Thread: Another Hunter Killed

Firstly, my thoughts, prayers and condolences for the families of those affected.

I know Henry personally and have always admired his character and professionalism.
Henry is one of the most qualified instructors I know of and a specialist in the field of safety management. His manner is always intelligent, thorough, and humble.

One of my mentors in the outdoors industry introduced me to the concept of Confirmation Bias – the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. List of cognitive biases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since then I have read a lot on reasons people make wrong calls and can tell you that this is a complex field. The call to ‘identify your target’ really needs a lot more explanation of what may happen in your head. Studies done on the best of the best air force pilots found that even their minds can play tricks on them leading to not ‘see’ landing warning signs correctly, or to incorrectly identify friendly personnel as enemies. (eg Deep Survival by L Gonzales)
Applying this to hunting the best advice I’ve heard is asking “is that a person” rather than “is that a deer” as this will help your bias toward the safe option.

My main thoughts on this tragedy is that if people at this level of expertise and experience can make these mistakes, then no one is immune from this mistake happening to them. We should carry that reminder with us each time we hunt.

And we should continue to be humble in our own estimation of our abilities