[at-l] Hunter wounds girl, 16, on Appalachian Trail

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Hunter wounds girl, 16, on Appalachian Trail
Cartersville teen stable after shooting

By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Rachel Ferguson was on a hiking and camping trip when she was shot.
A deer hunter accidentally shot a Cartersville teenager camping along a pop=
ular section of the
Appalachian Trail early Sunday.

Rachel Ferguson, who turned 16 in October, was flown from Union County near=
 North Carolina to St.
Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, said Sgt. Johnny Johnson with the state Depar=
tment of Natural
Resources.

Rachel was listed in serious but stable condition Sunday night, a hospital =
spokeswoman said. Her
grandmother, Betty Ferguson of Cartersville, said Sunday night, "The way I =
understand it, it's
guarded, but she's in fair shape."

Rangers and Union County deputies were investigating the shooting. The hunt=
er, Matthew Bryant, 21,
of Union County, has not been charged.

Rachel was with a group of about 15, including adults and other teens, who =
had hiked in along the
Appalachian Trail and camped Saturday night, Johnson said.

The area near Neel's Gap, in the Chattahoochee National Forest, may be the =
most popular along the
trail in Georgia, according to some hiking guides, because of spectacular v=
iews.

As dawn was breaking about 6:45 a.m., Rachel left the campsite and walked a=
bout 200 feet. It was
unknown why she was out, Johnson said.

The hunter had entered the area on a dirt road that crosses the Appalachian=
 Trail.

Johnson said the hunter was about 220 feet from what he believed to be a de=
er and fired a shot
from a .243-caliber rifle. The shot hit the girl.

Hunters' excitement can lead to mistakes, Johnson said.

"The mind's eye can create what the hunter wants," he said.

A member of the badly shaken group called 911 on a cellphone, Johnson said.

Ernie Pruitt and other Union County Emergency Management Agency workers had=
 to drive about seven
miles on the dirt road to reach Rachel.

Pruitt, the agency's assistant director, said it took about 30 minutes to g=
et there. When they
arrived, he was surprised by the girl's spirit. She was conscious and talki=
ng.

The campers and hunter had given first aid and put a bandage on the single =
gunshot wound to the
chest.

She seemed excited about taking a helicopter ride out, Pruitt said.

Pruitt and his workers put her in an ambulance and took her to a nearby sch=
ool to meet the
chopper.

The national forest contains 746,689 acres and gets more than 10 million vi=
sits a year from
hunters, hikers, fisherman, rock climbers and picnickers.

Beth Brown, a Department of National Resources spokeswoman, said the forest=
 is open to all users.
The DNR encourages those in the forest during hunting season to wear bright=
 colors and make noise.

Johnson said, "Regardless of what she had on, a person who hunts has the re=
sponsibility to
identify the game he is shooting at."

It's not unusual for hikers to use the 530 miles of trails in the national =
forest during hunting
season, he said.

Many people come from all over the nation to hike the famous trail, not rea=
lizing that hunting
season is in, he said.

A DNR Web site says the state averages eight accidental fatal shootings by =
hunters each year, but
all the victims since 1979 have been self-inflicted or other hunters.

Deer hunting season in the Chattahoochee National Forest ends Jan. 1.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
David Addleton
vocate atque non vocate deus aderit
http://dfaddleton.home.att.net/

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