News Release

FWC hosts 'CSI in the swamp'

October 8, 2009
Contact: Bill Cline, 850-413-0084 or 850-528-1761, and Capt. Camille Soverel, 850-488-6251

The scene is disturbing. A hunter finds a lifeless body in the woods. He sees a 12-gauge shotgun next to the dead, middle-aged man. The hunter notifies conservation law enforcement officers, and when they arrive, he tells them he was hunting when he came upon the body. He says he heard shooting prior to the discovery, but observed no one - other than the deceased.

It is up to the officers to collect the information used to determine if this death is a result of natural causes, suicide, murder or an unwanted discharge of the victim's firearm.

This is an actual case, which occurred in Iowa, re-created by the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) for training. In the humid, damp woods of North Florida, actors played out the scenario to help educate conservation officers on how to investigate hunting-related incidents in the field. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) hosted the training at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy in Quincy, and the Joe Budd Aquatic Education Center in Midway, just outside Tallahassee. Fish and wildlife officers from around the country made up the class of 36.

"Last year, hunting incidents in Florida doubled, and we want to change that," said Bill Cline, director of hunting safety for the FWC. "We call this training 'CSI in the woods', or in Florida, 'CSI in the swamp.' This training helps us look for clues as to what happened at a hunting incident. If an injury or death could have been avoided, we want to pass on to hunters what we learned, so they know how to avoid similar behavior."

Like most any outdoor activity, there is the risk of injury. With firearms involved, the injury may be more serious. Nevertheless, nationwide, for every 100,000 hunters, there are only five hunter incidents. Overall, hunting is safe. Tim Lawhern, president and co-director of the International Hunter Education Association, stands by this.

Lawhern has been with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for more than 20 years and knows a thing or two about hunting safety.

"International statistics indicate that the chance of a hunter getting killed while hunting is exactly the same as the chance of any person getting struck by lightning," Lawhern said.

He also knows that not everything is as it appears.

"Sometimes a murder, suicide or attempted suicide is disguised as a hunting incident," Lawhern said.

This happened in the case of the hunter finding a body. Evidence at the scene revealed that the man had committed suicide. He attempted to make his death look like a hunting accident so his wife and two children could collect on his life insurance policy. He was also religious and his religion forbids suicide.

In another recreated scenario, a turkey hunter shot a Georgia conservation law enforcement officer. The officer was checking to see if the hunter, accompanied by his unarmed daughter, was hunting over bait - which is illegal. The shooter fired at the officer from 28 yards away, believing he was shooting at a turkey.  The officer was hit on the lower part of his body, and he nearly bled to death. Because of his injury, the officer had to retire. The hunter broke one of the cardinal rules for hunter safety: be certain of your target.

"There are four rules that every hunter, or anyone else with a firearm, needs to follow," Lawhern said. "First, treat every firearm as if it were loaded, even if you think it is not. Second, always point the muzzle in a safe direction. Third, be certain of your target and what's beyond it. And fourth, keep your finger outside of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot."

For one instructor at the IHEA training, hunter safety is particularly personal. On two separate occasions, a decade apart, a hunter shot Capt. Mike Van Durme of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. A man in a boat who was shooting frogs with a .22 rifle shot the 34-year veteran in 1986. The shooter didn't see Van Durme, who was in uniform and in plain view, standing on a dike. When the man shot at the frog, the shot ricocheted off the water and struck Van Durme in the ear.

Van Durme was more seriously injured when he was shot a second time in 1996 while he was hunting, off-duty. As Van Durme was walking through short grass, a deer ran between him and another hunter. Though Van Durme was wearing the required bright orange vest and hat, the hunter failed to look beyond the deer and fired. In an instant, Van Durme realized he was being shot at and turned away. The slug ran along his left shoulder. His injury could have been fatal, but his instantaneous reaction likely saved his life.

"It was my crime scene, but I was the victim," Van Durme said. "The shooter was with four other people, and when he realized what he did, he tossed his shotgun into the woods. I had to sort that out and make arrests - two of the hunters were felons, and it is unlawful for felons to possess firearms."

Though Van Durme made arrests and collected evidence immediately after being shot, nearly 24 hours later it hit him how close he had come to death.

"I was in my church choir the next day, singing the closing song," Van Durme said. "Then I thought, I don't want to be a part of being a victim, or having people congratulate me and telling me how great I was. I just felt my life energy leave me. Being shot is traumatic."

It took a while for Van Durme to get back to hunting, but eventually he did. He uses his near-death experience to improve hunting safety.

"I've been instructing at IHEA since 2000," Van Durme said. "I instruct at every academy in my state, and my incident has led to a comprehensive 12-page report on hunting incidents."

Though a stranger shot Van Durme, IHEA president Lawhern says that in the majority of cases, a friend or family member shoots the victim. He also stresses that one-third to one-half of the time, hunting-related shooting injuries are self-inflicted. These are the things that Lawhern and others who investigate shooting incidents have learned and train others to investigate.

"Every crime scene should be investigated as if a member of your family was the victim," Lawhern said.

FWC's Cline stresses that safety needs to be the No. 1 priority for hunters.

"Hunting is a great sport," Cline said. "We want everyone to come home from hunting, safe and sound; bagging something is secondary to that."