Most likely he was in the stand with a bolt action rifle and there were probably 3-4 of them walking deer up and shooting them with shotguns. Maybe he said something to them, threatened them or pointed his rifle at them for trespassing and said he was calling the GW. We most likely will never know. In any case, he was a sitting duck up in a tree like that. They probably shot him out like a squirrel. Maybe when push came to shove he lost his nerve and didn't pull the trigger and wasn't willing to take another human beings life and the lowlife thugs did. Just a sad sad situation.