use tree stands are also at great risk of serious injury when they don’t wear harnesses with safety lines attached to the tree.  But personal injury lawyers don’t end up representing those folks.  Why not?  Well, think about it.  Usually a hunter has no one to blame but himself for failing to tether himself up.  We lawyers are a pretty smart group, but so far we have not figured out a way for someone to sue himself and come out ahead.

Still, since safety matters to us, we want to get the word out that tree-stand hunters, like roofers, need to tie themselves up.  A recent New York Times brings this message home very clearly.   It points out that at least five people died this year (2017) in New York State by falling from tree stands.  And many more have been injured.

Hunting season is once again upon us. Hunters, please be careful. I have blogged about hunting accidents before, so rather than repeat myself, I’ll simply refer you to this prior blog post:

Central NY Hunting Accident Lawyer Reminds Hunters of Safety Rules

Our law firm has recovered several sizable settlements for injured hunters from the homeowners’ insurance of their fellow hunters who accidentally fired at them. Maneuvering past the insurance issues can be tough, as I explain in this blog post:

Hey hunters, it’s that time of year again. Grab that gun, and your other hunting gear, get out there in the great outdoors, and make your kill.

But as a Central New York hunting accident lawyer who represents injured and shot hunters, I have to ask you to please remember safety! According to the International Hunter Education Association, hunters accidently shoot about 1,000 people in the US and Canada every year. About 100 of the 1,000 shootings are fatal. In fact, I handled a hunter-shot-hunter case last year. Luckily my client was not killed, but he was seriously injured by the other hunter who mistook him for a deer.

The victims of hunting accidents are usually fellow hunters, but not always. I remember reading about a case a few years ago where a woman was hanging clothes up to dry in her back yard, which was near some woods. She was wearing white gloves. A hunter mistook her white glove for a deer tale and shot her dead. She left behind several young children. Tragic!

If you’re a Central New York hunter and you accidently shoot a fellow hunter, you sure would feel bad, right? I mean Central New York shooting accidents, like hunting accidents everywhere, can kill, seriously injure and maim. But there’s insurance for that, right? I mean, if you are a hunter, and you own a home, your homeowner’s insurance will protect you if you accidently shoot another hunter, right?

Think again. Here’s a true story. A Central New York deer hunter goes out hunting in the hours where night is turning to day. He is in his tree stand waiting. He sees a deer. He aims, shoots, fires and — hears a man scream. He just shot another hunter! The deer wasn’t a deer, it was a hunter whom he mistook for a deer.

When he calms down, and he is assured that his victim is not going to die, but is seriously hurt, he thanks his lucky stars that at least he has homeowner’s insurance. He realizes that homeowner’s insurance covers accidents like this, so the poor guy he shot will at least get his medical bills and lost wages paid, and maybe even some compensation for any pain and suffering.