Nobody is saying mistakes don't happen... but some of the behavior you described as the norm in the hunting community really shouldn't be. On it's face its violative of "know your target and what lies beyond it." I don't see how that somehow turns into "be pretty sure of your target when hunting because hunting is hard."
I'm in agreement with PreBan....I don't think misidentifying targets is the "norm" of the hunting community. However, after 35 years of hunting, I've learned a few things. I stay the fxck away from people for a reason. I just hunted the Wachusett hunt and it really brought the picture back to me. I kept away from groups and still had to deal with a lot of BS. Guys walking around at prime time, Guys walking in and sitting 80 yards from me, Guys shooting at deer well over 300 yards away with a beaded shotgun...yes....all of that. On one fxcking Saturday to boot. 100 guys hunting 2500 acres and it still was a shit show.
A) There are some real retards out there. Guaranteed. Maybe not 10%, but at least 2% total retards who will shoot at brown, or brown like in the bushes.
B) On top of idiots, we then talk about inexperienced (young or old) hunters looking for their first deer who can make bad decisions because they feel they need to get a shot off. THese are the people PreBan was talking about making mistakes. They are hyped up, want to kill their first deer and misidentify.
C) Guys who just shoot dogs that are running deer....lets face it, there are a certain percentage of guys who just think its wrong for dogs to run deer or be in the woods and just fxcking shoot them on sight. a**h***s maybe, but dog owners are just as at fault.
Lets face it, how many thousands of hunters and hunts happen every day during hunting season and there's what....maybe 1-3 issues yearly. No one is calling that the "norm".
Little tidbit for those guys out there that would "never" make a mistake. One time as a young shxt, I was bitching to my dad why MA makes us wear orange and other states don't and it's dumb. He told me this story......
My father who was the safest, most ethical, hunter I know, told me about one time when he was in VT, in a thicket of laurel. Of course no orange on in VT back then or even now, my father was well down hill and could only see glimpse of the head of the deer,and some brown at like 100 yards on the top of a ridge. My dad was going to take a shot, and almost did, but knew there was a cart road at the top of the hill where the deer was and it seemed weird to him that a deer would be walking right down the cart path. He walked up further got up the hill and saw red plaid pants, and nearly shit himself....turns out a guy had a deer like a backpack on carrying it out. From my father's point of view all he could see was the brown and the head.
Well Dad said he vomited right then and there. He came THAT close to killing that guy. He went on up the hill after, and helped the guy drag the deer out....told him he nearly killed him with the deer on his back and never to do that again!
So those of you that are "perfect" be careful, because if there is one person I view as a "perfect" guy for hunter safety it would be my father. If it weren't for some insane spidey sense he had, he would have blown that guy clean away on that VT hillside. The reality is, shxt happens......all that guy would have had to have a strip of orange on his arms, or on the deer and he would have been totally safe......so to this day, I don't complain about orange, and I wear it in every state, required or not.