If your not sure, don't shoot!

There is no excuse for these types of accidents.

A man has 2 legs, a deer 4.
A deer has brown fur, a man does not.
A man walks with his body vertical, a deer horizontal.

No, it doesn't matter that the victim was not wearing orange. The shooter should know what he is shooting at before he ever aims the gun, let alone pull the trigger.

The only thing that probably saved the victim was the fact that the shooter was using a muzzle loader, making it a single shot.

Man mistakes cousin for deer, shoots him with muzzle-loader

"After a 48-year-old Amesville area man let his cousin go deer hunting on his land Monday, the visiting relative accidentally shot him, according to a state wildlife official.
Jack Jago of Wrightstown Road was listed as being in fair condition Wednesday morning at Grant Medical Center in Columbus."
"Reportedly, Jack Jago had allowed his cousin to hunt on his land. The landowner was out walking a property line to make sure that no other unauthorized hunters were on his property, when Addison Jago, thinking he was a deer, shot him, Donnelly said."