Fair, I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense. My first thought was that it was a very blatant murder cover up. But ive apparently fallen too deep into fiction if that's what cane to mind first.

Aside from emphasizing the hat, that also seems like an opportunity to emphasize the importance of positively identifying one's target and backstop. It's reckless to shoot at something that might be a valid target.

I saw the poor kid’s hair in the thumbnail and was like “oh no.”

There are a LOT of brown squirrels in the Midwest.

I’d make sure to cut my hair AND wear a hat if I was going squirrel hunting and had hair like that.

Yeah it was the craziest thing! Someone shouted, “Hey look, a squirrel” and the poor kid just keeled over.

The real question is why the fuck anyone would go hunting for squirrels with a large enough caliber weapon that it could kill a person.

You can drop a squirrel with a pellet air rifle im sure. Anything larger than that and youre not hunting a squirrel, youre just blowing it away.

Hunting squirrels is stupid enough on its own without doing it solely for the sake of shooting something thats alive. Thats not conservation, its blood sport

Squirrels are good eating.

Or how big are Iowa squirrels?

(Apologies in advance for a morbid joke.)

Presumably, he was even carrying some nuts...

The skeptic in me says it was an execution.

A bunch of "friends" go out shooting and they pop him in the head?

Why would you hunt squirrels?

Suggestion: instead of only preventing idiots from getting their hands in guns, why not prevent idiots? You know, with quality, accessible public education.