Article published Nov 28, 2005
The Associated Press
A 13-year-old boy died after he was shot by a 10-year-old boy while
deer hunting in rural Washington County.
Austin Richardson was shot in the left shoulder with a .22-caliber
rifle by Dylan Barfield on Sunday. The boys were with a party of about
14 hunters from the Bay County area who were hunting in the Econfina
Creek Wildlife Management Area, said Stan Kirkland, spokesman for the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The commission is
still investigating the incident, but there do not appear to be any
hunting violations, Kirkland said.
Everyone who was required to have a hunting license had one, each
hunter was wearing state-mandated orange, and no children were left
unattended, Kirkland said. Under Florida law, children under 16 don't
have to be licensed to hunt if they are with an adult.
"With younger hunters, (it's required) that parents be close to
them and know where they are at all times. That's as much as we can
ask," Kirkland said. "In an ideal situation, one (boy) shouldn't have
been ahead of the other."
This is the second recent accidental shooting involving hunters in
the area. A week ago, four men from Jacksonville were quail hunting in
Calhoun County when one of the hunters shot two others. The injuries
were not life threatening.
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