FATHER AND DAUGHTER KILLED WHILE HUNTING – A nine-year-old girl and her father were killed around 2:30pm local time on New Year’s Day in South Carolina when another hunter mistook both for a deer – The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources says.
Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey has identified the victims as 30-year-old Kim Drawdy and daughter, nine-year-old Lauren Drawdy.
Investigators are treating the double tragedy as an accident.
According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources four hunters were pushing deer on Barracada Road in Walterboro as part of a deer drive when the father and daughter were fatally shot.
Autopsies of the two hunters are scheduled for Sunday.
The DNR has said no information, including whether or not the father and daughter were wearing blaze orange, will be released until the investigation is concluded.
The accident took place just behind the Drawdy home, a place where Kim had hunted many times previously. A look at Drawdy’s Facebook page shows his profile picture as daughter, Lauren who had shot her first deer days before the tragedy.
As hunters, firearm safety is of the utmost importance when taking to the field. Knowing your target and beyond, never pointing a weapon at something you do not intend to shoot and treating every firearm as though it is loaded is instruction reverberated in firearm and hunter’s education classes across the country.
Hunter’s Safety efforts have drastically reduced instances such as these as most states have requirements to carry Hunter’s Safety cards for certain age groups. Hunting accidents are down nationwide. But, unfortunately, they do still happen.
Safety is the number one priority of any hunter when they go to the field. It is a sport of ups and downs, where adrenaline has a tendency to get out of hand at times. The ability to always keep your wits about you with safety of the forefront is paramount. One wrong move, one unintentional mistake can turn an anticipated day in the field with friends and loved ones into a tragedy with lifelong and irrevocable consequences.
