Guns don't kill people, people with guns fighting over a Tree-stand do.

It's hunting season folks, so figure that a few people are going to die. One hunter might look like a big orange deer to another hunter. A hunter might walk into the line of fire just as another pulls the trigger. A hunter may be startled and hit one of his companions as he swings the gun around to see what startled him. Inoccent mistakes that are part and parcel of the hunting season. But occasionally turf wars break out and that's when killing isn't an accident.

5 killed, 3 hurt in hunting rampage
Man arrested in assault rifle attack after tree-stand argument
By MEG JONES, GAIL BOXRUD and RICK BARRETT
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 21, 2004

Town of Meteor - Five deer hunters were shot to death and three were wounded Sunday by a man who was hunting from someone else's tree stand in northern Wisconsin, authorities said.

The bizarre attack happened on private land in this Sawyer County town about noon on the second day of the gun deer season, a time when hundreds of thousands of deer hunters are in the woods throughout Wisconsin.

Sawyer County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said Chai Soua Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., was arrested by a Department of Natural Resources warden just before dark about 4 p.m. on a road about one mile from the scene, just across the Sawyer County border in Rusk County.

Vang was armed with an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle, a weapon that's similar to a 30.06 but seldom used by deer hunters, Zeigle said.

Authorities said the rampage started after a hunting party saw a hunter they didn't know occupying their tree stand. That led to a confrontation, and at least one of the group was shot and wounded. One victim used a walkie-talkie to call for help, but when other hunting partners came to the scene, they also were shot, Zeigle said.

Sounds like someone went off their meds. I am not a hunter but even I know that it is generally poor form to use someones tree-stand without permission, or at least vacate the stand when approached by the owner. And I would imagine that if you were to decide to occupy a "vacant" stand, that waiting for the hunting season to progress into the second or third week might be a good idea, instead of the second day of Hunting season, when you cn be almost certain that someone is gonna be itching to do some hunting.

The victims began to scatter and run from their attacker who pursued them like "a sniper," Zeigle said. The three who were wounded managed to walk or run to safety, while the victims shot to death were found scattered across roughly 100 yards.

All five were dead by the time authorities arrived.

"It was like he was chasing after them to kill them. The bodies were a long way from one another," Zeigle said.

Authorities, who were trying to determine how many shots were fired, didn't know if any of the victims were able to fire back.

Before the shooting began, one of the victims jotted down the shooter's back tag number. All hunters are required to wear numbered tags on their back that include their names and addresses. Authorities were able to quickly figure out whom they were seeking because they knew his deer license number. When a warden discovered Vang, he was wearing the tag.

It is entirely possible that Mr. Vang had grown tired of deer, and instead wanted to hunt that most difficult of game animals Man. It might also be the case that Mr. Vang's asian heritage, may have inflamed passions on both sides, but alas this is just speculation. Who wants to place bets on how long it will take before this story is told on Law&Order or another crime show with the tagline "ripped from the headlines"? I'm betting mid February. Anyone else?