Maclean's magazine-Feb. 4, 2008

[BC]

This may qualify as a rant.
Page 98 of the Feb. 4, 2008 issue of Maclean's features an article by Nancy Macdonald entitled THE END. It is devoted to the life and death of Perry Alvin Price III, a high school teacher from Texas. The greatest pleasures in the life of Mr. Price were his dogs and hunting waterfowl. He killed his first bird, an American Robin, with a BB gun at the age of six.
I'm not thrilled with hunting but I never met Mr. Price and he may have been a great guy. I'm sure his loss is very painful for his loved ones. I'm quite puzzled, however, as to why our national newsmagazine feels that this story is of the barest interest to Canadians, especially in a time of heightened concern about the environment.
Has anyone else read the article? I'm copying this for Maclean's.

[BIGFRANK]

Im not sure why anyone would care either,though in reading the whole article(I read what there was online at Macleans site),it says regarding his final hunting expedition "Arthur, his cherished chocolate Lab, who was hopping excitedly in the bed(of a pick-up truck), anxiously waiting to give chase(to a duck Perry had shot), stepped on Perry's shotgun, triggering a close-range blast. It tore through the tailgate, catching his master in the right thigh, severing his femoral artery. He bled to death in minutes. Police found Perry's gun covered in Arthur's muddy paw prints." That part of it made me laugh...it should probably be sent to the Darwin Awards site. (they give awards..usually postumously(sp) to people who take themselves out of the human gene pool).

[Ron Luft]

are almost always posthumous. If they survive it can only get Hon.Mention. But, yeah, he's a 'winner'. At the risk of being unkind does driving a skidoo into a lake count?

[GStuart]

A Darwin "winner" could still be alive, just so long as he (or I guess she, but that would be harder) removes himself from the breeding population.

 :shock:  Ouch.

[BC]

The recent issue of Maclean's included a few letters to the editor in response to the Texas hunter's obituary. Maclean's hasn't acknowledged or printed my letter. I'd always thought that a principal rule of journalism was that Dog bites Man is not news. I guess Dog shoots Man is a different story.
One of the letters to the editor was from an "outdoorsman" who pointed out that a shotgun lying in the back of a pickup is not properly stored. This had crossed my mind when I read the article. It's fortunate that no-one else was killed or injured as a result of this negligence.
This concludes my rant.