Taking the safety off...spook a turkey?

[Marc]

I will say this, though. From my personal experience with the subspecies, the one that is least likely to stand and look and let you shoot at him is the Eastern, followed by Osceola's...at least where I have hunted them. At the other extreme are Merriam's and Goulds, which will often let you get away with significant movement...but not always...again, depends on the individual bird.  Rio's have been a crapshoot...sometimes spooking immediately, and sometimes just standing there. 

In the end, though, it seems each individual gobbler can be unpredictable as to how he is going to react to movement...so it is best to err on the cautious side with all of them. Regardless, you will very quickly be aware if the one in front of you is a "stander and looker" or a "flusher and flyer" if you make a move that they take note of...   

Having limited experience with different subspecies that is interesting information.  Guess I made (the incorrect) assumption that behavior is similar in this aspect...  That'll teach me to make assumptions...

When I am going to shoot, I tend to make the move quickly (unless the bird is turned away, or I think that he cannot see me well)...  I know it will happen, but as of yet, I have not had a bird bugger out before I can make a clean shot on him.  When I make the decision, it is probably 0.5 seconds for me to move/shoot.  I tend to make this shot more like wing-shooting (i.e. pointing) than sighting down the barrel and aiming as I normally would for a turkey...

Terrain and hunting pressure also likely influence this behavior...

My tendency to never be ready when a bird comes in, or to ALWAYS be facing the wrong direction, is one of the big reasons I do not switch to optics.   I do not feel I could move/shoot as quickly and/or effectively with optics on the gun.

[Moore]

My safety doesn't come off until I'm ready to shoot. If a bird hears that little bit of sound , then my hat is off to that bird has he walk away..

[Penguin907]

Is it a turkey hunter thing to be overly cautious with manual safeties? I do a lot of shooting in other contexts, and safeties aren't often used outside of storage or travel. Just don't have your booger picker on the bang button until you are ready to shoot.

[g8rvet]

Is it a turkey hunter thing to be overly cautious with manual safeties? I do a lot of shooting in other contexts, and safeties aren't often used outside of storage or travel. Just don't have your booger picker on the bang button until you are ready to shoot.

I shoot dove, quail, ducks, geese, some skeet and sporting clays and my safety is on until a millisecond before the shot.  It is not even a conscious decision - it is liking tracking a flying bird, it is just muscle memory at this point.  I do the same turkey hunting. I can think of very few cases, if any, where my safety came off that I did not fire the gun. 

Now, with pistols?  Especially protection and striker fires - no safeties.

[Marc]

Is it a turkey hunter thing to be overly cautious with manual safeties? I do a lot of shooting in other contexts, and safeties aren't often used outside of storage or travel. Just don't have your booger picker on the bang button until you are ready to shoot.

I do not think it is a turkey hunting thing...  I have never hunted anything with the safety off...  Triggers can catch on brush, vests, anything sticking out in a duck blind, etc...  I have seen accidental discharges removing guns from a quad, falling, etc...  Turkey hunting is probably the most dangerous...  I have crawled on the ground, through brush, grass, etc. to make a strategic move to an unseen bird.  When my gun goes off, it is because I want it to.

For most of my wing-shooting, or any hunting I do, I would not feel comfortable hunting with someone not using a safety.  I have no issue walking through the woods with a loaded gun (as some turkey hunters do not), but the safety is on.

Muzzle control/direction is the most important thing about gun safety, but using the safety on a gun while hunting has no disadvantage, but not using one has the potential for a catastrophic consequences.

I shoot dove, quail, ducks, geese, some skeet and sporting clays and my safety is on until a millisecond before the shot.  It is not even a conscious decision - it is liking tracking a flying bird, it is just muscle memory at this point.  I do the same turkey hunting. I can think of very few cases, if any, where my safety came off that I did not fire the gun.

I agree...   Same for me...  Safety comes off with the gun mount unconsciously...  It takes no extra time or effort, and is ingrained muscle memory for me.

I have been known to take that safety off on an approaching turkey with my gun shouldered/ready, before he is in range...  Might wait for him to get behind a rock or tree, and hit the safety to avoid unnecessary movement/sound...  But honestly, it is more of an "anticipation" reaction.  I can (very) quietly pinch that safety off with very little motion...  I suppose it is something in my brain that says "now that I have turned the safety off, I am going to shoot for sure!"

[zelmo1]

I've seen gobblers get alleted from from a loud safety click ,enough for me to adopt the practice of  sliding the safety over with my thumb one side and pointer on the other  slowly easing it in to off , the chances of spooking a gobbler fall mainly from head movement at the wrong ...wrong time...been there sooo many times

Alot of times they come in so fast I don't even remember instinctively letting the safety off

I have always done it this way, just instinct I guess. Never lost a bird to " the click"  Z