Robert Caudill

Hunting accident claims life

An Ennice man died in an apparent hunting accident sometime during the evening hours of Nov. 30 after his firearm discharged. N.C. Wildlife Officer K.B. Blankenship said Robert Lee “Beak” Caudill, 47, died from a single gunshot wound to the knee.

Caudill was the manager of Bittersweet Farm, where the accident occurred, and was an avid hunter. “He had hunted all his life,” said Blankenship. “He was a personal friend. I had hunted with him.” According to Blankenship, Caudill was hunting with a Savage 30-.06 rifle in a lock-on tree stand about 125 yards from a farm road, where he parked his truck. Sometime around dusk, Caudill had exited his stand using tree steps after lowering his firearm, barrel down, with a small rope. After reaching the ground, Caudill reached for his weapon, which was on the other side of the tree.

“It was a fairly large tree and he had to reach around to get his firearm to pull it to him,” said Blankenship. “The trigger caught on some kind of object and the weapon fired.” The ‘object’ was likely either a tree step or a small tree branch, said the N.C. Wildlife officer.

The gun was loaded and the safety was only partially engaged, said Blankenship. Blankenship said he at first thought the safety was engaged during his investigation of the incident until testing the weapon. “It was a slide safety behind the bolt of the gun,” Blankenship said.

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