Via the Outdoor Pressroom, we have the first gun incident in Glacier National Park since the practice of carrying firearms was legalized in February. Is this the first use in the lower 48? A few weeks ago a hiker shot a grizzly in Denali, up in Alaska, which previously prohibited firearms. This woman shot the ground to scare away a deer, after her pepper spray failed to reach that far. Looks like the rangers issued her a warning rather than a fine. That seems to me to be the right thing to do. I’m not generally a fan of warning shots, but she was doing the right thing carrying the spray and the gun, which is what I’d suggest for someone venturing out into one of our big National Parks.
11 thoughts on “First Gun Use in Glacier”
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At least they just gave her a warning… Though after seeing that deer video Uncle posted the other day, a reasonable person might assume imminent danger!
This does highlight one of the biggest problems with spray – namely, once you use it, it’s gone.
I’m not a fan of warning shots against people – wild animals are different. Waving a pistol at an animal isn’t going to do anything more than waving a fist.
I don’t hunt, but I do backpack regularly.
“..an allegedly aggressive whitetail deer..” sounds stranger to me than anything. Under what conditions will a whitetail become aggro?
http://www.saysuncle.com/2010/06/18/cat-and-dog-and-deer/
Issued a Warning..How interesting, wonder if the WARNING is going to go on some kind of record of VIOLATIONS. It will be interesting how this little snowflake datum will be turned into an AVALANCHE by the snow job folks at Brady.
Good question. Don’t know if NPS operates such a database. I’m in a TSA one, for sure.
“Under what conditions will a whitetail become aggro?”
About ten people are killed by deer per year (non-vehicle related).
It is rare but it happens.
Warning shots are great on animals. A “thunder bolt” from nowhere will scare off most critters. It is really good on dogs, not so good on bears.
If the deer was out of pepper spray range, it’s hard to see what the threat was. I’m all for guns anywhere you want to carry them, but it sounds like we’d all be better off if this deer lady remained a couch potato.
“If the deer was out of pepper spray range, it’s hard to see what the threat was”
Yeah, because the Tueller drill only applies to those much faster two legged creatures….