Thread: Sentencing over thermal shooting death.

Originally Posted by kotuku

after reading the list of indiscretions the jailed has committed Im beginning to think his stance as a role model is putting it mildly substandard. If it was only one id be a little less harsh but hells bells theres at least 3FUBARcategory ones there which frankly he seemd unconcerned with . doesnt do his case any good!
yes ,as said there are no winners in this case.

That is the strength of the seven basic rules when they are followed, to have an accident that hurts or kills someone, at least two have to be broken.

....and the reason he didn't have a firearms licence is it was not reissued in 2012 due to ........poaching.

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

"Safe as houses" them thermals. A mans life is only worth 3yrs jail, less than half likely to be served. I suppose I should be gratefull he didn't get home detention or "community service"

Maybe I need to get a thermal just so I can spot all the thermal shooters first and avoid them. Should only be legal for professional pest controllers and gps logged for operation.

"Oh but I'm safe as, I identify my target every time"..... yeah, everybody is a "good driver" too .....

Far more people have been shot by hunters using day optics and not identifying their target.

And I'd say there'd be a few times it's happened with iron sights too...

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

Maybe I need to get a thermal just so I can spot all the thermal shooters first and avoid them. Should only be legal for professional pest controllers and gps logged for operation.

It would have made no difference as this guy was already breaking the law on multiple levels. Making them 'legal only for xxx' only punishes those who follow the law in the first place.

Originally Posted by vulcannz

It would have made no difference as this guy was already breaking the law on multiple levels. Making them 'legal only for xxx' only punishes those who follow the law in the first place.

That's sorta the point of being a criminal, isn't it?

I do a lot of possum shooting. Thermal, red light torch, white light torch, I have them all.

Horizontal thermal shots are the most unsafe. Because other animals or human could be wrongly identified as a possum when most part of the body is obscured by bush, leaving just the head or part of the head exposed looking like a possum sized target. higher up on the trees it is Unlikely you will be seeing a cow or a man. but you could still mistaken a partial peacock for a possum.

With torches, you can make out more detail of the target animal. Eye shine colour is also different between possum and other animals.

therefore, a good rule to follow would be not to take horizontal shots unless you have checked it with a torch.

Positive identification is positive identification with no room for maybe.END OF STORY.

Couple of years ago was checking the farm over for coons. Mate had a brand new thermal handheld and we found what appeared to be a weird possum sitting on top of a fence strainer. Looked and looked. Yep looks awfully like a possum. But still something was not right, so turned the Maxtoch 'laserbeam' on. Bloody nextdoor neighbours unshorn sheep looking at us from the other side of the fence. The amount of wool on their heads meant that the woollen part of the body was invisible to thermal, and all we could see was eyes, nose,mouth!!