Michigan Hunter in District 5 Almost Shoots DNR Officer

Last month in Crawford County, Michigan (Grayling is in Crawford County) a Michigan DNR officer surprised a deer hunter in his elevated blind - and got a surprise himself when the hunter accidentally fired off his muzzleloader.

John Huspen, a conservation officer in DNR District 5, was there to check "on a private property baiting complaint". According to MLive.com, the hunter was in a stand overlooking a "large pile of sugar beets". Officer Huspen watched a doe eating the beets for several minutes until it ran off. He then knocked on the ladder of the blind and asked the hunter to come down and talk. The hunter replied, "Hold on".  Then, there was a loud boom. Nobody was hurt but that deer blind will need some patching.

According to the article, the hunter told Officer Huspen that the gun went off when he tried to move it and "further investigation revealed the gun had no safety mechanism and that the hunter was sitting with the hammer cocked. He was not wearing any hunter orange and upon request could not produce a deer hunting license". The hunter was cited for hunting without a license and "failure to wear hunter orange".

Geez - at least follow SOME of the rules. Here's the story.