by Rod Hughes

Sometimes Mother Nature has a way of getting her vengeance in the most unique way. Case in point: the bizarre death in Carrillo, Guanacaste province of Zacarías Angulo, admired by his friends as an expert hunter. One night this week he and a companion, Jorge Barrantes, went out 15 kilometers from the town of Filadefia, Barrantes to illuminate the deer on this moonlight night.

“Spotlighting” deer is illegal in most countries because the deer is blinded by the light and freezes making an easy and unsporting target. But Angulo chose a highpoint and strung a hammock to sit in with comfort while the deer was driven to him. Fortunately for the prey but to Angulo’s disaster, he chose a dead branch to tie one end of the hammock..The branch broke as he waited along about 11 p.m., firearm in lap. Angulo fell more than 20 feet, landing on his head. He died of a broken neck.

Warned by Angulo’s cry as he was falling, Barrantes came running to find Angulo at the bottom of a steep hill. Barrantes ran for help but it was 3 a.m. before Jorge Luis Vega of the Belen Red Cross could reach the scene. Nothing could be done for Angulo by then.