One of my hunting buddies (Im down to 2 1/2 since one has developed MS, and shows up about half the time) has a friend who is a member of a family hunting club, started perhaps 75 years ago. My friend got to tour the property, about 1K acres, in Pine County MN.
During the tour, it came up that one of the founding members had died from an accidental self inflicted wound, attempting to lower his Marlin lever gun from his tree stand with a rope. The 35 Remington bullet entered under his jaw, and made for a quick, if grim, death. My understanding is this was not a recent occurrence, and happened long ago.
The club responded by banning hammer guns of any type.
I dont know the details of how it happened, and dont understand the logic behind the decision. My single exposed hammer gun is a Marlin 336C in 30-30, that has a safety button in addition to the half cock hammer, but, I have never actually fired the gun (inherited)and dont have an opinion on it.
Good enough reminder to be safe out there.
Best,
Ted
