Hello and welcome to another episode of The Wild Bites Back. My name’s Cody I’m gonna be your host for the next 30 minutes or so, and I gotta tell you guys what just happened to me. And it was a lesson in kind of seeing two different sides of a situation and all about your perception of it.
So, you probably don’t know but I have a cat named French Fry, and she’s a big old bitch. Right before I started recording this podcast, I was heading over to her litter box to clean it and as I’m walking toward the litter box, she comes rumbling by me and jumps in it and it’s one of those enclosed litter boxes where they gotta jump in through a hole in the top. So, she comes bumbling rumbling by me, jumps in it and pops her head right out of it and just stares right at me while she’s taking a huge dump, looking at me the whole time- does not break eye contact.
Then when she’s done doesn’t even attempt to cover it up. She just hops out and walks on by me, and as she walks by me I just get slapped in the face with the smell of this steamer she just left. And at first, I was like what a bitch, man. That was so rude you know? She saw me going over there and she just had to lay one down for me right before I get over there.
Then I kind of started thinking a little bit more about the situation, and with an open mind, I decided that maybe she wasn’t trying to be rude at all. Maybe she knew I was about to clean the litter box so, she figured instead of waiting till I was done cleaning it and then dropping a deuce, which would have been even more rude, she decided to sneak one in right before I cleaned it like a good kitty. And then I thought back to the fact that she didn’t even try to bury it, and i was like maybe she was just being thoughtful didn’t want to have to have me go digging around searching for it. She’s like “He’s going to clean it anyway. I might as well lay it right on top.” So, I just want to say thank you French Fry for being so courteous. Not sure how I feel about the whole not breaking eye contact thing while she’s shitting but I’ll look past it for now.
But what I will say is, I have multiple times experienced cleaning their litter box and two seconds later have someone go in there and drop a juicy dump. And that I do not appreciate. In fact, I’ve literally been in the process of cleaning it, had the lid off, turned around for one second after I scoop all their shit out, and when I turn back there’s a new dump sitting there, and there’s not even a cat around! I’m like how? Is there is there a ghost in this house? It’s like a phantom came in there and just let one rip while I’m in there and I didn’t even see it.
But enough about my litter box escapades. I don’t know, but anybody that’s tuned in right now is probably already tuned out, so on to more wilderness related matters.
Wrapping Up Whitetail Season- 03:35
Whitetail season is officially over down here in the southern zone of New York State and I gotta say guys, I got the skunk treatment this year. Didn’t get a thing. I think all in all I spent probably 50-60 hours out there in the woods, saw plenty of deer, saw tons of sign, just didn’t come together for me. I wanted to go out a couple times for last week of late bow season but we literally got pounded with two feet of snow and it really threw a wrench in my plans. So, my friend Dame and I did get out there one day with the muzzleloader but it was a bitch. We went miles in thigh deep snow and saw tracks, saw beds, they were just hunkered down. I mean, we tried to push through some brush and we might have walked right on top of them, they just were not moving. But we tried, glad we got out there. I let off that muzzle loader once though and that thing BANGS man. 45 caliber muzzleloader, first time I ever shot one and I definitely want to do it again.
But looking ahead now, gonna try to get out there a few times for small game season, try to get some rabbit stew going, and just gonna get my shit together for turkey season. I just got my 12-gauge choked, I’m gonna pattern that in the coming months, practice my turkey calling, and then nail some gobblers come May. So that’ll be my next focus. Until then, because of the snow I literally have my target for my bow down in the basement so I’m just launching arrows across my basement right now at like 15 yards and it’s better than nothing. It’s fun to let some arrows fly. At least i can do that, don’t tell my landlord though.
Florida Shark Attack- 05:22
Alright let’s see if there’s any podcast worthy stories that we should talk about. Apparently, this past week this 39 year old dude down in Florida was attacked by a shark, got bitten in the arm and hand, and then walked home afterwards, bleeding profusely the whole way before someone in the house called 911. I guess the guy was brought to Sarasota Memorial Hospital where he is expected to survive.
Those sharks man I’m telling you. Scary sons of bitches. This summer, me and a couple buddies were supposed to do a triathlon down in New Jersey, and the swimming leg of the race was gonna be in the Atlantic right off the coast. And it got canceled due to Covid, thank God, because at the same time there was like ridiculous amounts of shark sightings down there. So, I don’t know, I don’t have confidence that everyone would have made it out of that race alive. But I guess we’ll never know.
Puppy Saved From Florida Alligator- 06:20
Alright, let’s see what else we got here. This was pretty crazy. Last month, this guy down in Florida saw a puppy being eaten by an alligator so he literally jumps in the water, grabs the gator, wrestles its jaws open, and saves this little puppy’s life. That took some balls on that guy. And the puppy apparently was okay. It was security camera footage on Tik Tok if you want to see it. I’m reading the story right now on the New York Post. And kind of like an under underhanded jab at Florida, the first line says “For once, Florida man is the hero.” Because usually, any story that starts with “Florida man” does not end well. And I have nothing against Florida, but there are some crazy mofos down there. So, cheers to you, hero Florida man. And I’m glad the puppy’s okay.
Puppy Taken by Mountain Lion- 07:21
In other puppy news, last month in Idaho this puppy wasn’t so lucky. A family was visiting the Wild Rose Hot Springs near Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, and a mountain lion attacked one of their small dogs and made off with it, and they were not able to find the dog. Dogs are just getting picked off everywhere man. Small dogs don’t have a chance out in the wild.
I guess, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation, they estimate that there are up to two thousand mountain lions in Idaho and they can be found across the entire state. This isn’t the first incident of this happening, so they always recommend keeping your small dogs on a leash and try to avoid hiking in the early morning or the later evening because that’s when mountain lions are most active. If you do come into contact with a mountain lion, the Idaho Fish and Game recommends to never run away from the mountain lion as it can trigger their instinct to chase you as prey. Also, never turn your back on a mountain lion. They say instead you should face them make yourself as large as possible, like by holding your arms out, holding your jacket open, yell loudly but don’t scream, and slowly back away while maintaining eye contact with the animal.
If the mountain lion does attack, then you have to fight back. They also recommend to carry safety equipment like bear spray, an air horn, and a very bright flashlight if walking in the dark. And if we learned anything from Timothy Treadwell, always carry bear spray.
Orca Attack on Yacht- 09:01
Here’s a crazy story. This is classic Wild Bites Back material. I guess this guy and his crew were sailing a 45-foot yacht off the coast of Portugal in October, when his boat was rammed by a pod of orcas. Apparently, they thought they had a school of dolphins approaching them and when they got closer, they realized that they were orcas. And these orcas just started ramming the boat over and over again.
This attack lasted for two hours. They were smacking the rudder, the wheel was spinning like crazy, and the orcas were just relentless; not stopping. They were dipping down and coming back up ramming the boat, and the guy was scared shitless. He thought that they were going to sink the boat and then they would be really fucked.
They were out of radio range but finally were able to get ahold of the Portuguese coast guard via satellite phone, and the coast guard told them to cut the engine, take down the sails, and basically just be as uninteresting as possible to these orcas. So, they did what they were told. They just started drifting and the orcas continued to ram the boat one after another…bang, bang, bang. Two hours later, as quickly as it started, it all stopped and the orcas just disappeared.
Apparently, the attack is only one of over 40 orca attacks that have occurred this year alone in the waters off the coast of Spain and Portugal. This article ends by suggesting that these killer whale attacks could actually be revenge attacks after their numbers have dwindled due to sustaining injuries from rudders this summer. So, these orcas may be smart enough, I mean, we already know they’re smart enough. I did that whole episode about Tilikum, the killer whale at Sea World. They’re smart as hell and they could actually be plotting revenge attacks against boats for killing their kind. That is wild, that is insane!
The sailors were all okay, but I just thought was crazy. I would be scared shitless. I mean, a 45-foot yacht is not that big, especially compared to a school of seven orcas attacking you, so they’re lucky. I mean they’re really lucky they didn’t get sunk and destroyed by these orcas. But then again, you know, I have sympathy toward the orcas because these humans are encroaching on their habitat, so I don’t know. I just hope I’m not ever the focus of an orca attack.
Hunter Safety- 11:38
Alright, moving on to something that I want to talk about that I kind of alluded to last episode. We’re going to talk a little bit about hunter safety. I had something happen to me during hunting season that I really think that needs to be kind of brought to light. And I know this isn’t a unique occurrence by any means, especially when you’re hunting on public land (even though I was on my own family’s private property when this happened), but it’s something that we really need to be more aware of while we’re out there.
So, I’m sitting up in my tree stand all morning and about 30 yards away from me, I also had a ground blind that I could see, it was kind of semi-covered. I hadn’t seen much that morning and then all of a sudden, the bushes right next to this blind start shaking. And I’m like “yes, alright here we go.” Thought it was, you know, thought it was a deer that was going to be popping out of this bush. Next thing I know, some guy completely camo’ed out, no orange whatsoever, comes popping out of this bush right in the middle of private property, carrying a rifle.
I didn’t say anything at first and I just wanted to see what he was going to do. He didn’t notice me. I was 20 feet up a tree, I was blazed out in orange. And he pops his head inside my blind, looking around. I guarantee he was looking to steal something. And I say that because earlier in the year, my dad had multiple memory cards go missing out of his trail cameras.
But anyway, you know, I didn’t want to startle him so badly that he turned around and took a shot, but I made my presence known. I shouted “Hey, who are you?!” He pops up you know all startled looks up at me. “What are you doing? This is private property, you can’t be here.”
He says “Whoa, I got lost.”
“No you didn’t. You knew exactly what you were doing you probably don’t have any land of your own, instead of taking the time to go find some public land or ask permission, you just decided to take a hike onto someone else’s property and assumed they weren’t going to be there, especially on a Tuesday morning. Take your rifle and get off this property.”
The fact that he’s trespassing on private property in general just kind of pisses me off but you know, I get it, things happen. It’s not like i was anywhere near a property line but whatever. Even if this guy had legitimately been lost. which I don’t believe he was, he would have definitely walked right past a posted sign.
But I want to come back to the point where he wasn’t wearing any safety equipment, he wasn’t wearing any orange. My first thought when I saw the bushes moving was “this is an animal of some sort.” I’m not gonna take a shot into moving bushes just hoping it’s a deer because that would be incredibly irresponsible and dangerous, and we’ll talk a little more about some stories like that in a few minutes, but that was my first thought. And I know that there are people out there who will take a shot into a moving bush for some unbelievable reason. But these are the type of things that you have to be aware of when you’re out in the woods.
So kind of jumping off from here, I think we’re going to spend the rest of the episode talking about some incidents and accidents that have happened out in the woods during this hunting season and hunting seasons past. So, you know, hopefully this will serve as a warning for all you potential hunters out there to just be careful.
Hunting Accident Data-14:57
Okay, so according to the International Hunter Education Association, the U.S. and Canada see about a thousand hunting accidents each year and of these, about 10 percent of them are fatal. One of the most common causes of hunting accidents is falls from tree stand, tree stand injuries from improper safety equipment, not using your harnesses, things of that nature.
And then another common cause of hunter-related injuries and deaths are hunter judgment errors. Not realizing what you’re shooting at, thinking you’re shooting at a deer and really you’re shooting at another hunter, and also pointing the muzzle of your gun in the wrong direction. Those are the most common ones and those are basically what we’re going to be talking about in these stories.
Then we’re going to be wrapping everything up with a really fucked up story that wasn’t even an accident at all…
Mayor-Elect Loses Arm- 15:49
Alright let’s get going. So we’re going to start things off with a few hunting accidents that happened this year in 2020, and this first one happened down in Dunbar, West Virginia. The mayor-elect of Dunbar, Scott Elliott, was out hunting in November when he was mistaken for a deer and he was shot in the arm by another hunter. There aren’t too many more details about the actual incident, but he was rushed to the hospital where he had to undergo several hours’ worth of emergency surgery. But unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save his arm.
Man, imagine getting hit that hard by a bullet that it basically rips your limb right off your body. His arm must have literally just been dangling there as they were trying to get him out of the woods. Like, oh man. But I guess luckily, he’s still alive to tell the tale, and I don’t know if he plans on continuing his mayoral duties but he’s definitely got a story to tell, that’s for sure.
Father & Daughter Killed in Hunting Accident- 16:46
This next story is very tragic and it happened actually at the tail end of last hunting season, but it happened on New Year’s Day in 2020, so I’m gonna lump it in as another 2020 tragedy. And this happened down in Colleton County, South Carolina. A 30-year-old man named Kim Drawdy and his daughter Lauren were out on the last day of hunting season with a couple friends, and they were putting on a deer drive. Basically, they were trying to push deer out of the bushes into an area that other hunters could take a shot at them.
Anyway, another hunter named Sean Peterson was waiting to see what would come out of the bushes, and he saw the bushes moving. So he just took his 12-gauge and began shooting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a deer coming out of the bushes. It was Kim and Lauren, and they were killed instantly.
Absolutely horrible. Sean Peterson realized quickly what he had done. He called 9-1-1 and the transcript just showed how distraught he was. He couldn’t believe what had happened. He couldn’t even finish talking to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. Actually, another guy got on the phone that was hunting with them, explained the situation, took the gun away from Sean, said he wasn’t sure what state of mind Sean was in. Anyway, it ended very tragically with the death of a father and a nine-year-old daughter.
And this just goes back to that idea that people will actually just fire into moving bushes. And I understand, I guess, the nerves and excitement that go into seeing a possible animal coming out of the bushes, but I just don’t understand why people continually take these shots where they don’t know what they’re shooting at. Like, make sure you know what you’re shooting at to avoid situations like this.
And most, I read through tons of stories before getting on to record this podcast and they’re all very similar. You know, man accidentally shot hunter mistaken for a deer. There’s another one out in Ohio, 63-year-old man and his son were out hunting and his father accidentally shot his own son to death even though his son was wearing blaze orange. But it was actually after legal shooting hours so the light was probably low, he didn’t realize, shot his son and killed him on the spot.
Like, I just don’t understand. Is it that worth it? Do you need that deer that much where you’re gonna take a shot that you’re gonna regret? I mean, no. Like, it’s that simple. There’s not even a question about it. It’s absolutely not.
But back to this story about Kim and Lauren. Fast forward six seven months and Sean Peterson was actually charged with two counts of negligent use of a firearm while engaged in hunting that resulted in death. He was convicted of this misdemeanor and he faces up to three years in prison for each count, so a possible six years. It’s just sad all around like, I feel horrible for Kim and Lauren and their family. I feel bad for Sean Peterson too. Obviously, like, he probably never in a million years would have wanted this to happen, and now he’s gonna have to live with that for the rest of his life. I mean, that’s just tragic. So let this be a warning to everybody out there to make sure you know what you’re shooting at, please PLEASE!
Kid Falls Out of Tree Stand, Impales Himself- 20:11
And also wear your safety harness when you’re in a tree, because this next kid should have…
This next accident happened back in November down in Tishomingo County, North Carolina. And the victim is 17-year-old Justin Lee Smith. This is another sad story but also, really for lack of a better word, bizarre. Justin Lee Smith went up his ladder stand on a Saturday afternoon, and while he was up there, he was about 10 feet off the ground, his ladder stand shifted and turned on him. And he fell out of the ladder stand, was not wearing his safety harness, fell on top of his rifle, and his rifle barrel went right through his torso and impaled him. He was able to call 9-1-1 but he died shortly after, before paramedics even arrived.
Tragic, obviously, I’m gonna use the word tragic a lot this episode, but bizarre. Like, imagine how perfectly you have to land to be impaled by your own rifle. I’m imagining he didn’t have a bayonet on the end of his rifle so the force he had to hit that blunt barrel with that had to hurt like a bitch. i could not even imagine. I feel so bad for Justin Lee Smith. And they ruled it a “firearm related death” which, I guess is technically true. He was killed by a firearm but it wasn’t like he was shot. He staked himself like a freaking vampire.
This should serve as a warning to please, please wear your safety harnesses when you’re in a tree. Lots of people falling out of tree stands. I even heard of a local guy who he had been a hunter safety instructor for years and years and years, and he was getting into his tree stand, fell 20 feet, broke his neck and paralyzed himself. That was just this hunting season as well. That shit is serious too.
Please attach yourself to your tree. Get a nice vest harness. They’re comfortable, you don’t even realize they’re there. It’s one extra step to tether yourself to a tree and it’ll save your life.
Dog Shoots Hunter- 22:09
Alright, so before we get to the main event of this episode, I just have a couple more stories from previous hunting seasons that should serve as a reminder to always point the muzzle of your gun in a safe direction, make sure the safety’s on, make sure your gun’s unloaded things of that nature.
So, this first story is from 2017, happened down in Iowa in the Boone River Green Belt Conservation Board Public Hunting Area…That’s a mouthful. Three guys with a couple hunting dogs they were out pheasant hunting in the early afternoon. They stopped to take a break and one of the hunters laid his 12-gauge down on the ground without unloading it, without even putting the safety on. And one of the hunting dogs just nonchalantly walked on by, stepped on the trigger guard and, BOOM! Blasted one of the other hunters right in the back from about 20 yards away. The guy was fine, minus all the bird shot in his backside, but he had to go to the hospital, get x-rayed, get all the pellets removed one by one which couldn’t have been pleasant.
But besides the obvious lessons to be learned from this story, I felt like there was something very poetic about a hunting dog shooting a hunter. And this just goes to show you, you don’t need opposable thumbs to pull the trigger of a gun. So watch your back, literally.
Dick Cheney Hunting Accident- 23:30
Alright, and now we’re taking it all the way back to 2006. Our former vice president, Dick Cheney, in the infamous hunting accident that he was involved in. And I remember back in the day I had heard that he was involved in a hunting accident and people were joking, “oh he shot some guy in the ass!”
Well, I am here to set the record straight that Dick Cheney did not shoot somebody in the ass. He literally shot somebody in the face.
This hunting accident took place on February 11, 2006 down in Riviera, Texas. And as with most government related incidents, the details are a little convoluted. I’m not sure exactly what the real story is but this is what was reported.
So, this accident took place on a 50,000 acre privately owned ranch down, as I said, in Riviera, Texas. There were seven members in this hunting party in all plus some secret service members and the ranch owner all present at the time. The gentleman who ended up getting shot in this unfortunate accident was named Harry Whittington. He was a 78-year-old guy and he was part of this seven-person hunting party.
They were hunting quail at the time and so basically what happened was, a flock of quail flew up from this field and Whittington shot and downed one of the birds. So far so good. And so he split off from this group to go look for the quail he just downed, and the rest of the party continued on without him, looking for more quail to hunt in this field.
Alright, and this is where things fall apart. At this point, Whittington’s about 30 to 40 yards away from the group searching for this quail and while he’s searching for this quail, another quail flies up right next to him. And Dick Cheney sees this bird fly up, he swings his gun around right in Whittington’s direction, and fires at this quail. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit the quail. He hit Whittington right in the face, neck, and chest with a 28-gauge shotgun. Not the biggest shotgun in the world, but I’m sure it didn’t tickle.
Secret service agents and medical personnel, who were already on scene just on standby for Dick Cheney, rushed to Whittington’s aid. They treated his wounds and there was- the funny thing is there was actually an ambulance already there on standby because Dick Cheney had a known heart issue. So, they were just kind of waiting for him to like drop dead of a heart attack or something. Just so happens he shot someone in the face. So, uh, Whittington was transported via ambulance to Corpus Christi Medical Center for further treatment.
The story doesn’t quite end there though. Doctors decided to leave about 30 birdshot pellets lodged in Whittington’s body. They thought it would be more harmful to try to remove them instead of just leaving them alone. So, he spent a couple days in the intensive care unit under observation but he was eventually deemed stable enough to be moved to the step-down unit.
But the following morning, he went into a cardiac arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation, and he also suffered a minor heart attack. He had to undergo a cardiac catheterization and doctors found a shot pellet lodged in his heart which caused inflammation, and this is what led to the arrhythmia and the heart attack. And he was also found to have a collapsed lung at the time as well. He was once again stabilized though, and a few days later he was fortunately discharged from the hospital more or less intact.
But one of the most fucked up parts is Whittington actually released a statement a couple days later apologizing to Dick Cheney and his family, saying “My family and I are deeply sorry for everything vice president Cheney and his family have had to deal with. We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves.”
Man, talk about brown nosing. Dude gets shot in the face, has a heart attack, and then apologizes to the guy who shoots him. But you know, I guess that’s the perk of being vice president.
Anyway, just make sure you know what you’re shooting at so you don’t pull a Dick Cheney. We’re just going to say so you don’t pull a Dick. Make sure you know what you’re looking at so you don’t pull a Dick.
The Tree Stand Murders-27:42
Alright, enough dick jokes. We’re on to the main event of this episode. And I’m talking about the infamous tree stand murders. I gotta give my friend Dame a shout out on this one. He’s the one that sent me this because I had never actually heard of it until recently. And the more I read, the more I was like we definitely have to talk about this. So, thank you Dame.
You may have heard of this incident. It took place back in November 2004, so it’s been a little while, but this is one of those stories that, it’s just unbelievable how insane it is. And we’re talking a lot about hunter safety this and that, this has nothing to do with hunter safety. This is cold-blooded murder, plain and simple.
So, first let me give you a little background about this situation. The guy involved is named Chai Vang. I may be butchering that but we’re gonna go with it. He is a naturalized Hmong American from Laos. I’m not a historian but essentially, during the Vietnam War there was basically a Hmong genocide going on, and Vang was fortunately able to escape this genocide with his family. And so, they moved to California in 1980 when Chai Vang was 12 years old.
He served six years in the California national guard and then in 2000, he and his family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota. At this point in his life, Vang was the father of seven children, he was a family shaman, worked as a truck driver, and he was also an avid hunting enthusiast.
So, fast forward to November 21st 2004. Vang decided to go on a hunting trip with a few friends. They went over to Wisconsin to take advantage of the short Wisconsin deer season, and it’s pretty much all downhill from here. The area they were hunting was in a town called Meteor, Wisconsin and I guess, it’s kind of a mix of private and public land. But they started their day on public land- anybody can go hunt there, it’s kind of a free-for-all.
So, at some point during the day, Chai Vang was by himself. He ended up getting turned around, wasn’t exactly sure where he was on this piece of public property, and ended up wandering onto a 400-acre piece of private land. He sees a tree stand; he decides to go up there and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in this tree stand trying to get himself a deer.
What he didn’t know was there was a cabin on the property with a hunting party of 15 people, all hanging out in this cabin. And one of the co-owners of the property, his name was Terry Willers, he noticed some guy sitting up in the tree stand. So, he radioed into the cabin and asked if anybody was out hunting. Everyone’s like no, there shouldn’t be anybody in that tree stand right now. So, Willers approached Vang, told him that this was private property, he wasn’t allowed to be here. Vang got out of the tree stand, apologized, and he headed south down a trail trying to find his way off the property.
And, according to the court testimony, Willers got back on the radio, and said “I had a tree rat and I had chased him off.” At that point, five of the other hunters from the hunting cabin all decided to come out. They met him at the tree stand and they clearly weren’t satisfied with letting Chai Vang go…Big mistake. They all decided to go find him so they could talk to him more, find out who he was, find out why he was there, and “make sure that he knows he’s not welcomed here.”
So. this group of hunters all got on their ATV, and they drove down the trail, approached Chai Vang, and this is basically where the details get really convoluted. It’s kind of more of like a “he said, she said “sort of thing, and we don’t actually know what happened. But according to the testimonies in court, this is essentially what I gathered.
They pulled up to Vang, they cut in front of him with their quads so he couldn’t keep walking away, and one of the hunters grabbed Vang’s hunting license and wrote down the license number in the dirt that was on the quad so they could report him to the authorities. Then an argument broke out. Vang testified that they were throwing many racial slurs in his direction. The other hunters deny this but, I mean, I guess since this is my podcast, I’m allowed to give my opinion and I’m assuming there were some racial slurs being thrown in his direction. One thing that he did say that they were calling him was a “mud duck” which, I guess is not actually a racial slur. It’s what people from Wisconsin call Minnesotans, just like Minnesotans call people from Wisconsin “cheese heads.” But Vang pointed out that they didn’t know he was from Minnesota, so they were using the term as a racial slur. I don’t know. But he also testified that they were throwing other Asian related racial slurs at him which i will not repeat on this podcast, but you can use your imagination.
Then, according to the testimony, Vang proceeded to flip off the hunters, which Vang denies but they said it happened. And things rapidly devolved from there. Vang started to walk away. He was carrying with him a Chinese style semi-automatic Saiga hunting rifle. He took the scope off, turned around, and just opened fire on all eight members of the hunting party. He killed five instantly. injured two, and one of the other ones died the following day making the total death toll six and two injured.
He then calmly left the scene on foot, got rid of the rest of his ammo, and came across another hunter who asked him if he was lost; asked him if he needed help getting out of the woods. This other hunter had no idea that he just murdered six people, and so he gave Vang a ride out of the woods on his ATV and eventually took him to Vang’s cabin.
When he got to his cabin about five hours after the shooting, there was already an officer waiting for him, who arrested him as soon as he arrived. I guess they were actually able to identify him by the license number that the other hunter wrote down in the dirt on the four-wheeler. Brought him to jail and his bail was set at two and a half million.
Now we’re going to talk about the trial really quick, and Chai Vang definitely didn’t help his case. Chai Vang testified that he only began firing when another hunter fired at him, and so he feared for his life so he began shooting, which, there’s no proof that anybody else fired any shots at Chai Vang. He also, when asked if one of the hunters deserved to die, said yes, he deserved to die. He shot a couple of the hunters in the back because they were “disrespectful,” and then he said one of the other hunters deserved to die because “he accused me of giving him the finger and tried to cut in front of me to stop me from leaving.” Oh, and he also deserved to die because “he had a gun.”
Vang then went on to reenact all the killings using his hands and arms to imitate him firing a rifle and basically, all his defense could say was there’s a language barrier so he doesn’t really mean what he’s saying.
He was convicted on six charges of first-degree murder, three charges of attempted murder, and he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences plus 70 years. And Chai Vang is currently serving his life sentence in Anamosa state penitentiary in Iowa, just in case you want to send him a greeting card or something.
And that’s the story of Chai Vang and the infamous tree stand murders. I guess one of the only lessons to be learned from this story is don’t be an antagonist simply for the sake of being an antagonist. And like I said, I am not necessarily victim blaming or anything, but had they not gone to chase down this guy, they would all still be alive and hunting today. You know, you never exactly know who you’re dealing with. You could be dealing with a complete fucking psycho and not even know it so just be careful.
Dipshit of the Week- Stephen Brandenburg- 36:12
Alright, and that brings us to our closing segment of this podcast; The Dipshit of the Week! And this week’s dipshit is also from Wisconsin. I’m talking about 46-year-old Stephen Brandenburg. Congratulations Stephen, you are the Dipshit of the Week.
And this information is coming from a January 1st Daily News article by Jessica Schladbeck.
Stephen is the Wisconsin pharmacist who is accused of destroying more than 500 doses of the covid19 vaccine. Steven’s currently in jail awaiting formal charges. But he has since been fired from his job at the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton after he’s accused of pulling 57 vials of the coronavirus vaccine treatment from the refrigerator and leaving them out overnight. He knew it would render the vaccines useless and lead people to believe that they’d been vaccinated properly, said police.
While authorities have not yet officially released the suspect’s identity, Stephen Brandenburg, a licensed pharmacist, was booked Thursday at the Ozaukee County Jail on counts of criminal damage to property and second-degree recklessly endangering safety, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
I’m assuming that Stephen had such a good time in 2020 that he just wanted to keep the good times rolling, so he figured he’d prevent as many people as possible from getting vaccinated so we would have to deal with this hell for one more year. And that’s why, Stephen, you are the Dipshit of the Week. Congratulations and hopefully you get some solid time behind bars.
Outtro-37:53
Alright friends, that’s going to do it for this episode of The Wild Bites Back. Thank you so much for sticking around, make sure to check us out on Instagram @thewildbitesback. We’re also on Facebook, and make sure to check out our website as well; thewildbitesback.com.
Until next time guys…Stay safe and stay alive!