Maine Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife Deputy Commissioner Paul F. Jacques.
Twenty years ago today, in a quiet backyard in Hermon, a hunter fired two shots that still reverberate in the minds of Mainers. A young mother of twin girls, Karen Wood, lay dead. Game wardens arrested Bangor hunter Donald Rogerson.
A husband had lost his wife. Two children had lost their mother. A hunter and his family saw their peaceful, structured lives descend into turmoil.
And as the national media descended upon Maine to tell the tragic story, an entire state lost its innocence.
No longer was Maine a quaint, quiet place to raise a family. Instead, in some circles the state was portrayed as a place where homeowners weren’t safe in their own backyards, where hunters were given carte blanche to shoot at will, and where shooting victims were blamed for contributing to their own deaths.
Twenty years later, Kevin Wood, the victim’s husband, is in Iowa. He has remarried. His twin daughters are in college.
Donald Rogerson still lives in Bangor with his wife. He’s a proud grandfather.
Both have moved on, but both still think about the past. The men are inexorably linked by a tragedy that changed a state’s mind-set, changed state laws and changed lives in ways that may never be fully understood.
Both agreed to interviews with the Bangor Daily News, though talking about the past was clearly unpleasant for them.
Click here for the full transcript of the Donald Rogerson interview.
Click herefor the full transcript of the Kevin Wood interview.
Twenty years.
Two shots.
Where are we now?
A wake-up call
A grand jury refused to indict Rogerson in 1989, but a year later another grand jury did hand up an indictment.
The trial was held in October 1990, and a jury deliberated for 9½ hours before finding Rogerson not guilty of manslaughter.
In subsequent interviews, members of the jury told the BDN that they believed that a deer ran in front of Rogerson before he fired the fatal shot. Rogerson said he saw a deer, fired a shot at it, then fired again at “flags” that looked like a deer’s tail. News accounts at the time focused on the fact that Karen Wood was wearing white-palmed mittens that may have appeared to have been deer tails.
Paul Jacques, a state legislator from Waterville at the time, now serves as deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. He said the verdict served as a wake-up call to many.
“You’ve got to remember, for years up until that time, the penalty for accidentally killing someone while hunting was like 200 bucks,” Jacques said. “And it was pretty much accepted [if the explanation was] ‘I thought it was a deer and I fired and I killed a guy.’”
Jacques said that although the attitude may be hard to understand now, at the time there was little effort to change the status quo.
“I’ll tell you, for the most part, generally, people in the state, as long as a deer hunter was shooting another deer hunter, and they weren’t hunters, they didn’t care,” Jacques said.
When Karen Wood, a 37-year-old non-hunter, was killed, that mind-set was challenged by many, including Jacques.
“The proverbial manure hit the fan,” Jacques said. “And people said, ‘Enough is enough. As long as you guys were killing each other, we didn’t care. But when you start involving an innocent housewife hanging her clothes, something’s got to be done.’”
News reports at the time indicated that Karen Wood may have been hanging clothing on the line in her backyard or may have headed into her backyard to warn hunters that there were houses nearby.
Jacques said the real estate development boom had begun by 1988, and hunters across the state were heading to formerly productive hunting grounds and finding houses or housing developments.
Karen Wood’s death served as a warning to many who decided they weren’t safe in their own homes.
Some hardware stores ran out of no-trespassing signs, and landowners began asking for help from state legislators.
“There was outrage. People were angry,” Jacques said. “We’ve got letters to the editor from in-house, out [of state] in most of the papers. Your paper probably got most of them because [the shooting] was in the area. But the manure didn’t really hit the fan until after he was acquitted. That’s when people said, ‘How can this be?’”
As a legislator, Jacques began asking the same question. He found a jumble of state laws that made little sense.
At the time, Jacques said, a person who illegally shot a moose in Maine had to pay a $2,000 fine upon conviction.
“Now, you have to remember, at one time if you wounded somebody while hunting, it was a mandatory 10-year loss of license. If you wounded them,” Jacques said. “But if you killed them, and you said you thought it was a deer when you shot them, it was a $200 fine and there wasn’t even a jail sentence imposed.”
Also, he points out, the hunter’s license wasn’t suspended in those cases.
Jacques and others, including John Marsh, a former head game warden who was then in the Legislature, started work on a new law that would address those problems with the Wood case verdict serving as powerful incentive for change.
“When the acquittal came through, we asked, ‘What was it in the law that did not make it clear that what Mr. Rogerson did was a problem,’” Jacques said. “That’s when we got into the target identification part of it. And we also talked about hunting homicide.”
Seven months after Rogerson’s acquittal, a new law had been crafted and passed by the Legislature. It delineated a standard of conduct that a prudent hunter must abide by, in order to facilitate the prosecution of hunters in shooting deaths.
Included in those standards of conduct is a requirement to identify various parts of an animal before shooting and to know what lies beyond the target before pulling the trigger.
Gregory Sanborn, now the state’s deputy chief game warden, was not a warden at the time of the shooting. He joined the service in 1990.
He said the Wood shooting was used as a teaching tool and helped serve as a catalyst for a number of changes that the warden service has instituted since.
Among the changes, he said, is a different protocol when it comes to processing a hunting incident.
“It used to be that the first warden on the scene was the primary investigating officer. That was the rule of thumb,” Sanborn said. “So it didn’t matter whether it was a brand-new guy that was just right out of the academy or a guy with 25 years on.”
The Maine Warden Service invested time and money training a new generation of wardens, sending some to specialized schools that deal with hunting incidents or homicides.
It now takes advantage of that training and relies on those wardens to investigate hunter-related shootings. The most experienced wardens take leadership roles in investigations now. Others help as needed.
The changes, Sanborn said, have paid dividends. And if the current system — along with the 1991 target identification requirements and current technology — had been in place 20 years ago, he thinks a jury might have seen things differently in the Wood case.
Another contributing factor, Sanborn said, is an ingrained mind-set that doesn’t exist anymore.
“The jury didn’t feel that the burden of proof was met. And a lot of that is social. What is the social climate, and did this guy act outside of what the norm is?” Sanborn said. “At the time the answer was no. I think if the same thing happened today, the same set of circumstances, it would be a different outcome.”
Jacques and Sanborn are also confident that efforts to increase hunter safety have been successful. In 1973, Maine deer hunters were first required to wear fluorescent orange clothing. Mandatory hunter safety courses were established in the early 1980s, Jacques said.
And there’s no discounting the effect the shooting of Karen Wood had on a generation of hunters, Jacques said.
The numbers bear him out: According to data provided by DIF&W, during the 20 years before Karen Wood was killed, a total of 67 people were shot and died in Maine as a result of hunting incidents. Over that span, an average of 214,592 hunters bought licenses each year.
Over the subsequent 20 years (including 1988, when Karen Wood died), just 13 people died as a result of hunting-related shootings. In addition, more hunters — an average 220,866 a year — have been licensed in Maine.
From 1940 until Wood’s death, people were shot and killed nearly every year during hunting season. The highest total of fatalities was 19 in both 1950 and 1952, and only one of the years was fatality-free.
Since 1988, eight Maine hunting seasons ended without a single person dying because of a gunshot wound.
“There’s no question in my mind [that the Rogerson case and Wood’s death made hunting safer],” Jacques said. “I think every hunter safety instructor, every parent who takes a kid hunting, after Karen Wood died, talked about that repeatedly. It’s just something that struck home.”
Jacques said the story of Wood and Rogerson was particularly powerful in the immediate wake of the incident, but continues to have an impact today.
“It had a big effect for the first five years or so,” Jacques said. “But what happens after that is [a new mind-set] becomes ingrained.”
A callous reaction
In the wake of his wife’s death, Kevin Wood had a lot of hard decisions to make.
The Wood family had only recently moved to Maine, where Kevin had a job at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
They had made friends, settled into their dream home in Hermon, and had a bright future.
One day. Two shots.
The dream was over. Then the public began to share its views, some of which were shocking to Kevin Wood.
“Karen and I had no reason to believe that the values or reaction to a tragedy of this nature would be met with the community response that it was,” Kevin Wood, 56, said recently from his home in Iowa.
“Don’t misunderstand me. I met many wonderful native Mainers. I don’t blanketly condemn the state or the community or the people of Maine,” he said. “I’m just talking about the reaction of perhaps — I can’t even say it’s a majority — but certainly a vocal portion of the community.”
The source of his dismay was — and is — the treatment of his wife by a segment of the population, many of whom wrote letters to the editor.
Karen Wood, some maintained, was not blameless in her death because she was near woods during November and wasn’t wearing orange clothing.
Jacques, for one, said he and many other hunters disputed that assertion at the time and do so today.
“My feeling has always been that as a hunter in the woods, someone ought to be able to run around in the woods buck naked or dressed in brown from head to toe, and they should not be subject to being shot … because they didn’t have fluorescent orange on,” Jacques said.
Not everybody saw it that way at the time, as Kevin Wood kept reading and hearing.
“One instance was [when] I think the trial verdict was announced,” he said. “My friend or his wife were at a junior high school soccer match. Obviously the news was big news in Bangor. [The verdict] was announced over the loudspeaker, and the crowd cheered.”
It hurt Kevin Wood to hear about that, but further reiterated an important point: People he didn’t know had made judgments about the woman he loved — a woman they didn’t know.
“[It was] just amplified all the more by [my knowledge that] you can’t know what a wonderful person Karen was,” Kevin Wood said. “And the contrast between people who never got to know her to be glad that the man who killed her is set free is just a hard pill to swallow.”
Wood chose to swallow that pill elsewhere, moving out of Maine and ending up in Iowa.
Eventually he told his twin daughters, who had just turned 1 year old when Karen Wood died, parts of their mom’s story.
Parts. But not all.
“I’m not sure they really have all the details,” Kevin Wood said. “I think that at one point they were of the belief that — as young people would expect when someone does something bad — that the bad person gets punished and that’s the way it is.”
At some point, he says, he told Lindsey and Laura that wasn’t the case.
But he said he never told his daughters everything he knew, thought and felt.
“They’re both sensitive kids, and I’m not going to volunteer information that I know would be painful and hurtful to them. They know the general ideas about what happened to their mother,” Kevin Wood said.
He said that the girls may have gathered more details from Karen’s family during visits with them and may be sheltering him from the same memories he has been reluctant to share.
“Knowing how sensitive they are, it’s quite possible that they’re avoiding asking me directly for fear of it engendering pain for me,” Kevin Wood said. “That’s quite possibly the reason why.”
Kevin Wood has paid attention to the hunting law changes in Maine and hopes they’ve made a difference.
“If there is discussion about and charges [that can be made] or at least stronger efforts can be made to hold people responsible for negligence, grossly negligent behaviors, and Karen’s death was in some way helpful in bringing that about, perhaps that was some good, however small that may be,” Kevin Wood said.
But he remains unsure how cases will turn out when they end up in court.
“Ultimately, the courts are not perfect,” he said. “But as long as there’s provincialism and bias toward the victims, the accused are going to get off, or the guilty are going to get off, or justice won’t be served. That’s true for not just hunting situations, but any law anywhere.”
Wood has lived in several states during his life, including Virginia, Arizona, New York, Iowa and Maine. He said the reaction of some Mainers after his wife’s death stunned him and made him feel uncomfortable.
“Based on [my] life’s experiences, that provincial attitude of protecting their own and victimizing the outsiders, I don’t think I’ve ever seen in any other place I’ve lived,” he said. “Or certainly not experienced it to that degree.”
Wood said that because he and Karen were not Mainers, he thinks Mainers viewed the situation differently from how they might have had both grown up in Hermon rather than relocated there.
And if they’d been Mainers, and the shooting had taken place?
“My honest opinion? I think it would have made a difference. I think it would have made a difference.”
While the Woods weren’t from Maine, they did share traits with those in their adoptive home. They loved the outdoors.
Though many didn’t know it, Kevin Wood was a hunter, too. He arrived in Bangor with a Brittany and looked forward to spending enjoyable hours afield, bird-hunting with his dog.
He still hunts.
“A week ago I was hunting pheasant,” he said. “I’m not anti-hunting. I’m very pro-responsible hunting, obviously, as I’ve said in the past. We have to be accountable for our actions, not just in hunting, but also in life, frankly.”
Laura and Lindsey Wood are now hardworking college students, according to their dad. Kevin Wood credits his wife, Betty, with providing a loving and nurturing environment and says he doesn’t know how his life would have turned out without her.
Kevin Wood and his family returned to Bangor in the 1990s. They visited friends. They drove by the house on Treadwell Acres in Hermon. He decided he didn’t want to walk through his former backyard again.
He has never spoken with Rogerson. He doesn’t plan to.
“I honestly don’t see the purpose in doing it. I don’t see what would be accomplished, frankly,” he said. “He’s gone on record as recently as [a 2005 magazine story] and certainly before that, that he’s of the opinion that perhaps maybe he’s not even responsible for it. And if that’s his position, what’s the point of discussing it?”
An acquittal, but no escape
Donald Rogerson walked away from the courthouse in 1990 with an acquittal.
That doesn’t mean he was a free man.
The events of Nov. 15, 1988, still hang over him day after day after day.
Yes, he was acquitted, but there are still plenty of people who hold that fact against him.
“If I had been found guilty and gone to jail, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much as it would have affected my family,” the 65-year-old Rogerson said earlier this week. “I was willing to accept any consequences if that was the case.”
That didn’t happen. A jury found him not guilty. He was released to live his life. He continued working at a local supermarket, continued his daily interactions with the public, and continued being Donald Rogerson.
“[My wife’s] feeling right from the get-go was, ‘I’m not going to let this change us, who we are,’” Rogerson said. “She was very adamant about that.”
In many ways, the Rogersons have succeeded. They still live in the same Bangor house. Rogerson never stopped taking the BDN, even though his name was in it regularly for two long years and sporadically since then.
“I often thought, it might have been a lot easier to go to jail for a couple of years and get out, because … in a lot of people’s minds, I would have paid my debt. Because some people think I got away with something that really I don’t feel I got away with anything.”
Rogerson doesn’t get away from the memories. He doesn’t get away from the periodic calls from the media. And he doesn’t get away from the question he knows he’ll never be able to answer.
“So, am I the guilty party?” Rogerson asked. “I accepted full responsibility because I was there. It happened that quick. But until this day, there was never any — what’s the word I’m looking for? — ‘closure’ for it.”
Rogerson says he has replayed the incident in his mind countless times and never sees Karen Wood. He sees a deer. He says another hunter could have shot her earlier when he heard a shot from the same area.
According to news reports during the trial, ballistics tests on the bullet that killed Wood were inconclusive.
Rogerson has ideas. He has theories. He has questions. And he has to live with a stark reality: People think he killed a woman and got away with it, and he’ll never be sure whether they’re right or not.
Rogerson agreed to be interviewed for this story only after receiving a satisfactory answer to a lingering question.
“What’s to be gained from this?” he asked.
Eventually, Rogerson admitted that telling his story again, or updating it, could serve as a cautionary tale to other hunters.
“I think hunting is safer now,” he said.
Unwittingly, Rogerson became the man no hunter wanted to be like. And a new generation learned a lesson that others taught, using Rogerson as a model.
Don’t fire unless you’re sure.
Doubly sure.
Triply sure.
Rogerson said he grew up hunting the same way, and on that day 20 years ago, he was abiding by those rules.
He says he knows he saw a deer. He says he shot at that deer.
Then, he admits, he made a decision he wishes he hadn’t.
“I guess if there was any one thing that I would take back it would be that second shot,” he said. “The first one was there … probably today I’d never take the second shot.”
There are no second shots for Rogerson these days. Or first shots.
He voluntarily gave up his license for five years in the wake of the shooting and hasn’t hunted since.
He misses the sport and spending time in hunting camps with friends. He does go to hunters breakfasts most years and continues to spend plenty of time outdoors fishing, hiking, climbing Mount Katahdin and skiing at Sugarloaf.
Legally, he could hunt again.
Practically, he knows he can’t.
Others don’t think he should hunt, he says, and would let him know it. And the memories of 1988 don’t go away.
“It was a tragic accident. It was just one of those scenarios that I feel I never want to put myself in that position again,” he said. “And when you take a gun into the woods and go out into the woods, I guess that’s what you’re doing.”
Rogerson said friends have told him they’ve given up hunting because of the incident.
“They’ve said, if it could happen to me, it could happen to them,” Rogerson said.
Rogerson has shared words of caution with Boy Scouts under his tutelage over the years, but has never formally addressed a hunter safety course or fish and game club to tell his story.
He said he’d do that, if asked.
“It probably would have been stronger of me if I’d gone and spoke out in public,” Rogerson said. “But there was always somebody in that mix of people that wouldn’t have accepted me in that position. And I think that was the only thing that kept me from doing it. Let’s face it. People thrive on negativism more than they do positivism.”
He said his speech to prospective hunters would be simple.
“Make sure of your target,” he said. “Just be sure what you see.”
Rogerson said that for years, he wanted to talk to Kevin Wood, but lawyers told him not to.
“I know that anything I say will never change anything, but I just would like to have been able to say, gee, look, I just can’t imagine what you’re going through, and I just really …” Rogerson said, struggling to find the proper words. “I was as compassionate about it as, like I said, my own [family had been in pain]. It was the hardest thing, not being able to approach them. Because it was — it was — I wanted to reach out to them.”
He said he always feared that eventually, Lindsey and Laura Wood would knock on his door and ask for an explanation he didn’t have.
His knees would have buckled, he said. He would have hugged them both. What he would say after that, he’s not quite sure.
After 20 years, the words are still hard to find. But the memory doesn’t go away.
The incident is always with him. Just like it’s always with Kevin Wood.
Kevin Wood lost that day a wife. A dream. Future memories.
While Donald Rogerson won in court, he lost, too.
Every year, when hunting season rolls around and people talk about his case anew, that becomes clear.
Twenty years.
Two shots.
And the memory lingers.
“I don’t think in Maine, there’s ever going to be total closure,” Rogerson said softly. “It’s foolish to even think that.”
On 11/15/08 at 7:44 AM,
anewday wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
An experienced and good hunter targets and shoots animals, period, and are aware of and study the environment in advance for domestic areas. All other so-called hunters have no business in the woods. Non-hunters must take extra caution too and a serious program for non-hunters should be put into effect during all hunting seasons for them as well. Non-hunters need to know there are careless people out there with guns of all ages and so-called experiences who can make up all sorts of excuses as to why a so-called 'accidental' shooting happens. The state needs to educate everyone.
On 11/15/08 at 8:01 AM,
MDIROB wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I was an 18 year old hunter when this tragedy happened. Today I live in Georgia and am a State Hunter Safety Instructor for past 10 years. I tell this story to each and every class I teach. Here in Georgia all hunters over the 18 are requied to attend and pass a 40 hour course. It's sad that Karen lost her life but how many more lives have been saved becuase of this incident.
Once you pull the trigger you can't bring that bullet back.
Rob
On 11/15/08 at 8:41 AM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
How about this: One day. Two white mittens.
On 11/15/08 at 9:23 AM,
walkk100 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I think about Karen Wood before every shot I take. I do not want to make the same mistake as Donald Rogerson. IIt was a senseless tragedy that never should have happened. I do think because of what happened hunters are more much more cautious today. I always wear hunter orange as do my children while in or around the woods during hunting season because of this incident. I think several lives have been saved because of Karen Wood's death.
On 11/15/08 at 9:31 AM,
linger47 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Personally, I think 20 years is way too long for people to sit in judgement of something they have never experienced. I have lived in Florida for the past 10 years but I lived in Maine when this incident took place. I remember all too well, the devastation I felt for both sides. I saw the grief and despair written all over the face of Mr. Rogerson when the cameras were directed right at him. This man is no killer. He ACCIDENTILY shot another person equally wonderful as himself. It was a most unfortunate thing. But, time has passed, and though it may be a good story to teach in a hunting class, it should no longer be a story hashed over and over in the media, or the general public. Twenty years in prison would not bring back the life of a lovely young mother, not would it erase the guilt and pain suffered by Mr. Rogerson. I would not want to be in the shoes of anyone directly involved in this incident. But, I tell you what, God tells us in His Word, that we MUST be forgiving, even of ourselves. If we forgive those who trespass against us, He will forgive us. None of us is perfect and to expect others to be perfect is a show of our own imperfection. There is a Christian song that goes, "Let go and let God have His wonderful way!" It is time for all those directly and indirectly involved in this tragic accident to let go and let the Lord begin the healing that is so necessary for all. God bless Mr. Rogerson, and God bless Kevin Wood and his family. May they all have peace and "closure" through Jesus Christ their Lord. My heart goes out to you all.
On 11/15/08 at 9:44 AM,
searoses wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Rogue_Wave you're a jurk....you know you should never shoot at what you perceive is a flag...some day it might be someone you love...god help us from people like you...
On 11/15/08 at 10:02 AM,
Chris1943 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Right on searoses!!
I wear s hunter orange jacket as I do my chores around the house and barn as I live in a wooded area. It never hurts to be a over cautious. That said, it still was an accident. The man made a tragic error in judgement and has to live with that. My heart has gone out to BOTH families over the years.
On 11/15/08 at 10:17 AM,
walkk100 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I think if Donald Rogerson ever wants closure, he needs to apologize to Kevin Wood's for his error in judgement that day. It was an accident and he needs to accept responsibility for that accident.
On 11/15/08 at 10:28 AM,
David889327 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
You don't suppose that this tragic story is a way of BDN promoting its position on gun control, do you?
On 11/15/08 at 10:58 AM,
searoses wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
David889327 The story is promoting hunter safety and knowing what you are shooting at...no where did I get the feeling that the story was anti gun...remember guns alone don't kill people....It's the human factor that makes them lethal.
On 11/15/08 at 11:28 AM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Im just saying if she was wearing orange this wouldnt have happened. If he was sure what he was shooting at then it wouldnt have happened either. Several variables are being thrown around that need not be. The fact she had twins and a husband just make the story more sad but doesnt have anything to do with what happened. When hunting accidents happen today between hunters, do you ever hear about his infant children? NO. All you hear is that one hunter mistakenly shot another and all the hunters get a bad rep b/c of it. Obviously i dont want anything like this to happen but it did. Have we made the best of it since? Yes, but common sense needs to step up. Wear orange, flag your farm animals with orange and send your kids the right message by having them wear orange. You never know what nut job is out hunting in your area so protect yourself and avoid wearing white, brown and antlers.
On 11/15/08 at 11:33 AM,
David889327 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
It seems to me, searoses, that if promoting hunter safety was the main intention of the article, they would have included at least a couple of other instances of hunter negligence to illustrate the danger of the overall situation. By the way, I'm not a hunter, but I do support the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.
On 11/15/08 at 11:51 AM,
BlueCollarBob wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
David889327, I also support the 2nd Amendment, but having been shot at several times by hunters who were obviously drunk, stoned or both, I believe some controls REALLY need to be put into place. I think that allowing any alcoholic drug addict mental patient with enough cash to purchase an Uzi at a gun show is a really bad idea. I think it's insane to allow hunting in residential areas. I strongly believe if you need to take driver ed courses to drive a car you have to take a gun safety class before you purchase a gun. I strongly support the right to bear arms but let's do it intelligently. I have no desire to see law abiding sensible gun owners surrender their weapons to the evil socialists, so don't go exaggerating this post to fit your own twisted logic. Anyone who suggests that Karen Wood is somehow to blame for this terrible tragedy should not be allowed to own a gun.
On 11/15/08 at 12:15 PM,
David889327 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I agree with you, BlueCollar.
On 11/15/08 at 1:15 PM,
Pozole wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I grew up in Bangor and now reside in Oregon. Here, there is no mandatory blaze orange law, but there are hardly any human woundings or killings during hunting season, which I personally guess to be from two factors. 1) Serious hunters who aren't drunk while hunting. and 2) Hunting on Sundays allowed so as to dispense with the Joe WorkWeek mentality of having to throw snapshots to enable getting your deer on Saturday. I'm a lifelong hunter and gun owner, but I became nauseous when i heard of the Karen Woods death and subsequent "white mitten waving" redneck reaction.... People like Rogue_Wave need to be released in a hunting area with no cover but a brown blanket and white mittens hanging from it...
On 11/15/08 at 1:33 PM,
rojogrande wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Hunting is a safe sport, as long as educated, responsible and respectful people are the ones doing the hunting. All accidents (hunting included) are the products of a matrix of bad luck and irresponsible behavior. And, evidently, they happen irregardless of location.
On 11/15/08 at 1:34 PM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I was making a point that because of the bad hunters out there, wearing white mittens, as innocent as it is, is a very bad idea. For the record Ive never shot anybody. All my shots in the woods have been kill shots and some hunters like me take pride in clean kills which mean you know exactly where the bullet is going and are aware of the surrounding behind the game.
It was the 80's! I remember a story where a guy was shot out of a tree because another hunter thought he was a deer. You have to be kidding me.
Also I own several guns and I use goats to bait bear.
On 11/15/08 at 2:12 PM,
EmilyMichaud wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Rogerson is a murderer -- clear and simple. He should be shunned by all God-fearing people. His lack of ethics and morality and his belief that it is okay to kill sentient beings led him to the 'most dangerous game' of all and he has not paid the consequences. Hunting and the gun culture inevitably leads to killing humans since those whose hands are on triggers are desensitized to pain and suffering.
On 11/15/08 at 2:30 PM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
He is not a murderer...see State of ME v. Rogerson. You should be shunned for thinking deer have the same rights as humans. Hunters arent desensitized to pain and suffering. I may have saved your life my murdering a deer and a moose this year. You can thank me when you dont run into one of these beasts with your Hybrid. If by chance you kill one of these sentient being with your car, or if I do, should we be sent to jail for murder? That is what you just said...they they have the same rights as humans...How do you go through life with such anger for a foundation? I’m not trying to be mean but everything must p!ss you off.
On 11/15/08 at 2:55 PM,
chemaine wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
"He is not a murderer...see State of ME v. Rogerson."
Smart. So do you also believe OJ Simpson is not a murderer? Jury's make mistakes, especially in a hick state in which people cheer that a killer has been set free.
Rogerson's actions were truly disgraceful and I hope God has mercy on his soul.
On 11/15/08 at 3:02 PM,
Tracey wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Blamiing a victim for being shot in her own back yard...is that like saying anyone driving at 1 a.m. on a sunday morning is responsible for their own death because they knew there were drunks on the road when the bars let out? GIVE ME A BREAK
On 11/15/08 at 3:05 PM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I hope you ask God why an innocent woman was accidently shot and killed. See what He says and then post it for all to read.
OJ is a murderer, Ill give you that one. One of the deciding factors between manslaughter and murder is premeditation...so I say again Rogerson is no murderer and he isnt going to Hell.
On 11/15/08 at 4:37 PM,
rojogrande wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Hey Emily, you mention "desensitization to pain and suffering"....what does that mean? Are you saying that a hunter's have a higher potential to commit murder? It was a hunting accident. Everybody in a car has the potential to commit vehicular homicide.
AND He has paid the consequences of his actions. He was not insane,, thus he has been left with the guilt of that horrible ACCIDENT, and will live with that till his dying day. The 'most dangerous game' of all, are you somehow making making reference to Connell's short story?
On 11/15/08 at 4:55 PM,
elmerfudd wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
My question to Mr. Rogerson would be; did you take the deer home with you that you were sure that you shot? Listen, I don't believe that this guy is a murderer. I do think that the jury should have found him guilty of manslaughter. Mr. Rogerson's responses sound like he is more remoresful of the memories that he has of the incident rather than having remorse for what Mr. Woods and his family has gone through. Some of the comments in here about what Mr. Rogerson has gone through is unbelievable. What about Mr. Woods and his girls?
On 11/15/08 at 6:55 PM,
fishinwidow35 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Karen Wood wasn't murdered, it was a hunting accident. My personal opinion is you should be able to wear what you want in your own yard and you should also not be hunting so close to houses and not firing in the direction of a house.
Everyone should be extra cautious during hunting season. A spooked or wounded deer could run into the road in front of you. Brown is out of fashion during this time. And there is no such thing as being too careful when you are carrying and using a firearm
On 11/15/08 at 7:37 PM,
boogyman wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Everyone should be more cautious during hunting season, but it's a damn shame they have to. I'm a hunter, and I don't like the fact that my sport requires non-hunters to have to change their behavior one month a year. I have shot quite a few deer over the years. Every round I have fired caused a lethal wound to what it was intended. I can't imagine shooting in the manner Mr. Rodgerson describes. That being said, the Jury has spoken.
On 11/15/08 at 8:36 PM,
chemaine wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
"OJ is a murderer, Ill give you that one"
so your logic that being acquitted of a crime does not equal innocence is wrong, and your silly little argument that it was settled is wrong.
"One of the deciding factors between manslaughter and murder is premeditation...so I say again Rogerson is no murderer and he isnt going to Hell."
NO, the difference between first and second degree murder is premeditation. Rogerson killed an innocent victim, a mother of two. he shot a bullet at a house. he should have rotted these past decades in jail. it's a disgrace to Maine that he did not, and it makes Mainers look like a bunch of bumpkins for not convicting him. He has clearly violated "Thou shalt not kill": God will decide his fate, not you or I.
On 11/15/08 at 8:44 PM,
mollymae wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Mr. Rogerson did not have a doe permit. I don't care how many white mittens Karen Wood was wearing, where were her antlers?? Was Mr. Rogerson so certain that he was shooting at a buck?? A doe?? A person?? As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if Karen Wood had on a brown fur coat, white mittens and fake antlers. The very simple fact of the matter is that Mr. Rogerson had NO IDEA what he was shooting at. How that can EVER be the fault of Karen Wood is beyond me. To believe that he had no idea how close he was to those houses is an indication of stupidity. I personally believe that anyone who has ever even hinted that this could be the fault of Karen Wood needs to contact her husband and daughters and apologize profusely for being so ignorant. It is so simple that some people just don't see it. Mr. Rogerson had no idea what he was shooting at. That is not hunting. That is manslaughter. I dare anyone who supports Mr. Rogerson to feel the same after their loved one has been killed in the same manner. Yeah right, it would be a different story then. The State of Maine owes Mr. Wood, at the very least, a heartfelt apology for letting the murder of his wife go unpunished. And by the way...although I have lived here for 18 years, I am not a native Mainer, thank God.
On 11/16/08 at 12:05 AM,
seahorses wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
To Rogue-Wave: My horses, cows and dogs do wear blaze orange, my land is posted every fifty feet, but hunters still scare me. Remember the "kids" who killed two horses and then shot a truck on I95? And not long after, in the same area, some clown who took shots from the back door of Hammond Lumber in the very same area - as he was going in to work? Are we all supposed to stay indoors for a month? How about some serious jail time for those who force us to cower and flinch for a month, not knowing who's at the end of that rifle. Bullets go a long way. And I am a native Mainer, BTW - thoroughly ashamed of the treatment given Mr. Woods and the pathetic excuses of Mr. Rogerson.
On 11/16/08 at 4:39 AM,
MDIROB wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
even if he was convicted of manslaughter he would most likely not have spent more than 6 months in a jail anyway. Wonderful little "give me a hug and it'll be alright" laws in Maine anyway. Gotta Love a Blue State if you screw up.
On 11/16/08 at 8:42 AM,
jake04743 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Emily.......You're a NUT.
On 11/16/08 at 9:23 AM,
fredrogers wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
In the 80s mind set ,Karen Wood was not murdered.
However in todays mindset, I hope we have learned from this tragic loss for her family, if it happens this hunting season, 2008 and going forward, the State of Maine needs to advertise the message during the hunting seasons and passed out when hunters buy a license, "If you kill a person while hunting you, will be most likley be in a murder trial", period end of story.
For anyone who feels dfferent, do not buy a hunting license.
There should be no more excuses to say that you 'thought' it was a deer, I am sorry I made mistake, the person wasn't wearing orange, on and on, etc.
On 11/16/08 at 9:55 AM,
Rogue_Wave wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
If God is going to decide his fate then good, Im not backing Rogerson up on this. He acted idiotically and something horrible happened. Did God also decide Karen's fate? If so I think He may have made a mistake. The facts are these: Dummy shot when he shouldn't have, someone innocent died, Dum Dum was acquitted and hopefully we all learned a lesson from this. All Im trying to say is that he isnt a murderer (guilty of manslaughter...yes), he f'd up and it is wise to wear orange even on your own land because its smart. Im not blaming Karen so stop making it sound like I am. When Im driving down the road (2008) I'm glad to see people doing yard work wearing orange. What does bother me are the people that think they are exempt because they are on their own land. I dont mean 1988 people, I mean people yesterday and tomorrow. I understand you posted it but the people shooting at sounds and mittens are probably the same people with the mentality to drink and drive so how can you trust them?
Seahorse: I am a hunter and other hunters scare me too. I was taught at a young age that even if I was on my bike I had to wear orange in November due to idiots with guns. Unfortunately not everyone out there thinks before they shoot. That is why this story is so important.
Fredrogers:I agree to an extent. I just dont see it as murder though. It'll never be more than manslaughter but your argument is sound. Same rules should apply to that of a vehicle: If I run someone over (accidently) its going to be a manslaughter trial. We understand this as drivers just as we should as hunters and there should be repercussions if someone is injured/killed in both cases.
On 11/16/08 at 11:40 AM,
crosshaul wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I can't imagine being either one of these two gentlemen or their families having to deal with some of the sentiment spewed about here.Everyone has agreed that there was a grave mistake made and like so many times in life a tragedy like this reshapes how see and approach the things that we do.It was well recognized that something needed to be done about the number of fatalities that were occuring during hunting season,it wasn't uncommon to know someone who had been killed.The advent of florescent orange was a major breakthough in safety as well as the hunter training programs put in place.
As hunters we should welcome laws that strongly penalize incidents like this.There is absolutly no excuse for ever mistaking a human for a deer.If you can't positively identify your target,you simply don't shoot.
On 11/16/08 at 6:13 PM,
matt29 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I was wondering if the state requires a vision test when hunters apply for their hunting license. You can't be sure of your target if your vision is even a little blurry at whatever the range of these guns are. I know drivers are required to take a vision test.
On 11/16/08 at 7:52 PM,
bangorme wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I remember this day in life. My mom was one of the jurors. I question why the heck did it even end up in court, really? Did the hunter even know the person that was shot? Probably not. EmilyMichaud needs to grow up, cause if he was a murderer, he must of planned the kill. NOT! I feel for both sides of the incidence in question. I feel that when we as a state of hunters, should be smart, and protect ourselves by wearing bright ornage. DUH!!!!
This case made this very clear. Be smart, wear BRIGHT ORANGE, SO US HUNTERS KNOW U AINT A DEER. Why is this topic getting so nay comments. Must be cause BDN knows it would. Holy wake up, and wear bright orange.
On 11/16/08 at 8:36 PM,
ToLo2Ro wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
BlueCollarBob,
This comment is directed at you only and not the article. I believe you need to hang out with better people. If you have actually have been shot at several times, you should count your blessings. If the people shooting at you were obviously drunk, stoned or both, why didn't you call the officials? The gun safety class is not a bad idea but will not stop those alcoholic drug addict metnal patients you talk about from puchasing guns illegally just as a driver's ed cerficates stops accidents and idiots behind the wheel.
On 11/16/08 at 8:55 PM,
BlueCollarBob wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
ToLo2Ro, you're right. What's the point of having any laws when people are just going to break them anyway. Guns don't kill people, people do. It's a lot harder, however, to kill somebody from 100 feet away when you don't have a gun. And drunk driving laws haven't done any good. What's a metnal patient?
On 11/16/08 at 9:53 PM,
cathalt wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I get the feeling that a lot of people still think that it was Karen Woods fault that she got shot. When I moved to Maine I heard people talking about getting "sound shots" and that convinced me to give up hunting and stay out of the woods during hunting season.
On 11/16/08 at 10:07 PM,
ToLo2Ro wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
BlueCollarBob, O-o-o-o. Burn. I guess my typing/spelling tests didn't do any good either.
On 11/17/08 at 7:26 AM,
gracie wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
The sad thing is he still is in denial, he still thinks someone else did it...this is how he has been able to move on. I live in Hermon and to this day I do not go out side without orange on come hunting season. There should be no hunters near my house but why give them excuses like Hermon has gotten so big the poor hunters don't know where they are. Give me a break. My thoughts this time of year is of Karen Wood and her family and what become of them.. To bad Karen is not around to see them graduate from college. Sad
On 11/17/08 at 8:14 AM,
thekingofmaine wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I remember when I was 11 or 12 in a summer camp learning about gun safety and heard about this story...had a profound effect on me and my life near the woods. I no longer where white gloves and wave around at the treeline... now I sell magic mice
On 11/17/08 at 9:30 AM,
northernmainemom wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
at least with trapping you don't have to worry about killing a human, and people say trappers are insensitive.
On 11/17/08 at 4:26 PM,
arkelly wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I grew up in Maine and did a bit of hunting as a kid there, but it is still a head scratcher that people just accept the fact that its ok to shoot a high-powered rifle near peoples' homes, just for the chance to have a head hung over your fireplace and a few cheap steaks. I know hunters hate this kind of talk, but man, a woman was gunned down in her own back yard just because she had on mittens. Saying "well, she should have been aware of the risks" is like saying to the Floridian with a missing leg "well, if you had on body armor that gator wouldn't have gotten you."
On 11/17/08 at 5:13 PM,
anibanani wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Even though this shooting was a supposed mistake, punishments should have been handed down. I am not sure how you were raised, but if I made a mistake growing up, I still had to deal with the consequences... its part of being a responsible person. "With great power comes even greater responsibility".
As a hunter, you need to know that every time you load that gun, there is a chance that 1) the gun will fire and 2) you will shoot something... whether you mean/want either of those 2 things to happen or not. The vast majority of the time, you intend for the gun to go off at a specific target... but you MUST realize that there is a chance the weapon will fire and hit something you would never intend it to. (This is why there are precautions taken to minimize these unfortunate accidents.) Regardless of intent, hunters must be held accountable for their actions... and all responsible hunters support such actions. The fact of the matter is that If you are not willing to deal with the consequences of shooting something, then you should not pick up your gun.
I realize that social norms have changed since the untimely death of Karen Wood... but regardless of what the social norm was in 1988, common sense dictates that you NEVER shoot at a house.... EVER.. I am sure Rogerson would never have shot at a deer in front of his own house (knowing that his wife, children and grandchildren might be inside). He can say whatever he wants about "deer tails/mittens" and the fact that she wasn't wearing orange... but he HAD to have seen the house. His lack of responsible hunting ended the life of an innocent woman. He should have been held accountable.
On 11/17/08 at 5:39 PM,
kazman wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Just so we all know what the jury ruled against, he was charged with Manslaughter, defined as:
(n) Manslaughter is the killing or cause to death of a person without a pre-meditation or intention to kill or cause death, whether voluntarily or otherwise. In Man slaughter there is no intention or pre-plan to kill but killing or death occurred due to an impulsive act or a careless act. Eg. 1) Killing wife out of a sudden rage when she was found compromising with a stranger . 2) Killing the passengers by reckless driving
So I guess he wasn't impulsive or careless, and apparently many in the state still feel this way. Glad I moved.
On 11/17/08 at 5:43 PM,
MDIROB wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
while tragic in the fact that Karen lost her life just how many of you realize that Rogerson has probably suffered the mental anguish common in this case for the past 20 years. I'm glad I don't have to live with what he's had to all these years.
R
On 11/17/08 at 9:03 PM,
jjs1975 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
why do we find it necessary to keep this painful event going TWENTY years for both of these families?? I am sure they would all like to get on with their lives!
On 11/18/08 at 12:32 AM,
kazman wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
The victim's family moved out of state and the perp got off, so we have the green light to continually try this in the court of public opinion. Its called the OJ Rule.
On 11/18/08 at 9:04 PM,
amethyst81_00 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I was only 7 when this happened but I have a question...If the person being shot at is on his or her own property does that still give the hunter the right to shoot even though the other person is not wearing hunters orange? Growing up I lived in Woodville and stupid people would shoot at my horses or the cows even though they always had orange halters and orange ribbons hanging from their halters...So what would have happened to the hunter had they killed one of the animals... probably nothing because the excuse would be "Oh I thought it was a deer or a bear or a moose".. Give me a break...There should be more done to protect the people who are in their own backyard... My family used to post No Trespassing signs all over our property but that never stopped the hunters who came acrossed our fields... When ever I would go riding my parents would never let me out of the house unless I had something orange on and my horse had something orange on as well...Why should I have had to protect myself if I was on my property...It doesnt matter if you wear orange or not...The color isnt going to save you...People who live out of state and have no link to the state of maine have no right to judge people on how they think or what they believe is right or wrong.
On 11/26/08 at 7:17 PM,
BangorGal wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
It's too bad for Rogerson as well. Accidents do happen, and it was and accident.
"Blue Collar Bob"---especially in those days, booze was just a normal part of the hunting "experience". Male bonding, drinking, etc etc etc Things...change....for those guys , when they're stalking game and have a gun in their hand.
(Especially when they're hung over...)
Amethyst has obvioulsy found this out the hard way.
The real horror of this story is how the town's people behaved about it all. Blaming the victim - cheering at the verdict - nullifying the law. This is the real tragedy and the travesty. They behaved like a gang of high school hoodlums defending themselves against a rival gang from away.
Too bad.
Post a comment about this story
You must be logged in to post a comment.
click here to log in.
