• Updated:Feb. 07, 2023, 6:19 p.m.|
• Published:Feb. 07, 2023, 6:00 a.m.

https://www.syracuse.com/outdoors/2023/02/he-didnt-need-to-die-cny-hunters-family-tries-to-move-on-after-fatal-accident.html

He didn’t need to die: CNY hunter’s family tries to move on after fatal accident

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• Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com

Mike Rinaldo was hunting with his son, Michael, one Saturday in late November when he heard a single gunshot echo through the woods. It came from the direction of his son’s tree stand, about half a mile away.

Mike texted his son, got no reply, and went to investigate. He hoped to find Michael gutting the big buck they’d been tracking. At first Mike couldn’t find him — not in his stand, not in the woods.

Then Mike noticed his son’s seat cushion dangling from the top of the tree strand. And directly below the stand, lying motionless on the ground, was Michael.

“I knew right then…