Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 15, 1994                   TAG: 9411150118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HUNTER SHOT, NOT WEARING BLAZE ORANGE

Robert Wayne Crawford of New Castle was shot with a .50-caliber muzzleloader about 6:30 a.m., said state Game Warden Rolland Cox. The slug entered below Crawford's ribs on his left side, exited above his right hipbone and lodged in his elbow.

He was airlifted from a thickly wooded area off Virginia 614 near Woods Road and taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. At the family's request, the hospital would not release information on his condition, according to a nursing supervisor.

Crawford was not wearing a blaze-orange garment, which helps makes hunters more visible to each other through bushes and trees. The state does not require hunters who use muzzleloaders to wear orange, "but it's always a good idea," Cox said.

No charges have been filed against the man who shot Crawford. The man stayed with the victim, calling to other hunters in the area for help and apparently keeping Crawford conscious, Cox said.