Hunters’ safety

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By Gwendolynne Larson (Contact)

Originally published 01:03 p.m., March 20, 2008
Updated 01:03 p.m., March 20, 2008

Photo by Gwendolynne Larson

Deidra and Rich Rattay hold one of the signs they’ve produced that they hope will keep hunters safe in the field. The couple are avid hunters, as evidenced by the mounted turkey fans on the wall behind them.

An Emporia couple hopes a product they’ve developed will keep hunters safer in the field and avoid tragedies like the one that claimed the life of an Americus teen in December.

Dr. Rich and Deidra Rattay already were developing signs that hunters can post alerting outsiders that decoys are in use when 18-year-old Beau Arndt was fatally shot while camouflaged among goose decoys. The young man’s death hit home for the Rattays in more ways than one.

Deidra Rattay’s daughter knew Beau from high school.

Rich Rattay knew Beau’s father, Bob Arndt.

And Rich Rattay knew what it was like to be shot while hunting.

“I was shot one time by a hunter because he didn’t know I was there,” the Emporia orthopedic surgeon said.

He was turkey hunting in Missouri and was on one side of a creek. Another turkey hunter was on the other side of the creek. Neither hunter knew the other was there.

“The turkey jumped in the creek area,” he recalled.

The other hunter fired his shotgun and hit Rattay, who was against a tree.

“It hit me in the head, one in the forearm and once in the groin.”

The injuries required surgery, and Rich Rattay considers himself lucky that the shots came from a shotgun rather than a rifle.

In Beau Arndt’s case, a Topeka man is charged with the fatal shooting. Theron Thomas Kent told investigators he was hunting coyotes when the shooting happened. Prosecutors contend he was shooting illegally at Beau Arndt’s goose decoys. The details will be argued in court when Kent’s trial begins in late June.

In the meantime, the Rattays want other hunters and their families to avoid what the Arndts are going through.

“Some hunting you do with blaze orange on, like deer,” Rich Rattay said. “For turkeys, you have to be invisible.

“Especially for turkey, duck, geese, you’re so vulnerable. You’re right behind them (the decoys).”

But it’s not just fowl hunters who can benefit from the signs, the Rattays said. Deidra Rattay recalls deer hunting with her husband while he was setting a deer decoy.

“He was carrying the deer over his shoulder,” she said, recalling that they noticed drivers on the road slowing down as they passed. “I thought, ‘Someone is going to shoot at us.’”

Rich Rattay acknowledges that hunters shouldn’t have to worry, but “anywhere decoys are used, there’s going to be somebody who does something they shouldn’t.”

The signs feature a shield design that the Rattays adopted because the shape wasn’t already associated with safety, unlike, for instance, octagons for stop.

“We wanted something like a symbol people, we hope, will get to know as a hunter warning,” Rich Rattay said.

The signs are made of corrugated plastic to withstand weather conditions and have bright colors to be seen from a distance. They’re produced by a Kansas company that specializes in election promotion materials. They come with a metal stand that can be pushed into the ground, but Rich Rattay said hunters easily could nail them to a post.

Right now, distribution is small. Bluestem plans to carry them, Rich Rattay said, and the couple is working with other Emporia retail outlets.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has purchased a supply for hunter education instructors to display during spring safety classes. The Rattays hope hunters will learn to use the signs for protection. Although retailers will set their own sale prices, the Rattays are hoping to produce them at a price that will fit into most hunters’ budgets.

The first two signs went to Beau Arndt’s father, Bob. The Rattays plan to donate a portion of the proceeds from the signs to Beau Arndt’s memorial fund, which the family dedicated to hunter safety education.

Eventually, the Rattays hope to build their company, Dr. Hunter LLC. They incorporated in early December, shortly before Beau Arndt’s death.

“We planned on having a company making hunting-related products, videos and we could take people on hunts,” Rich Rattay said.

But for now, the decoy signs are the most important project of the new company.

“We talked about it for a long time,” Deidra Rattay said about the signs. “But when someone you know in the community is killed, it hits close.

“We thought we just have to get it out there.”

F For those without a nearby retail outlet, the signs can be ordered directly from Dr. Hunter LLC by calling (620) 341-9129.