11 turkey hunters shot with 2 deaths reported so far

[MDSTRUTNRUT]

In my 23-1/2 years in my former job I the opportunity to be personally involved in investigating or assisted the investigation on  4 hunting accidents where someone was shot where they were mistaken for game all were non-fatal.     Only 1 was turkey hunting where a 12 year old shot his father in the face after his father left him and snuck away to work a gobbling bird then crawled back and waved a brown glove at his son, he lost an eye.  The juvenile had not attended a hunter safety class.    Another group was quail hunting released birds when a teenager shot a father of a friend that when he didn't check the background as he  swung on a bird.     It was raining and no orange was visible as they had raincoats on.     In another a deer hunter shot his brother in a field at dark or just after with a .30-06.   The victim had on brown coveralls and probably did not have orange displayed.     The last was a deer hunter that shot his friend on a moonlit snow covered nite with a 12 gauge slug( it was muzzleloader season) and the victim was riding an atv looking for his friend sitting in a ditch.   Point is sometimes it's not a stranger or slob road hunter but a family member or hunting partner.     That's not alot of data or accidents so like stated turkey hunting is safer than riding in your vehicle to your hunt spot but can tell you it was devastating to those all those people involved.    There were other accidents that I was familiar with some fatal  but these I had personal hands on knowledge.   I guess the accidents reported this year struck a nerve and I just wanted to keep up everyone's awareness.     Again  BE SAFE!

[GobbleGitr]

Agree with those of you saying stay diligent; in my decades of hunting I have been stalked twice (chilling!) and had several friends who where shot-thankfully none fatally. Shannon I am sorry for your loss! Yes...turkey hunting is a safe sport considering the accident rate in many other pursuits, but none of us should be complacent or satisfied with even 1 hunter shot in the spring turkey woods. 

[Neill_Prater]

For probably the last 30 years of my turkey hunting career, I have continuously carried a lightweight hunter orange vest like those commonly used during deer season in the right cargo pocket of my hunting pants. Easily reachable even when sitting on the ground or in a gobbler lounger. If I see or hear another hunter approaching my location, I just slip it out and display it. It quickly gets their attention, and is, in my opinion, safer than any other form of communication in those situations, even yelling. The one exception to this is if it I happen to be set up on a bird predawn when it is too early for the orange to really stand out. I think I've only had that happen once, and then I did speak.

One advantage of the orange is that the other hunter doesn't have to be on top of you. See someone at the other end of a quarter mile long field? Displaying the orange vest lets them know another person is in the area quietly and safely.

[WorkingBirds]

There must be alot of idiots in the woods in some places some of these accidents are pure stupidity

+1

[eggshell]

Please understand I am not targeting anyone specific, but just making a general statement.

It's common thought and opinion that mostly or only idiots do stupid things and thus are the perpetrators in accidents. My friends, we have all had our moments of idiocy and poor judgement. The point of discussing all these accidents, reaping and unsafe acts in general is to make us think more and be aware we all are one second away from making a bad decision at any moment in the woods. The more it's in our mind the less likely we are to do something stupid. I for one wish I could say I have not done stupid things, but I can't. I think it's when we think we can't make a mistake that we do. I can't tell you how many times I have had hunting partners with me say, "I hear a hen" and my reply is, "it's a hunter" and they say, "no it's a hen" and I repeat,"it's a hunter until you know it's not". Most of the time it is a hen, but you should think it's a hunter. One time a very good friend and I had this very conversation and he set up on a tree and pointed his gun down the hill saying there may be a gobbler following that hen. I said sternly get your gun down it's a hunter. 10 minutes after that, we pick out a guy working his way up the hill and sure enough he stops and calls and he is a darn good caller. My buddy looks at me and with a very long face and says, ok it's a hunter I'm sorry". It actually was a water shed moment for him and he has never approached a hen call the same. Now fall hunting complicates the scenario greatly as hens are legal. We do call to the hens and set up on them, but we never raise a gun until we are sure.

[Dtrkyman]

I used to flip out that orange flap on my vest when toting out birds on public.

Thinking about a light orange beanie type gap maybe for walking out!

Just read about a deer hunter being shot while dressing his buck, he was wearing ornage


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[Swenny]

Man this stuff scares the bejesus of me. I always throw the orange flag on my vest when I'm walking out, and carry an orange ball cap that I also wear on the way out.

Please stay safe my friends, and make safe decisions.

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