{"id":4579,"date":"2017-05-15T18:16:51","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T02:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=4579"},"modified":"2017-05-15T18:16:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T02:16:51","slug":"dickweed-hunters-shoot-each-other-unfortunately-both-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2017\/05\/15\/dickweed-hunters-shoot-each-other-unfortunately-both-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Dickweed Hunters Shoot Each Other; Unfortunately, Both Survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turns out, the turkey hunters were stalking each other. Then one of them fired<\/h1>\n
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By Michael Pearce
\nmpearce@wichitaeagle.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Two turkey hunters, hiding behind a turkey tail fan like this one, were shot by a hunting partner, also hiding behind a fan, on April 12 in southeast Kansas. They mistook the other hunter\u2019s fan for real birds and were stalking each other.<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon after his shotgun\u2019s blast, the hunter sprinted toward what he thought was a coveted prize: the wild turkey gobbler he\u2019d been calling to and watching.<\/p>\n

But Kenneth Dienst found he actually had shot his brother and a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight after he shot, he thought he saw a turkey flopping on the ground, but when he hurried up there, he saw two guys rolling on the ground. He\u2019d shot (both) in the face,\u201d said Jim Bussone, a Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism game warden who investigated the April 12 incident in Crawford County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooter swore he\u2019d seen strutting toms and some other turkeys right up until then.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in reality, he\u2019d been looking at a gobbler\u2019s preserved tail fan, behind which Gary Dienst and Justin Wiles had been hiding and sneaking. The shooter was behind another fan. Bussone said the hunters ended up hunting each other.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

According to Dan Peak, Crawford County sheriff, the victims \u2013 who spent time in three hospitals \u2013 are expected to survive.<\/p>\n

Their story that day is one of bad decisions made by all, a potentially dangerous hunting tactic and the tricks that excitement can play on the human mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I teach hunter ed classes, I tell them even some good people can become undone by a big deer or a turkey and make mistakes,\u201d Bussone said. \u201cYou always have to be thinking, be careful and stay under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

April 12 was opening day of the Kansas spring turkey season, an exciting time when hunters usually replicate the sounds of hen turkeys to bring amorous toms into shotgun range.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Dienst is from West Plains, Mo. Gary Dienst and Wiles are from Arkansas. They were hunting on leased lands in southeast Kansas.<\/p>\n

Bussone said Kenneth Dienst had been dropped off at one property, while his buddies went to hunt at another. As well as turkey calls, the hunters were using a tactic known as fanning, in which the preserved tail fan of a wild turkey is used to attract, or sneak up on, a wild gobbler.<\/p>\n

Bussone said problems began when Gary Dienst and Wiles returned to the property where Kenneth Dienst was hunting without telling him they were there.<\/p>\n

Bussone referred to changing locations without alerting others as \u201cone of the cardinal sins we teach against in hunter ed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were calling to each other and sneaking up on each other like two toms coming at each other,\u201d Bussone said. \u201cBoth swore they were sneaking on real turkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safe pastime<\/h3>\n

Hunting is a relatively safe pastime, said Mike Miller, Wildlife and Parks information chief.<\/p>\n

Last year, Kansas had 11 people injured while hunting amid an estimated 5 million hunter days across the state. None were fatal.<\/p>\n

There was one fatality in 2015, from a record-low six reported incidents.<\/p>\n

Kansas turkey hunters annually total about 300,000 days\u2019 hunting and have had nine incidents over the past 11 seasons. Nationwide, turkey hunting accident rates fell for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time, incidents were up to around 8.1 per 100,000 turkey hunters,\u201d said Tom Hughes of the National Wild Turkey Federation, a conservation group that has helped pull America\u2019s wild turkey population from as low as 200,000 birds a century ago to more than 7 million today. \u201cThe last we checked (about 10 years ago), we were down around three incidents or less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes credited education for lowering the accident rates. Turkey hunters are warned against wearing anything that\u2019s red, blue or white \u2013 the colors of a tom turkey\u2019s head \u2013 and against trying to sneak in on the sounds of turkey calls.<\/p>\n

Hughes fears accident rates may climb again since fanning has become popular with turkey hunters. He said he has heard of several accidents nationwide. The Crawford County accident is thought to be the first in Kansas.<\/p>\n

Fanning is an effective tactic, and toms that have often ignored a hunter\u2019s calls have run to a turkey fan, thinking it could be a rival tom. Some turkeys have actually collided with fans held by hunters.<\/p>\n

Other times, hunters have hidden behind a fan and crawled across open ground to a flock of turkeys that think it\u2019s just another bird coming to tag along.<\/p>\n

Garrett Roe of Hays enjoys fanning. Since 2010, his company, Heads Up Decoy, has sold a turkey fan holder that looks like the head and main body of a tom. Hunters can attach it to their bow or set it up on a stake.<\/p>\n

Roe said he has not heard of any customers being involved in hunting accidents. Still, he urges caution.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always have to be aware of your surroundings,\u201d said Roe, who primarily hunts on open prairies. \u201cWe\u2019re usually set up out in the open so we can see. We also hunt almost exclusively on private ground where there are no other hunters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are other hunters around, we make sure all are aware of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excitement alters reality<\/h3>\n

But a hunting accident still occurred when Gary Dienst and Wiles knew they were sharing the hunting area with Kenneth Dienst.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often see what we want to see; our perception becomes our reality,\u201d said John Simmering of Hesston, a psychologist and hunter of more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have this heightened awareness and excitement on a hunt. Then we see something, like a fan, and it triggers our brain to start filling in things we\u2019ve seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmering thinks Kenneth Dienst thought he was looking at a flock of turkeys, possibly a flock he had seen earlier, when he decided to take a shot from about 30 yards away. Efforts to contact Dienst were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Bussone, Hughes and Miller all said Kenneth Dienst broke several hunting safety rules by not being 100 percent sure of his target and shooting at movement. Rather than deliberately aiming at the head and neck of a bird for a quick kill, he also just fired at a fan, which sits at the other end of a turkey, Miller said.<\/p>\n

Kansas law also says hunters may only shoot turkeys with visible beards, a hairlike growth protruding from the chests of most toms. The shooter obviously did not see a turkey beard when the shot was fired, Miller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe error is always with the shooter on these kinds of things. They pulled the trigger,\u201d said Hughes, with the National Wild Turkey Federation. \u201cThe problem is with some techniques, like fanning, it makes it all too easy for the shooter to make that mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peak said the single shot put multiple shotgun pellets into the faces and bodies of both victims. Kenneth Dienst drove the victims to a hospital in Girard. They were flown to a hospital in Joplin, Mo., and then to the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Fayetteville.<\/p>\n

The hospital could not release any information on the victims.<\/p>\n

The shooting has been ruled accidental by Peak. Bussone and Hughes fear it will be repeated.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, the game warden checked several hunters in southeast Kansas. Most said they had brought some sort of fan, though few had used them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them I\u2019d appreciate it if they didn\u2019t use them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can if they want to, but I don\u2019t want to work any more of these cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cHunting is supposed to be fun, not something where you get hurt or maimed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nRead more here: http:\/\/www.kansas.com\/sports\/outdoors\/article145929249.html#storylink=cpy<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turns out, the turkey hunters were stalking each other. Then one of them fired By Michael Pearce mpearce@wichitaeagle.com Soon after his shotgun\u2019s blast, the hunter sprinted toward what he thought was a coveted prize: the wild turkey gobbler he\u2019d been calling to and watching. But Kenneth Dienst found he actually had shot his brother and … <\/p>\n

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