Roadside hunter could have hit a car, says Gander-area woman

Jessika Keefe thought someone was about to be shot.

She was driving home to Davidsville from Gander last Tuesday around suppertime when she spotted a small car parked across the road on the shoulder of Route 331.

Keefe said she could see a man standing outside the car with something in his hand by his side. She drove past, and when she looked back, she says she saw him point a rifle and shoot at a moose.

"I was honestly speechless. I didn't believe my eyes," Keefe told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

She called the police and wildlife enforcement officers, and hopes the man is caught.

Keefe said the incident happened at a busy time when many people are heading home from work. She said the man fired near a bend in the road and could have easily hit vehicles rounding the turn.

People don't think it happens here in Newfoundland, but it happens a lot more often than you think.- Jessika Keefe

She believes the man knew what he was doing was dangerous and against the law.

"I think he knew he was doing wrong because when we drove past he was trying to hide the gun," and, she added, the car didn't have a licence plate.

While moose season is open, there are several rules and regulations hunters must abide by.

For starters, a hunter must have a licence. The provincial hunting and trapping guide says anyone firing a gun mustexercise "reasonable care for the safety of other persons."

It's also illegal to "operate a vehicle in a manner that impedes the normal movement of traffic to discharge a firearm from a vehicle" or to fire across a road.

In September, police arrested a man for shooting a gun out his pickup truck window on the road near La Scie.

That man faces two charges. RCMP officers also seized his guns and hunting licence.

Keefe says too many people are taking risks to bag a moose.

"People don't think it happens here in Newfoundland," Keefe said, "but it happens a lot more often than you think."

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