The Dangers of Being a Hunter
BY Herschel Smith
Hunters in Florida were killed in a freak accident after they were struck by lightning while hunting with their dogs.
Two hunters, 38 and 31, from Miami were struck dead after being hit by lightning while hunting in Floridian wetlands.
Responding law enforcement were called to Rucks Dairy Road around 1.30pm on Wednesday September 24 and began searching for the men who hadn’t returned from their hunt.
Their abandoned car was discovered parked in the area before their bodies were found along with their two hunting dogs.
While the initial investigation determined the hunters and their dogs to have died from a lightning strike, the Medical Examiner’s Office is yet to rule an official cause of death.
Sheriff Paul Blackman said in a release from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office: ‘Our area gets more lightning than just about anywhere else in the country, especially in the summer. If you can hear thunder, that means lightning is close enough to strike, even if the sky doesn’t look too bad yet.’
‘It is essential to pay attention and plan ahead when storms approach.’
A teen who did not return after going hunting in northern Louisiana was likely killed by a lightning strike, according to investigators.
The grim discovery was made around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, near the town of Bernice, the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office reported in an Oct. 19 news release.
“Upon arrival of first responders, they were directed to a remote wooded area where 17-year-old Colton Gauge Honeycutt, of Monroe, was located inside of an elevated deer stand. Family members had become concerned when Honeycutt did not return from deer hunting earlier in the evening,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Investigators believe Honeycutt was killed by a lightning strike when thunderstorms moved through the area, just before sunset Saturday evening. Honeycutt was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Union Parish Coroner’s Office.”
The incident is the nation’s 20th lightning fatality of 2025 and the first in Louisiana, according to John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the National Lightning Safety Council.
“Since 2006, there have now been a total of 8 lightning fatalities linked to hunting, 5 of which have occurred in the last two months,” Jensenius said in a news release.
Great. It’s not just predatory animals, or dummies failing to tether to the tree and falling asleep, or hypothermia, or getting lost and breaking bones or dying of starvation, but now lightning. What are we supposed to do? Carry an electrical safety pad with us on hunts? I doubt that would suffice anyway.
Oh well. You drop your dime and pay your time to do what you love. The rest is up to the Almighty.
On October 20, 2025 at 8:13 pm, Dan said:
Lightening has been killing people…and animals…since time immemorial. And it’s not going to stop.
On October 21, 2025 at 6:18 am, jrg said:
I’ve hunted in weather having heavy precipitation. I’ve read that game animals are more active during inclement weather, but my experience tells me that is Before and After the precipitation ends. During – not so much. they appear to hole up somewhere where they feel safe.
At least the hunters died doing something they enjoyed. If I had my pick, dying in the outdoors surrounded by nature is preferable to dying at home or in my truck waiting in traffic.