Can an Avid Hunter Physically Shoot Themselves with a Shotgun?

Reader’s Question

Is it typical that an expert marksman/avid hunter would shoot themselves in the chest with a 20 gauge shotgun to commit suicide, much less is it physically possible?

Psychologist’s Reply

To determine if the situation is typical, I’ll need to assume the individual is a male. Under that assumption, men typically commit suicide using firearms or hanging. It is physically possible to use a shotgun in a suicide attempt, sometimes by using a stick to pull the trigger.

The theme of your question suggests you are dealing with a death under mysterious circumstances, perhaps a shooting that has been ruled suicide but you have doubts. While it is possible to use a shotgun for purposeful self-harm, it’s also not unusual to die by accident under such circumstances. I live in an area where deer hunting with a shotgun is very popular. Almost every hunting season produces injuries and death by accident, typically by mishandling the weapon. Even avid hunters and expert marksmen make mistakes with many accidental deaths caused by crossing a fence on a property, checking a misfire (bullet/slug didn’t fire), dropping the shotgun, cleaning a weapon with a shell in the chamber, or by other rare circumstances.

In these situations, it’s often a debate between death by suicide or accident. It may be helpful to consider the question of depression prior to the shooting incident. Did the individual show signs of depression, loss, or crisis prior to the incident? Were they involved in high-stress events such as bereavement, divorce or marital separation, job loss, significant financial loss, etc.? We often look at other aspects such as medical health, age, and lifestyle changes such as retirement or job change. Remember that deaths are often ruled suicide because of the preparation observed in the scene and the feeling that the sequence of events was purposeful. The exhibited sequence of climbing over a fence, for example, tends to tell authorities that a shooting was accidental.

In the end, however, a level of mystery will always remain. If this is a bereavement situation, I would recommend an exploration of the facts for only a short time. At that time, make peace with the facts available and start the bereavement process, focusing on the life of the individual rather than their death. Many sudden deaths have unanswered questions regarding medical treatment, emergency care, the thoughts or mental state of the deceased, etc. Some people become so preoccupied and obsessed with the unanswered questions that their bereavement continues for many years…often decades. To assist you in this journey, I would recommend seeing a counselor/therapist. At this point your thinking is flooded by questions, options, concerns, possibilities, etc. A professional is often helpful when sorting through those thoughts.

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