They researched 33 deer hunting deaths and here's the typical death scenario:
In a typical hunting incident where one deer hunter shoots another, both the deceased and the
shooter will be men, aged in their mid twenties to mid forties. They are likely to be hunting
companions, or have met each other at the forest hut prior to the incident. They will have discussed
hunting areas and procedures.
They will be wearing a range of colours of clothing, including browns, whites, greens and green
camo, and perhaps high vis orange. They may have hunted together many times. They will have
had some experience hunting deer and other big game, but neither is likely to belong to a shooting
club or have any formal hunter training. It is likely they will both have a heightened level of
expectancy of coming across a deer, either because they saw or shot one in that same location
some time previously, or they have seen one immediately prior to the incident.
One is likely to enter the firing area of another, perhaps by leaving the area they agreed to hunt
in, or perhaps moving forward of their hunting companion if they are hunting together. They may
have lost sight of each other for a few minutes. One might fire into the designated hunting area
of another, or in the direction they know the other to be.
Their eye will be attracted by movement, colour, shape or sound, or a combination of these. The
shooter is likely to identify the target as being a part (perhaps a small part) of a deer through the
restricted vision of a scope. No one contributing factor will stand alone; these behaviours culminating
in the firing of a shot that is most likely to hit the deceased in the body, sometimes in the head.