# drive by decoy shooting



## Gildog (Jan 30, 2007)

Teen goose hunter killed by shot fired from passing vehicle
The Associated Press
EMPORIA, Kan. | An Emporia State University freshman died after being shot by someone in a passing vehicle while he was hunting for geese.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Department said Beau Arndt, 18, of Americus and two friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a farm field Saturday and were lying in the snow waiting for incoming birds.

Arndt's companions said a pickup truck stopped along a nearby road and someone fired a rifle shot into the decoys, but hit Arndt instead. The truck left the scene slowly after the shot was fired, Arndt's friends told authorities.

Arndt was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Sheriff's Department is looking for a late 1970s orange and red Ford pickup that is believed to have Shawnee County plates.

Shooting waterfowl with a rifle is illegal in Kansas, and it's also against the law to shoot from inside a vehicle and or onto someone's property without permission.

Though there typically are gunshot accidents each year during hunting season, Arndt is the first person killed in a hunting accident in Kansas since 2005, said Wayne Doyle of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

"So far this year I think we've had 11 (nonfatal) accidents reported," Doyle said. "When you consider how much time's spent hunting, that's a very insignificant number, but it's certainly not insignificant to those involved. This is sad. It's tragic."

Word of Arndt's death spread quickly around Americus, a small town near Emporia. Randy Smith, a friend of Arndt's family, said hunters are upset that Arndt was killed by an illegally fired bullet.

"It's being called a hunting accident, but that bullet was fired by a poacher," Smith said. "Hunting had nothing to do with it. There's no way it should have happened."

Doyle said most of the state's hunting fatalities are the result of careless gun handling, though two in the past 15 years involved unsupervised children carrying firearms without permission.

He said the Department of Wildlife frequently gets complaints about poachers who drive back roads and illegally fire at animals from their vehicles.

Smith described Arndt as an avid hunter.

"You couldn't ask for a better kid," he said. "He was big into waterfowl hunting, fishing, deer hunting. Outdoors is where he always wanted to be. He had a really bright future ahead of him."


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

People that are caught recklessly shooting at hunters and killing them should be sent to prison for 20 years. Hang 'em high IMO as no excuse for it.


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## bmxfire37 (Apr 26, 2007)

thats horrid...thats just...its one of those things...


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

h2ofwlr said:


> People that are caught recklessly shooting at hunters and killing them should be sent to prison for 20 years. Hang 'em high IMO as no excuse for it.


So what's it gonna be? Hang'em or send them away for rehab for 20? Would you go maximum security or house arrest for 20 years; ankle bracelet city?

Honestly, if they catch this joker and he did do it on purpose, he should be hung. On the other hand, if he was shooting out there in hopes of flushing those decoys, maybe it should be something else.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that the person should be somehow imprisoned or arrested, but they will have to live with the fact that they killed that young man because of one split second of poor judgment. He or she pulled that trigger; and once that's done, there is no calling that bullet back.

It's really no different than the old scenario of someone shooting at a sound when they are hunting, or shooting at what they believe is game only to have a man on the receiving end of their slug. Manslaughter; yes, avoidable; yes, regrettable; most definitely, punishable by death; hardly.

I don't know what the solution is for a case like this. Short term is easy I guess. Take the person who committed the crime into custody and jail them. Long term? Better education? Different regulations? More stringent hunter safety? I don't know how to curb such happenings.

Any suggestions?

Happy Holidays,
Dan


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## Whistler31 (Feb 1, 2007)

Same thing happened this fall to Avery Pro Staffer Josh Leger up in Quebec. :******:


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

Stick a fish hook through his sack and go trolling. I agree with H20, prison for long term. Drunk drivers who kill people get this so why is this situation any different. The guy used bad judgement, did something illegal and caused a death. I say let him think about it in prison for about 25 yrs and if he aint got the remorse and balls to come turn himself in then catch him and put him away for another 20!


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

dfisher said:


> h2ofwlr said:
> 
> 
> > People that are caught recklessly shooting at hunters and killing them should be sent to prison for 20 years. Hang 'em high IMO as no excuse for it.
> ...


I did not mean hang them literally. My point is give stiff sentenances VS the slap on the wrist (like so often happens) when there is a reckless discharge of a firearm. Forget the home arrest crap on a homocide offense.

Also as later mentioned--you are drunk and kill someone is is vehicular homicide. So why are not the shooters being charged with reckless homocide? As that is what it is. It is illegal to shoot at any waterfowl with a rifle period in the US and CA.


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## dogdonthunt (Nov 10, 2005)

I agree with dfisher on this one... it was a reckless act and someone has to live with this for the rest of thier life.... and during trial( if there is one) this kids pictures should be posted everywhere and a video playing in the background so his face is planted in this persons mind... dont know about you guys but I have kids and if that was in my head that would be worse than any jail sentence could ever do.... but then again I have remorse and this person might be somebody who unfortunately could care less.... I know my guns would be put away forever.... but thats just me...


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## fylling35 (Jun 15, 2007)

To me...it all depends on if the guilty person comes forward or not. If they do not...they are obviously not as concerned with the person they just killed as they are their own skin. 
A hit and run carries a much more severe penalty than a regular car accident. I have no doubt that this idea would apply in this case as well.

This person needs to man up...or become someone's lady in jail for a long time.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

h2ofwlr said:


> dfisher said:
> 
> 
> > h2ofwlr said:
> ...


Yeah, I know what you meant.

I meant literally hang them if they were shooting at the hunters on purpose.

That's a very good point about DWI and manslaughter caused by that.

I don't know though. With the prison systems over crowded now, there just should be something else that would suffice as punishment. Just seems wrong to put someone in prison, with hardened criminals, for something like this. Almost seems as though it'd do more harm than good.

It's a hard one to call. It was more than likely a mistake made by someone who gets up and goes to work everyday and tries to lead a decent life. On the other hand, he or she took a life. So, what do you do?
I imagine the law has it's by line and if you step over that, you go away. That's what the judge and jury has to go by too.

You know really, I think DWI and other drug related deaths via vehicle or whatever are more of a chronic condition than anything else. The stuff that's causing that is addicting and because of that people who habitually abuse this stuff get into trouble. But, in this instance, as far as we know, this stuff wasn't involved. I'd venture to guess that this person is very sorrowful about what happened and will most likely never touch a gun again. Who knows, they may even lose their mind over it or commit suicide because of what they've done.

I know, something must be done and this person must be dealt with in some manner that the system sea's fit. I'm just glad that I don't have to decide what that something is, as it would be a very hard decision.

Dan


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## aztec (Oct 27, 2005)

It is becoming a question of how we can protect ourselves in these situations. Though very rare considering how many people are layout hunting, these incidents seem to be on the rise. The problem seems to be a combination of increasingly realistic decoys, layout blinds that disappear into the landscape and idiots that are so despearate to shoot a bird (for whatever reason) that they will fire a rifle shot into what they think are the real deal.

Although fortunately the odds of being victimized by this are remote, I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable in a layout hunt.

It seems we need to find a way to identify that this is a decoy spread and there are people out there. It would have to be some kind of standardized means of identifying the situation, well publicized enough and simple enough for congenital idiots to understand. Anybody have any ideas?


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

It seems to me that no one should be shooting a high powered rifle through decoy spreads or flocks of live geese. But then here I go with that poor judgement thing again and choices that we make.

I don't know. I know that I wore an orange stocking cap this year while snow goose hunting during deer season. Until I just couldn't stand it anymore and took it off and took my chances.

I don't know what the answer to this is other than deer hunters or whoever is traveling the roads with high powered rifles, using some common sense and obeying the laws of the land, concerning waterfowl and shooting people.

Happy Holidays,
Dan


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

*Hunters tell details of deadly incident*
BY MICHAEL PEARCE AND BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle

Derek Jackson wondered what was up when he saw an old pickup slowly rolling down the road that passed by where he and two buddies lay on the snow amid goose decoys.

"It was driving real slow," said Jackson, 19. "I shouted over to Beau, 'What's this guy doing?' "

Then someone fired a shot from the truck.

His best friend, Beau Arndt, screamed.

Jackson rushed to Arndt's side and started CPR. He yelled at the third hunter, Tom Glass, to call 911. He yelled at Arndt, asking what had happened.

His friend didn't reply.

Arndt, who would have turned 19 today, died despite his buddies' efforts to save him.

Jackson remembers praying after the emergency rescue team arrived, but he doesn't remember what he prayed about. His next memory is talking with Arndt's father later.

Now, the Emporia State freshman's family and friends -- and the small, tight-knit community of Americus -- are mourning the young man Glass described as the kind "any parent would be glad to have for a son."

Authorities are searching for a pickup described as a late-1970s red-and-orange Ford believed to have Shawnee County license plates. They believe the occupants may have mistaken the decoys for real geese.

"We haven't made any great progress yet but we keep following leads," Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said. "We're getting new information."

He said a woman about three miles from the shooting saw a similar truck with men changing a tire near her house. She reported it had three occupants -- two adult men of unknown ages and one around 20.

At home

Around Americus, a town of about 900 near Emporia, Arndt is remembered as a young man who exemplified what a small-town boy can be.

Friend Jacquelyne Leffler, 17, said chivalry was never dead for Arndt. She recalls playing amid hay bales when they were children.

"He'd always jump first so if I fell, I wouldn't get hurt," Leffler said. The last time she saw her friend, last week, he reminded her to fasten her seat belt.

Family and friends say he enjoyed working with children, especially those involved in his beloved baseball and hunting.

"He said his biggest joy was in taking the kids of people who'd taught him" hunting and fishing, said Bob Arndt, Beau's father. "But he was just the kind of kid who liked sharing what he loved. He was the one who took me hunting instead of the other way around."

In addition to his father, Arndt is survived by his mother, Christine Arndt; brother, Seth, and sister, Annabelle; and grandmother Eleanor "Grammy" Stout, Emporia.

Family friend Randy Smith said Arndt was a natural hunter, consumed by the outdoors, always wanting to learn more.

With Smith's help, Arndt started deer hunting with a bow after he'd learned enough to make shooting one with a rifle seem easy.

Bob Arndt said his son worked hard at the sport, scouting deer all year and practicing with his bow. When he finally got the right opportunity, the young hunter shot a whitetail doe.

"He donated the meat to charity," his dad said. "He hunted for the table and wanted to make sure the meat went to a good cause."

As complex and time-consuming as his hunting strategies could be, Arndt still enjoyed simple things.

"One of his favorite sayings was 'Life is simple,' " said Sally Anderson, Northern Heights High School counselor. "He appreciated the ordinary times he had with his family. This young man packed a lifetime of wisdom into his 18 years."

Particularly difficult

Arndt's loss is unlike any others she's helped students deal with, Anderson said.

"Before it was some disease or a car accident," she said. "This death has a particular piece to it that we have not had to deal with before."

Many are frustrated that such a conscientious hunter died at the hands of poachers who illegally shot at geese with a rifle, from inside a vehicle and without the landowner's permission.

"Basically about all the rules they teach you about safe hunting, they violated," said Eichorn, who has taught hunter education classes. "(Arndt and his hunting buddies) were doing everything right... everything."

Best friend Jackson is also frustrated the pickup didn't stop to help.

"I won't say I'm angry, but whoever did this, they knew what they did. They could see us for a half-mile. I'm positive they knew what was going on."

Arndt had wanted to become a hunting guide and outfitter in the Canadian mountains, his father said.

Bob Arndt is sure his son would have become a good man and a successful outfitter, largely because of his love of the outdoors.

"One reason he was such a good kid was because of the hunting and the people he gravitated to," he said.

He admits it's hard to cope with the loss, but Bob Arndt finds some solace in how it happened.

"He died out with his good buddies, guys that were some of his best friends, doing what he so loved to do," he said, his voice trailing. "If he's going to go that's the way to go."

*Topeka man in custody in hunter's death*
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

Courtesy photo 
Beau Arndt 
View and sign a guestbook for Beau Arndt 
http://www.kansas.com/213/story/260084.html

A 57-year-old Topeka man who was taken into custody Wednesday "appears to be the shooter" who killed an Americus teen as he hunted last weekend, Lyon County authorities said.

Beau Arndt, 18, was goose hunting with two friends Saturday in northern Lyon County when he was hit by a rifle shot fired from a pickup. The driver and occupants of the pickup didn't stop. It wasn't clear whether they knew someone had been hurt.

Arndt and his friends had placed several dozen goose decoys in a field and were lying in the snow dressed in white when the pickup stopped along a nearby road and an occupant fired a rifle into the decoys. Arndt was hit in the chest and died at the scene.

The man in custody owned the red pickup seen by witnesses, Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said Wednesday.

While he won't know for sure until today, Eichorn said, detectives gave him the impression that the driver did not realize Arndt had been shot until after he had left the area.

The break in the case came when investigators went through county tax rolls and found a cabin near the site of the shooting.

Hunters often rent the cabin, Eichorn said, and it had been rented last weekend by the man in custody.

"It was just good police work, and perseverance," he said.

The two other people with the driver at the time of the shooting had not been brought in for questioning, Eichorn said.

"We know where they're at," he said. "They don't appear to be involved to any degree. They're not on the run."

A woman who lives south of where the shooting occurred told authorities about three men in a pickup who had tire trouble. Eichorn said the investigation confirmed that that pickup was involved in the shooting.

"It appears to just be a tragic accident," Eichorn said.

Bob Arndt Jr. said he bears no ill will for the man who killed his son.

"It's purely an innocent accident to an innocent child, and it's a horrible tragedy," he said. "But we all have loss.

"We wish this guy no harm, no revenge," he said. "He has my sympathy, going through what he has to go through.

"My son paid the ultimate price. This guy, he has to pay it worse than I do. He'll be the one that has that regret the rest of his life."

The funeral for Beau Arndt will be at 11 a.m. today at the Flint Hills Christian Church in Emporia.

A freshman at Emporia State University, Arndt was an avid outdoorsman who dreamed of becoming a hunting guide and outfitter in the Canadian mountains.

The shooting caused anger and frustration among Lyon County residents and sportsmen around the region because Beau Arndt was hunting legally and killed by an illegally fired bullet.

Eichorn said he was reflecting on what, if anything, he can do to quiet the anger being reflected on a variety of blogs.

"I don't know what it is -- they just see blood," he said of many online bloggers. "They want to take everything upon themselves.

"This needs to be left up to the courts and the justice system."

Bob Arndt Jr. also pleaded for calm.

"Good will come out of it, because of the (hunter) safety programs, and more people being more aware and more safe," he said of his son's death.

If people want to do anything in Beau Arndt's honor, the family suggests that they donate to hunter safety programs.

Investigators hope to present evidence in the case to the Lyon County attorney's office today, Eichorn said.

In addition to any charges the shooter faces in Arndt's death, he also could face federal and state wildlife charges.

It's illegal to fire a rifle at migratory waterfowl, to shoot from inside a vehicle, or to fire upon private property without the landowner's permission.

Geese are protected by federal migratory game bird regulations, said John Brooks, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Derby.

Illegally shooting or attempting to illegally shoot at a migratory bird is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $15,000 fine, Brooks said.

But Brooks said he's not sure federal charges are applicable in this case because what the shooter aimed at turned out to be decoys, not geese.

"It's not going to be a clear-cut case," he said.

The state penalty for a similar offense is up to one month in jail and a fine of up to $500, said Kevin Jones, director of law enforcement for Kansas Wildlife and Parks.


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

My condolences to his family.


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