Owasso City Official Killed In Weekend Hunting Accident

As a friend of his wife, I send my condolences to her and the rest of their family. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Was he accidentally shot? Car accident? ATV accident?

I believe he was accidentally shot. It says in a hunting accident and KTUL reported he was hunting on a family farm that he was in contact with others hunting by walkie talkie when they attempted to shoot a deer but there was a miscommunication and he was shot with a muzzle loader type gun. I live south and east of Broken Arrow and could hear gun fire all weekend. Yes lots of wooded area around me, but I think too close to homes to be doing this. This is very sad. My thoughts and prayers the all his family and friends.

hmmmm wrote:

I believe he was accidentally shot. It says in a hunting accident and KTUL reported he was hunting on a family farm that he was in contact with others hunting by walkie talkie when they attempted to shoot a deer but there was a miscommunication and he was shot with a muzzle loader type gun. I live south and east of Broken Arrow and could hear gun fire all weekend. Yes lots of wooded area around me, but I think too close to homes to be doing this. This is very sad. My thoughts and prayers the all his family and friends.

How terribly sad. Prayers for the family.
Hmmmm, do they not put purple paint along the areas that hunters are not supposed to shoot on here in Oklahoma? I haven't seen that since moving back to this area and am really surprised. Maybe I just didn't notice it. I think you are right that the hunters sometimes come too close. I know we have family land that had a problem with hunters coming over from other land and we had to say something. I also get tired of the ATV riders coming on the land without permission, but that's another story. Thx.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends.

The details on this story are very sketchy. Was he wearing an orange vest so he could be seen easily by other hunters? I thought is was mandatory to where orange when dear hunting.

This is a very sad situation and my condolences go out to the family & friends.
This is a very sketchy story. Was it a stray bullet missing a target? Was it another hunter not verifying thier target? Was he wearing the required florescent orange? Without knowing details it makes hunters look bad & that hunting is unsafe.
When everybody follows the rules and uses common sense it is a safe sport.
Radios are a great tool to help hunters stay safe but they can't tell you what your intended target is. A responsible shooter (hunting or not) should always be aware of what is beyond their target and verify their target befor pulling the trigger. No hunter should ever shoot at sounds or just some movement.

No one cares when the thousands upon thousands of innocent animals are shot and killed every season. Maybe he shouldn't have been trying to kill other living things. Humans are overpopulating the countryside in Bixby and sometimes the herd may just need to be thinned out. I mean I don't want a human running out in the middle of the road and hitting my car with my family in it! That would be terrible! Sound familiar, hillbillies? A "sport" should be a level playing field. Baiting and tricking an animal and then shooting them with a rifle when they have no defense really doesn't seem like a fair sport to me.

Tulsan wrote:

No one cares when the thousands upon thousands of innocent animals are shot and killed every season. Maybe he shouldn't have been trying to kill other living things. Humans are overpopulating the countryside in Bixby and sometimes the herd may just need to be thinned out. I mean I don't want a human running out in the middle of the road and hitting my car with my family in it! That would be terrible! Sound familiar, hillbillies? A "sport" should be a level playing field. Baiting and tricking an animal and then shooting them with a rifle when they have no defense really doesn't seem like a fair sport to me.

If you eat meat of any kind you just have other people kill your food for you, now that is an animal with no defense. I prefer my meat all natural, or maybe organic is the word you would use. Your are right about the sport part, that does make it sound a little too fair. Anyone who hunts will tell you that the deer have the advantage stacked in their favor even when people put out food or plant food plots. No defenses, hardly. They have the best hearing, sense of smell, their uncanny ability to know when something just isn't right. If you ever try it you will be humbled and understand that the hunter is at a disadvantage.

Tulsan wrote:

No one cares when the thousands upon thousands of innocent animals are shot and killed every season. Maybe he shouldn't have been trying to kill other living things. Humans are overpopulating the countryside in Bixby and sometimes the herd may just need to be thinned out. I mean I don't want a human running out in the middle of the road and hitting my car with my family in it! That would be terrible! Sound familiar, hillbillies? A "sport" should be a level playing field. Baiting and tricking an animal and then shooting them with a rifle when they have no defense really doesn't seem like a fair sport to me.

I happen to agree that the deer population needs to be thinned, especially in certain areas. It's a simple matter of the food chain. The last time I looked, we "hillbilles" ranked higher up.

Okay, you can go back to picketing in front of your local KFC now.

As a former High School, and College Classmate of Erics, he will be missed, a class act all the way. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends

Eric was someone I worked with alot. He was also a very good friend and a great public servant to Owasso. I just cant believe he's gone. He is definetly a great loss to the City of Owasso and will truly be missed by everyone. He was definetly one of my favorite people to work with.

My favorite pass time with Eric was playing out on highway 75 in our cars with his SRT8 Challenger.

Im a 16 year old girl that has be hunting for about 3 years , and what i dont understand about this story is how do you take all the precautions of hunting and still some one ends up died. Hunters orange should have been on and if any hunter see that color they know not to shoot . The hunting regulations says you have to something like 500 inches of orange (give or take) so i really dont know how some one could get hurt much less kill.

I am sorry for the family and their loss. What is suppose to be friends and family enjoying the hunting season together turned tragic. May God comfort you in your time of sorrow. I agree that the story is a lil sketchy on details...People are so quick to blame guns for the problems, but most of the time is human error... inexperience, not follow regulations on safety wether it be on private or public land. Again, sorrow for your loss.

This is all a coverup to protect the deer that shot back.

Hunter wrote:

This is a very sad situation and my condolences go out to the family & friends.
This is a very sketchy story. Was it a stray bullet missing a target? Was it another hunter not verifying thier target? Was he wearing the required florescent orange? Without knowing details it makes hunters look bad & that hunting is unsafe.
When everybody follows the rules and uses common sense it is a safe sport.
Radios are a great tool to help hunters stay safe but they can't tell you what your intended target is. A responsible shooter (hunting or not) should always be aware of what is beyond their target and verify their target befor pulling the trigger. No hunter should ever shoot at sounds or just some movement.

Exactly... not to mention that a muzzeloader is a short-range
(100yd give or take) gun. Some details would be educational info.

marissa wrote:

Im a 16 year old girl that has be hunting for about 3 years , and what i dont understand about this story is how do you take all the precautions of hunting and still some one ends up died. Hunters orange should have been on and if any hunter see that color they know not to shoot . The hunting regulations says you have to something like 500 inches of orange (give or take) so i really dont know how some one could get hurt much less kill.

If I were the wife of Eric, I would definetly pursue wrongful death charges on the shooter, whoever he is.