Be careful out there!

[aclawrence]

I do not know all the details yet but one of my friends hadhad someone sneak in on him this morning and shoot his decoy on the management area. Apparently he could not see the guy coming in and got the surprise of his life lol. Y'all be careful!


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[dublelung]

It takes a brave or suicidal fella to hunt public land with decoys. He's very fortunate to have not taken a few of those pellets to the face.

Too many trigger happy idiots out there shooting at sounds, movement, or fake turkeys.

[kyturkeyhunter4]

I would defentily agree with dublelung he is a very lucky man. I would never take decoys in on public land he is very fortunate

[bghunter777]

I leave the male decoys at home on most public

[MK M GOBL]

Hope he is ok and was just "startled", did the guy approach him to make sure of no injury?

I only ever hunt "hen" decoys on public and NEVER put a "male" decoy out.

MK M GOBL

[howl]

"play stupid games, win stupid prizes" 

[silvestris]

Did the shooter "fist pump".

[saltysenior]

was it a hen decoy??

[tha bugman]

My daughter got educated this past weekend.  We had another hunter move in on us.  I told her, that is it was not a real hen and to be on the lookout for someone to her right and to be still.  Sure enough guy makes a big arc just out of sight, then she sees him hard left (I did not).  It was a teachable moment as I told her..."if you see someone say im over here, don't wave, or make any sudden movements.  In the heat of the moment we must be vigilant to maintain situational awareness whether its on public or private. 

[Old Gobbler]

Better the decoy getting shot , than a hunter .-

...this is why I ALWAYS use a decoy , I put the decoy where if it's shot I won't get sprayed (behind a tree or in front of a large bush ), or in a spot where I can see someone come up from a long long ways -but used improperly you can increase your odds of being shot ...it's all about how your use it ..., .hanging on to it while "fanning " is insane (I'm sure this wasnt the case)

There were states like Pennsylvania and Missouri that would have annually near 40 hunters get shot each year around the late 1980's ....this is before decoys saw widespread use ,

These days .....if a hunter walks up on a setup and sees a turkey and it doesnt run off 99% it's determined to be a decoy ,  they will skirt or avoid you most of the time as a common courtesy

[Big Jeremy]

I will use a decoy on public land, and I think when used properly, it can actually be SAFER that way.

Set up decoys where you can see a good distance directly opposite the decoys of yourself so that you would see anyone coming from the angle that would draw a shot that could potentially hit you. If any other angle that you couldn't see, it wouldn't be a shot that could hit you.

I did just this yesterday on public land. I had a hen and Jake decoy out, and two bumbling idiots came walking in. I started hearing them call...and call...and call at about 150 yards away. Seriously, they called more in a time span of about 20 minutes than I probably have in the last 3-4 seasons combined. It was ridiculous. Anyway, they were about 30-40 degrees to my left and coming toward me. I made the occasional extremely loud, terrible sounding call to try to let them know that someone was already there, but they must have thought it was an actual hen despite how terrible it sounded. Long story short, when they got to about 50 yards, they spotted my decoys and hit the ground and started crawling over to some cover...I was laughing out loud. I hollered that they were stalking plastic turkeys, and asked them to go the other way. Thankfully, they did.

Moral of the story, I don't think it is unsafe to use decoys on public...in fact I think it can be safer than not using them if you give a little extra thought to your setup.

[saltysenior]

Better the decoy getting shot , than a hunter .-

...this is why I ALWAYS use a decoy , I put the decoy where if it's shot I won't get sprayed (behind a tree or in front of a large bush ), or in a spot where I can see someone come up from a long long ways -but used improperly you can increase your odds of being shot ...it's all about how your use it ..., .hanging on to it while "fanning " is insane (I'm sure this wasnt the case)

There were states like Pennsylvania and Missouri that would have annually near 40 hunters get shot each year around the late 1980's ....this is before decoys saw widespread use ,
I met a Pennsylvania guy who was trout fishing in MD. in 1996....He said he was shot three-different times while turkey hunting in PA,that is why he was fishing that spring ...Doesn't PA. require a orange wrapping around a nearby tree if you sit ??
These days .....if a hunter walks up on a setup and sees a turkey and it doesnt run off 99% it's determined to be a decoy ,  they will skirt or avoid you most of the time as a common courtesy

[Ozark Ridge Runner]

I will use a decoy on public land, and I think when used properly, it can actually be SAFER that way.

Set up decoys where you can see a good distance directly opposite the decoys of yourself so that you would see anyone coming from the angle that would draw a shot that could potentially hit you. If any other angle that you couldn't see, it wouldn't be a shot that could hit you.

I did just this yesterday on public land. I had a hen and Jake decoy out, and two bumbling idiots came walking in. I started hearing them call...and call...and call at about 150 yards away. Seriously, they called more in a time span of about 20 minutes than I probably have in the last 3-4 seasons combined. It was ridiculous. Anyway, they were about 30-40 degrees to my left and coming toward me. I made the occasional extremely loud, terrible sounding call to try to let them know that someone was already there, but they must have thought it was an actual hen despite how terrible it sounded. Long story short, when they got to about 50 yards, they spotted my decoys and hit the ground and started crawling over to some cover...I was laughing out loud. I hollered that they were stalking plastic turkeys, and asked them to go the other way. Thankfully, they did.

Moral of the story, I don't think it is unsafe to use decoys on public...in fact I think it can be safer than not using them if you give a little extra thought to your setup.

. Well, that's not exactly accurate for Missouri.  During the years from 1979 to 1988 there was an average of 18 accidents per year.  Those include all causes of firearm related accidents including those from careless gun handling, fence climbing as well as any other source of injury.  MOST of the injuries did not involve one hunter shooting another.  From the years of 1998 to 2007 the accident rate had been reduced to 6.9 per year.
No doubt there is risk involved, and the need for caution is always present, but the numbers you suggest simply are not in agreement with fact.

[Big Jeremy]

I will use a decoy on public land, and I think when used properly, it can actually be SAFER that way.

Set up decoys where you can see a good distance directly opposite the decoys of yourself so that you would see anyone coming from the angle that would draw a shot that could potentially hit you. If any other angle that you couldn't see, it wouldn't be a shot that could hit you.

I did just this yesterday on public land. I had a hen and Jake decoy out, and two bumbling idiots came walking in. I started hearing them call...and call...and call at about 150 yards away. Seriously, they called more in a time span of about 20 minutes than I probably have in the last 3-4 seasons combined. It was ridiculous. Anyway, they were about 30-40 degrees to my left and coming toward me. I made the occasional extremely loud, terrible sounding call to try to let them know that someone was already there, but they must have thought it was an actual hen despite how terrible it sounded. Long story short, when they got to about 50 yards, they spotted my decoys and hit the ground and started crawling over to some cover...I was laughing out loud. I hollered that they were stalking plastic turkeys, and asked them to go the other way. Thankfully, they did.

Moral of the story, I don't think it is unsafe to use decoys on public...in fact I think it can be safer than not using them if you give a little extra thought to your setup.

. Well, that's not exactly accurate for Missouri.  During the years from 1979 to 1988 there was an average of 18 accidents per year.  Those include all causes of firearm related accidents including those from careless gun handling, fence climbing as well as any other source of injury.  MOST of the injuries did not involve one hunter shooting another.  From the years of 1998 to 2007 the accident rate had been reduced to 6.9 per year.
No doubt there is risk involved, and the need for caution is always present, but the numbers you suggest simply are not in agreement with fact.

I'm pretty sure they were close to 150 yards when I first saw them. I didn't have a rangefinder on them, but it was close to that. Lol...I believe you quoted the wrong reply.

[aclawrence]

I may have exaggerated when I said friend, he's a guy I know here locally. I do t know any other details but I might reach out to him and see what happened. I just saw his post on Facebook this morning. I agree you definitely need to be careful using decoys on public grounds. Heck even on private due to people that seem to help themselves across property boundaries.  I'll be heading to the wma Thursday for my first public land hunt this season.  There's this one wise old bird that seems completely un-callable if that's a word. I'll be putting the sneak on him. Good luck to everyone.


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