From the Knoxville (TN) News-Sentinel:
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All hunting accidents that end in a fatality are tragic, but what
happened in Minnesota on April 19 defies description.
What does something that happened in Minnesota have to do with East
Tennessee?
Some people will say nothing. Some will say everything.
The word tragic doesn't begin to sum up what happened to 8-year-old
Hunter Klaseus. It's not strong enough.
Hunter and his dad were turkey hunting. Tony Klaseus, 39, saw some
turkeys and left his son behind and began stalking down the edge of a
field.
At some point Hunter must have decided he wanted to be part of the
hunt. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Hunter, wearing
camouflage, began moving toward his dad who was trying to get closer
to the turkeys in a field.
Turkey hunters know seeing turkeys in a field, and almost in range, is
when things get pretty intense. The elder Klaseus was wired.
"Then I heard something snap or break near me, and a large figure rose
up," Tony Klaseus told authorities. "I thought it was a turkey, and I
shot it and it went down. I thought I shot the turkey. Then my son
jumped up screaming and then fell back down."
Hunter Klaseus never got back up.
The boy was 20 to 30 yards away when his dad shot him with a 12-gauge
shotgun. Tony Klaseus called 911 on his cell phone and carried his son
a quarter-mile to emergency workers.
Hunter was pronounced dead on the scene.
In a way the story gets worse.
It was re****ted Tony Klaseus had marijuana and alcohol in his system
at the time of the accident. Authorities found two 12-packs of beer,
three six-packs and an empty 24-pack at the scene. There was a
marijuana pipe in the man's truck.
Tragic? Tony Klaseus was an accident waiting to happen.
For the time being forget that Klaseus broke the cardinal rule of
hunting, which is identify your target. His blood alcohol level was .
06 and he had pot in his system. Klaseus didn't just not follow the
rules of hunting, he didn't follow the rules of being a dad.
When I first read the story I thought, "Who leaves an 8-year-old alone
in the woods?" Now I get it.
A person who would leave an 8-year-old alone in the woods also would
be drinking beer and smoking pot with an 8-year-old on a hunting
trip.
In nearly 14 years of outdoor writing and reading dozens of stories
about hunting accidents none of them bothered me as much as this one.
Stories in the Star Tribune describe Hunter Klaseus as a boy who loved
the outdoors.
"He recently had written and illustrated a book about hunting with his
father for a class" the paper said.
And how did his dad pay him back? By not being able to go hunting
without a few beers and a pipe to smoke pot.
He's been charged with second-degree manslaughter, felony reckless
discharge of a firearm and, for good measure, trespassing and hunting
turkeys without a license.
For the 99 percent of all hunters who take their kids in the woods
without needing to drink or smoke pot, this is a horrible story.
For that one percent that thinks its OK? Here's your wake up call.
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