5 Hunters Murdered

I'm waiting for an accident to happen at my parent's. I have a 12 year old nephew that has hunted for the past couple of years. The kid should NOT :no: :no: :no: be hunting!! This year he has killed 2 does. The last one was from a hut of some sort he was sitting in. He got so nervous, he shot through the wall!! He had to pass a hunter safety course to get his license, but I have yet to understand how he did. He is just plain dangerous. Even his dad says he is, but he gets tired of listening to him ask to go hunting & just tells him to go so he shuts up. Of course there a lot of people that graduate college that don't have a lick of common sense. I agree that the deer population needs to be dealt with & I also like to eat them. I just wish more people used common sense when hunting. It is downright scary during hunting season!

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I can't believe I deleted it!

This is really a sad story. I hate to hear about injured and dead people, especially over a deer stand.

Just another ploy to get more guns banned and lose more rights.

I have heard nothing to the effect that the ones confronting this suspect may have shot at him or threated him. Has anything been said to that effect?

When I go on my property I take my pistol, cell ph, and hand held radio. If it is deer season, I take my rifle. People are beginning to learn that I do not want anyone trespassing.

I do believe this suspect knew he was trespassing. He must have had intentions of doing just what he done, or he feared for his life.

I agree zandras_zoo, I used to hunt my land , and so did my boys, but a few yearss ago, My son and I were out hunting, and three deer came up over the hill, [on our land], he shot all three. We were pinned down for over an hour, with shot. from off our land. took one of the deer. My boys and hubby are not rookies, they were all in the war, and the boys were ranger,s and hubby a special forces. they all know how to shoot and handle them selves. My youngest son, went around behind these guys, and got the drop on them , and marched them out of there. that did it, we don't hunt on our own land . the last day we go back for a few minutes. but tomorrow, I am going back with my truck, and playing my radio as loud as i can for about an hour. in the middle of my pasture,. getting even, you might say that.
debi taber

Amoung the 5 dead and 3 wounded there was only ONE gun--------sheriff was not yet sure if it had been discharged.
Some of the victims were shot more than once.

From the EauClaire, Wi Leader-Telegram

Hunting horror (I)
Tree-stand dispute leads to rampage; man held

Leader-Telegram Staff and news services

Two surviving victims of the weekend rampage in northwestern Wisconsin were shot from only a few dozen yards away, the surgeon who treated them said today.

Dr. Lynn Koob of Lakeview Medical Center in Rice Lake said this morning that Denny Drew and Lauren Hesebeck were shot from about 50 yards away, “obviously” by a high-powered weapon. Koob said the injuries “ranked right up there” with the worst he had seen at the hospital, which occasionally treats gunshot victims.

Five people were shot to death and three others wounded in the incident; a deer hunter was awaiting his first court appearance.

The 36-year-old accused gunman, Chai Vang, was arrested at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday at the Rusk and Sawyer county line, Sawyer County sheriff’s officials said.

Paul Schnell, a spokesman for the St. Paul (Minn.) Police Department, said Vang was from St. Paul. Vang was in the

Sawyer County Jail in Hayward.

Those killed were Robert Crotteau, 42, of Haugen; Joseph Crotteau, 20, of Haugen; Allan Laski of Haugen; Jessica Willers; and Mark Roidt, 28, of Rice Lake.

Those injured were: Terry Willers, 47, of Rice Lake; Denny Drew, 55, of Rice Lake; and Lauren Hesebeck of Rice Lake.

Two hunters were returning to their cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their tree stands before noon Sunday, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

It’s not known who shot first, Zeigle said.

Both men were wounded, and one of them radioed to the cabin a quarter mile away. Two or three hunters responded and were killed, he said. About 20 shots were fired, but it’s unclear who shot them, he said.

There was only one gun among the hunters’ group, Zeigle said.

Zeigle said the suspect was “chasing after them and killing them,” with a SKS 7.62 caliber semiautomatic, a common hunting weapon.

The dead included four males, including a teenage boy, and a woman, Zeigle said. A father and son were among them, he said. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

All five were dead when officers arrived to the area near the town of Meteor in southwestern Sawyer County, he said.

“They are well-known people in the Rice Lake community,” Zeigle said.

Investigators found two bodies next to each other, with a third 50 yards away, the fourth 75 yards from the third and the final body 100 yards from the fourth, Zeigle said.

“He was picking them off,” Zeigle said. “He was chasing after them and killing them.”

Two young people who stayed in the cabin emerged safely after the shootings.

“It’s absolutely nuts. Why? Over sitting in a tree stand?” Zeigle said.

The suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods, and two hunters, not knowing about the shootings, helped him find his way out, Zeigle said.

When he emerged, a Department of Natural Resources officer recognized the deer license on his back, given to police by a victim, Zeigle said.

The man was out of bullets, Zeigle said. He did not expect him to be charged today.

One of the victims, Terry Willers, 47, was at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield in stable condition with neck and shoulder injuries.

Denny Drew and Lauren Hesebeck were taken to Lakeview, said Jennifer Greshowak, director of community relations. Drew was in critical condition with a wound to the abdomen and Hesebeck was in stable condition with shoulder and arm injuries this morning, Dr. Koob.

Koob said he concluded the weapons were high powered due to the amount of tissue damage. He said he knew the victims and their families, but “emotions take a back seat when you’re in the operating room. After we’re done with the surgery, the emotions kind of catch up to you sometimes.”

Hesebeck’s wife, Theresa Hesebeck, who also is Drew’s sister, said Sunday night that she learned about the shootings shortly after leaving church, where she had “prayed for a safe hunt.”

Drew was shot in the stomach. The bullet went in one side and out the other, family members said. They added that Lauren Hesebeck was shot in the arm and the bullet exited through his back.

The Drew and Hesebeck family said in a statement Sunday that they “certainly appreciate the thoughts and prayer of this close-knit community and encourage you to think and pray for the other families involved.”

The shootings happened in the town of Meteor in southwestern Sawyer County, between Birchwood and Exeland.

Wisconsin’s statewide deer gun hunting season started Saturday and lasts for nine days.

Bill Wagner, 72, of Oshkosh, was about two miles away near Deer Lake with a party of about 20 other hunters.

After they got word of a shooting, he and others went to round up the rest of the party. He said they heard sirens, planes and helicopters and noticed the surrounding roads blocked off.

It took about three hours to round up the other hunters, who were up to four miles apart, Wagner said.

Dale Olson, chairman of the 170-resident town of Meteor, said deputies were driving up and down the roads using loudspeakers to alert hunters to get out of the woods.

Ahem, mrglock27: I ain't goin' anywhere! iIdon't care how many or few here don't like liberals. This is not an exclusive RW forum. This is a country living forum. Grow up.

I guess my remark about the "ownership society" went over everyone's heads. Looks like folks have been spending too much time watching Survivor and have apparently lost the ability to THINK critically.

Oh and BTW, my DB is an avid hunter and I am most certainly NOT anti-gun ownership. I just happen to have the extremely politically incorrect view that people shouldn't be armed to the teeth with military weapons. My BF owns RIFLES for HUNTING. He is a Republican. He also, amazingly enough, thinks anyone who needs a fully or semi-automatic weapon to hunt needs to surrender his license. He prides himself on getting his buck with ONE SHOT, every time.

Just remember also, folks, especially those who like to make nasty threatening remarks to us liberals..................we get to own guns, too. And lots of us are buying lots of them. Two can play at this little game.

Can't really see how this is an argument about a deer stand.

The latest 'hints' on the TV news here in Minnesota is that the fellow doing the shooting was in several battles in Laos, and is suffering from war tramma.

No excuse, but something that a person can take to bed with them. Anyhow, would make some sense of a very senseless deal.

He was charged with threatening his wife with a firearms several years ago, but his wife did not cooperate with authorities so charges had to be dropped. If he had been convicted of that, he would not have been able to legally own a gun.

The Butterfly Principle - the choices & actions we take one day can have a profound effect much latter in life..... What if she had.......

--->Paul

Gayle in La:

Maybe you should explain to everyone what YOU mean by your "ownership society" comment in General Chat. Chances are that the posters on this thread just chose to ignore it.

As for the shooting, it is so very tragic. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families and friends.

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mawalla

It dosen't matter if you are in the right !! Please be careful, Call the 911 number!! Let people who are traine take care of this for you!!I know you would rush to your friends resdcue so would I But This is no time to exert your rights. Please please my friends STOP THINK This person had already been pushed to the limit) of there ) . Please act like there the crazyest person on earth, procect your self even if it is the hardesest thing you ever did. In this situation this person WILL KILL YOU!!
Take care THINK!!!
God be with the people who were KILLED and enJered .

Be safe my frinds>

Sandie OR.

You think that is unbelivable for your 12 year old, a co-worker has a THREE YEAR OLD on a ATV!!!!

...and a thing about the 5 Dead hunters, I mean Hunting season is just 3 days, and none of them thought about comming back to the deerstand after hunting season and Poach! maybe they were angered, when you get really angry, your good judgement isn't so good.

Agreed, this should have NEVER OF HAPPENED, just like the NBA fight Friday night, that was totally uncalled for!

Once and for all the SKS is not an "assault rifle" not even by the asinine standards of the Clinton Gun Ban. They are not machine guns though the press will try desperately to make the ignorant think they are. They don't spray bullets shoot any faster or are any more powerful than any other rifles. The entire "assault weapons" issue is one of orchestrated deceit, lies and hype that has been fueled by the media and believed by a firearms ignorant populace. It was/is a masterpiece of Goebbels-like propaganda and media brainwashing.

I have hunted with an SKS and it is a fine inexpensive little deer rife. This year I am hunting with an AK-47. That's right one of the evilest of the evil assault rifles. I use 10 rd magazines per regulations and it works great for the conditions I hunt in. When I need something for more distance I use a HK-91. Yup another evil assault rifle. Oh the humanity!

Mark my words the gun banning scum will crawl out from under their rocks and attempt to use this madman's crime as fuel for their efforts. The media is already throwing "assault rifle" around at every opportunity. Political weasels of both political stripes will be quick to make political hay out of this. I heard Chuck Schumer had an org*sm when he turned on CNN.

From what I have heard from friends and associates that live up there and in areas close by, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Some people up there have some sort of inability to understand the concept of private property. Very sad situation. Personally I'd be all for the sheriff bringing the murdering b*stard down to the middle of main street at noon, turning his back and then calling it a day.

Good post Quint! The anti-gunners have already started... on this MB!

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Freedom isn't Free

Well, hunter #6 has died....Denny Drew, age 55. I am still in shock over this.

For those of you who say you care:

Rice Lake Hunters Survivors and Victims Fund
Dairy State Bank
16 S. Main St.
Rice Lake, Wis. 54868

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Sadly, the sixth hunter died this morning.

For many years now I have lamented the ever increasing decline in fundamental rights this country was founded on: property rights and states rights. I believe this tragedy is a perfect example of the need for STRONG laws protecting property owners. I am in Michigan and the lack of respect for property rights here is epidemic. From the government telling you what is allowable on your land to the laws protecting trespassers more than owners to the courts and their willingness to award damages to trespassers hurt while trespassing to law enforcement being unwilling to respond to trespassing complaints. The lack of respect, of course, of the citizens of this country as well. It is not just the Hmong who disrespect these rights, it is predominantly other americans.
I am an avid deer hunter and have given up hunting on public land that my tax dollars go to maintain. I did this because there are too many idiots, not idiot hunters, just idiots on state land. I hunt exlusively on 50 private acres my FIL owns. I would purchase or lease my own private land if I didn't have this available. Many of us love our sport so much we are willing to incur this expense to hunt safely. Yet, after doing so we find that even on private land we are not safe from these idiots. I believe people should be able to defend their families and property rights from any wanting to infringe upon those rights. If people are wandering on my land due to THEIR IRRESPONSIBILITY they should be met by someone who is armed. How can I not be allowed to meet a potential threat to the best of my ability on my families property? I am not disrespecting others rights, the trespassers are.
I think homeowners without acreage who have been robbed understand how landowners feel---INVADED! It is the average shmuck who doesn't consider these things. They are in their little house on their little lot and and treat people with acreage like they greedy viscious land barons or something. Kind of like how non-smokers feel it's OK to keep adding taxes to cigarettes to make up for our state budget shortfalls here. It is so ridiculous here that if someone breaks in your house and you shoot them and they don't have a weapon (gun, knife) equal to or bigger than your weapon you will be prosecuted and sued for shooting them.
If the laws were structured so that trespassing was treated as the serious crime that it is, things would change. My home/property is supposed to be my castle; as the king of the castle I should be able to let people know it isn't wise to f*ck with the king! If this was the law and standard in our land, this nonsense would stop and people would make d*mn sure they whos land their boots were treading on.

Ed

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"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson

Gayle,

I agree with you that it is a **** poor hunter that absolutely needs a semi-auto rifle to kill a deer. I can't remember the last deer that I harvested with more than one shot. Most hunters would be well served to learn how to make that first shot count.

However, you are making a dangerous leap here. You may not need a semi-automatic. I may not need one. In fact, maybe no one at all truly needs one. The truth of the matter is that the right to keep and bear arms as spelled out in the constitution has nothing at all to do with hunting. Before anyone fires back at me with the militia clause, please get yourself a copy of the Federalist papers and READ them. These were essentially the OP/ED pieces of the time that were written by the framers of the constitution. They were written to convince those in the states to ratify the constitution and they clearly explain what they had in mind. To that end, the right to keep and bear arms was to allow the citizenry to posess the military arms of the day - not guns to hunt. Have the military arms changed since 1790? Sure they have, but the 2nd ammendment hasn't and neither has the intent. If you don't agree with it, lobby to have it changed but don't propose ignoring it. Once we ignore one ammendment, why not ignore the rest.

Thanks for posting that. I cried last night whenI listened to the news and learned that another had died. Such tragedy for so many families! Not only are the families victims in this horror, but the alleged shooter's wife and six children are too. The list goes on and on.....

I've been "out of the loop" for a bit, and DH told me what happened last night. I don't have words to express the horror and anger I feel at this!

Last year, the guy who rents the fields to the north of us was caught by FIL on our land with a bow and arrow (B&A season starts a week or two earlier than rifle). The guy is a first class jerk, but we can usually just deal with him by not dealing with him. This time, however, FIL happened to be out walking with his shotgun, and directed the renter to HIS side of the barbed wire, away from OUR permanent stands.

Year before that, it was the nephews and friends of the original owner, who were just hoping that we weren't up there that weekend (they knew it was our land because we'd bought it two years previously).

Another thing DH shared was that there are more hunter-on-hunter fatalities in WI during deer season <more than 30?) than there are in Arkansas! In fact, last year in Arkansas, the only fatalities (less than 20, may be less than 10) were people falling out of their stands and such. I think I'll call him and ask for the link...

In our area of SW WI, they don't take kindly to poaching or trespassing, and a call to the sheriff gets a lot done.

But those poor people up near Hayward didn't stand a snowball's chance in h***. My heart and prayers go to the families... How absolutely *&$^#%@! horrible...

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

What those folks up in Wisconsin ought to do is go get that clown out of jail, take him back to that tree and hang him from it.

People used to do that all the time and society was a lot more polite. Nothing like a little "frontier justice".

Keep in mind not everyone that owns an SKS bought it for the “simi” feature. I remember when you could pick one up for under $100. At that price I thought everyone had one. Epically someone that wants to hunt deer and can’t afford a Sako or worse a Steyr Scout.

And to the guy with the twelve year old nephew…………..
I took the hunters safety class with my son. I hunted with him every time he hunted (until he reached 18) to make sure he was safe and protected. How about a little parental guidance.

The guy who got shot first and radioed the others is one of the 2 survivors.

I wonder if he regrets making that radio call-----bringing all the others into the area where they were murdered.

My heart goes out to him-----------he can't be blamed and I hope he doesn't spend the rest of his life wondering WHAT IF?

But then ---his life is forever changed------He's the one I worry about the most.