crime

Deer hunter arrested after mistakenly shooting friend in Tochigi

47 Comments

Police in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, have arrested a 63-year-old man on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death after he fatally shot a friend with a rifle while they were both hunting deer.

The incident occurred at around 2:20 p.m. on Monday in a forest, Fuji TV reported. Police said the suspect, Satoru Ohashi, told them the shooting was an accident. He was quoted as saying he mistook his hunting companion, Hidetaka Ogiwara, 67, from Kanuma City, for a deer.

At the time, the two men were visiting the mountain with several friends for deer hunting. Ogiwara was leading with his hunting dog when he was shot. He was taken to hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

47 Comments
Login to comment

Rule #1 of hunting (which I don't partake of anymore): If you cannot positively identify what you are aiming at, don't pull the trigger.

24 ( +25 / -1 )

Can foreigners own guns here?

Yes. Have done for over ten years.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Yes a foreign person can get a gun licence, it's only for three years and the paper work involved alone puts many off. It's literally a huge ring binder,. Then there is buying of bullets. I have no problem with hunting, wild meat as a zig you don't get from mass slaughter animals. I looked into bow hunting as an alternative but hunting arrows are banned so, it's just not worth the effort.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

When watching J hunters on TV they always wear high vis clothing? Is that the rule? There is undoubtedly a filing cabinet of rules attached to a gun licence, perhaps not shooting your friends should be emphasised.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

How can one make a mistake? Hunters wear bright orange vests! Also hunters should have been positioned to each others side not in front of each other! Color blind and stupid comes to mind and most importantly trigger happy!!!

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Tragic !

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Hervé L'EisaToday  03:46 pm JST

As Bernard Marx points out, far too many of the few and shrinking licensed hunters here in Japan are aged

60s isn't too aged to hunt. It's hunter carelessness. Made worse by the practice of shooting at ground level. Deer hunting carried out from treestands rarely results in such accidents because the hunter isshooting downward towards the ground.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Sorry, @cleo but armed with a rifle to shoot deer is not necessarily “armed to the teeth”.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Bad luck that Hidetaka went out in the company of someone armed to the teeth and, it would seem, with incredibly bad eyesight.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Tragic accident, or premeditated murder? It’d be very difficult to prove the latter over the former in this situation.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

And now what? He would also have been arrested if he had shot his friend intentionally , explicitly not mistakenly. Do something else, if you can’t handle guns correctly.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

As Bernard Marx points out, far too many of the few and shrinking licensed hunters here in Japan are aged. This is a big factor in the overpopulation of wild deer and boar, and pose an increased risk of accidental shootings amongst hunters. Unlike in many other countries, Japan has a weak hunting culture.

This accident is a tragedy for the deceased as well as his fellow hunters.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

zichiToday 04:15 pm JST

Can foreigners own guns here?

Yes, no reason why not.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Reminds us of US ex-Vice President Dick Cheney shot his hunting companion

"This day in history, February 11: Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots and wounds a companion during a weekend quail-hunting trip"

https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-aud-today-history-almanac-february-11-20210211-rdzza7sfxbfbnkc4b2ulkqa7ga-story.html

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Who says he was confused? Probably just a tragic compound of mistakes. I don't think age necessarily has anything to do with it. Plenty of very skilled older persons.

Incompetence can be at any age however, look at America!

My friend, a boar hunter in Hiroshima, had his license removed after he shot himself in the foot! In his 40's and incompetent. Now he just runs around the woods with a big hammer.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

How did he mistake his hunting companion for a deer? In other words, he saw a bush shaking about and he shot at it blindly.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Mistakenly. Sure.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I think it is easy to confuse a human and a deer. Except for the four legs, antlers, no clothes and cute fluffy tails that is.

Deer come to my house, but my dog really doesn’t like them. I love them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

For a country with very limited gun ownership this seems to happen pretty often.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Happens every year. One reason why I refuse to go deer/boar hunting with my local hunting club here. Those old guys are way too shaky and trigger-happy. I only ever go alone or with non-Japanese friends who have proper gun experience.

0 ( +12 / -12 )

There is a rather offensive term in my country for hunters, which came out mainly because of such events: "Green uniform drunks with a gun license"

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Actually, the ancient peoples of the archipelago were hunters long before they were fishers. And yes, archery is more ‘sporting’ for both man and animal. However, percussion weapons can be viewed as quicker and more ‘humane’ IF used skillfully.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Question @cricky “...wild meat “as a zig”... ?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Know your Target

DON'T shoot unless Fluffy stuff shows & has Four Legs

Yes; I find it very hard to believe if they were wearing Orange Vests (don't think it's a Requirement) that he "Accidentally" shot the guy...no.

Yes; he got Arrested BECAUSE he shot someone...even if it was a Mistake....

I was going to school with a guy in Jr High, and he had gone hunting with his friend, they were 14.

Some IDIOT shot his friend head, and shot HIM in the arm...lucky to be alive..."Because I thought it was a deer".

Welcome to Florida...and look out for Wally Gator, in Orlando...he's around too.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It usually takes idiotic negligence to shoot a fellow hunter. Maybe if the 2nd hunter is standing on the opposite side of the deer, the deer blocking the view, and the shooter misses... outside of that, hard to imagine someone mistaking a hunter for a deer. Just some guy who got too excited when he thought he was going to bag a deer, and forgot he was handling a lethal weapon.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hunting season always bags "an accidental" kill or two. It's a dangerous time for "fair game", but then you can learn the limits of true friendship (if you survive it).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@commanteer 8:12a Your scenario is Otis/Carl. Just a ‘tragic accident’. - Not enough details here.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I refuse to go deer/boar hunting with my local hunting club here. Those old guys are way too shaky and trigger-happy. I only ever go alone or with non-Japanese friends who have proper gun experience.

The younger generation of hunters usually only tag along with older Hunter’s Association members to get tips on good hunting spots.

There are a lot of former and active duty SDF members in my local club and one retired Marine. They are always a pleasure to hit the trails with.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sorry, @cleo but armed with a rifle to shoot deer is not necessarily “armed to the teeth”.

Wandering around the undergrowth with a loaded, lethal weapon looking for things to shoot at counts as 'armed to the teeth' to me. The deer probably has a similar perspective.

There is no need at all in Japan to carry a lethal weapon, no need to go out and shoot your dinner - the shops are always well stocked. Bambi is doing you no harm, leave him be.

The only reason to wander around armed the teeth is because you want to kill something.

William Bjornson is right on the button.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan is one country that needs more hunters. The extinction of the Japanese Wolf has led to a population explosion of deer, boar and non-apex predators such as weasels and badger.

The crop damage in Chiba alone is over 300mill Y per year, and deer and boat population is past the environmentally sustainable mark.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Men trying to prove they are MEN! don't really bother me, whether they use guns or weights or fast cars. (The fact that they feel the need to prove it acts against them; men who are confident in their masculinity don't need to overcompensate).

That would be bad if that’s the case, but as a regular hunter, I consume and care deeply about preservation weather if it’s hunting deer or feral pigs, nothing is wasted.

What bothers me is the cretins who enjoy killing things. Target shooting, fine, it's a skill. Bambi shooting, rabbit shooting, lion shooting, trophy hunting (whether or not the trophy gets eaten), not fine. As far from fine as it is possible to get.

Well, the don’t do the trophy thing, but if people like it, their choice. Don’t think that’s going to stop anytime in the future

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How is this "professional" negligence?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Too Sad! RIP fellow hunter!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

A deer was saved.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

The ideas that hunters are just men trying to prove they are MEN! or overcompensating for something are rather simplistic.

Men trying to prove they are MEN! don't really bother me, whether they use guns or weights or fast cars. (The fact that they feel the need to prove it acts against them; men who are confident in their masculinity don't need to overcompensate).

What bothers me is the cretins who enjoy killing things. Target shooting, fine, it's a skill. Bambi shooting, rabbit shooting, lion shooting, trophy hunting (whether or not the trophy gets eaten), not fine. As far from fine as it is possible to get.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This is a weekly story in Wisconsin where 'warming fluids' are part of the 'hunter's' preparation for going out and attempting to essentially butcher an innocent deer with high tech weaponry that any tyro can and does own and think of themselves as MEN!! (deep tones). Real men don't have to murder other life forms to prove it to themselves. And, for those who actually ENJOY KILLING living things, ...well, words kinda fail at that point...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Rule #1 is “don't partake if you’re hunting @GdTokyo 3:50 pm JST

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Arrested because...?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

@cleo. ‘Semi-automatics in a public place’ would be inappropriate and yes, considered dangerous and ‘armed to the teeth’.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Why hunt anyway? No shops nearby? I can never understand the desire of some people to grab a rifle and go out to shoot defenceless wild animals.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites