Are The Woods Becoming Too Dangerous?

From The Oregonian:     In most of the family photographs stacked on his widow's coffee table, Frank Means is either on the water fishing, or out in the woods hunting. 

     The avid sportsman was equally passionate about his family, his wife Jackie said, and pleased and excited about his yet to-be-born, seventh grandchild: A boy due in December. 

     But a week after he died in a remote hunting camp along the John Day River of multiple gunshot wounds, family and friends are confounded by a maze of unanswered questions. 

     This much is known: The 61-year-old father of four and grandfather of six left his Northeast Portland home on Oct. 2 for a weeklong deer hunting trip in Wheeler County, where he camped at an area known as Priest Hole. It's about 10 miles west of the Twickenham Bridge. 

     Tony Means,  Frank's 38-year-old son, said he visited his dad's camp on Monday, Oct. 5, and showed him where the deer were located. Tony and a friend then returned to their camp about an hour away. Two days later, Frank Means bagged his buck. 

View full sizeFamily photoFranks Means shows off a salmon that he caught a few years ago. Means, who was shot to death last week, was a passionate outdoorsman.     "The last picture on his camera was taken at about 12:30 Wednesday afternoon," Tony Means  said. "It was a picture of his buck." 

     That night, Frank Means apparently packed his small trailer with most of his gear before a planned return to Portland the next morning. 

     He never made it. At around 7 p.m., Means was shot and killed in his camp during what Wheeler County Sheriff Robert Hudspeth  has characterized as a confrontation with several other people from the Portland area.

     There is no doubt in my mind that the woods are becoming increasingly dangerous. Only the other day a Wisconsin deer hunter and his son were shot at by a masked gunman. Thankfully they were not hurt. The gunman was not caught but the reality of how unsafe the woods are becoming is securely installed in many sportsman's minds. The threat of stumbling into a marijuana grow and getting gunned down by a drug cartel member with a AK-47 is always present, and it has happened. 

     Remember the good old days when friendly hunters would stop and talk to other hunters, swapping stories about what they've seen that day. I'm afraid that idea doesn't exist in some places anymore. This year while heading up on the mountain to do a little weekend deer hunting I was nearly ran off the road by a bunch of rowdy @%#holes. I later passed them target shooting off the side of the road, I could see beer cans strewn about and they were obviously drunk. Now I try to avoid weekend hunting whenever I can. Be careful next time you head out into the woods, and don't be afraid to take Mr. .357 magnum with you. Feel free to share your opinion and comment below.