15 shot and 2 dead.

[NCL]

I disagree that in all cases the fault is that of the shooter, but in most cases it is.

I would also agree with this statement. When I was young and scopes on rifles were becoming more common I heard of an incident where hunter stood or walked in front of a shooter and he was shot. It was many years ago but the safety precaution I was taught was to make sure of your surroundings before mounting a rifle with a scope due to the lose of peripheral vision. 

[eggshell]

To continue the discussion and bring to light possible safety issues, here is my number one pet peeve :

Muzzle control, know where you are pointing your gun at all times.

I am compulsive and obsessed with this and I watch everyone I hunt with. I have come to the point I am astonished at how many times I catch seasoned experienced hunters pointing a muzzle towards someone. It's a matter of attention and discipline.

I used to hunt with a guy who always hunted with double barrels and he professionally shot field trials, he carried his gun broke open at all times, even walking a field behind working dogs. He had become so trained that he closed the gun and released the safety all in one motion of mounting the gun to his shoulder. He was a phenomenal shot. I started doing this a lot when bird hunting with my O/u. He taught me safety is more important than bagging game. I watch people constantly and will move to their opposite  side or lag back or go ahead just to avoid their muzzle pointing habits. I also have seen them take the safety off as soon as you sit down guys....yeah that hunt usually ends right there. I have pissed people off before because they were offended I questioned their safety practices. If they get real pissed I show them the void still left in my leg after 10 years and ask them if they ever wondered why I have a slight limp. Then we go home! That's why my hunting friends circle is down to 4 guys, I won't tolerate unsafe acts and I have boiled it down to these four that I trust....I guess that's kind of sad

I also watch the guys on the videos and TV shows and it's amazing how much you catch them doing. Just give it a try, some big names are pretty big offenders.

[idgobble]

What alarms me is that these guys have taken a hunter safety course and passed it!. Even worse is that anyone 21 or 18 in some states can buy a gun and start shooting it without any instruction at all. I live next to public land and often see or talk to target shooters when I'm hiking. Some of them are completely clueless about gun safety. I think many of them think it's like a video game and are a danger to themselves and anyone within a mile of them. My neighbors home has six bullet holes in it and another's home recently got hit. My home has been hit by pellets during dove season (BLM land starts about 110 yards from my house). 

[WorkingBirds]

Speechless, kinda hard to believe because turkey hunting is done at close range.

[NCL]

To continue the discussion and bring to light possible safety issues, here is my number one pet peeve :

Muzzle control, know where you are pointing your gun at all times.

I am compulsive and obsessed with this and I watch everyone I hunt with. I have come to the point I am astonished at how many times I catch seasoned experienced hunters pointing a muzzle towards someone. It's a matter of attention and discipline.

I used to hunt with a guy who always hunted with double barrels and he professionally shot field trials, he carried his gun broke open at all times, even walking a field behind working dogs. He had become so trained that he closed the gun and released the safety all in one motion of mounting the gun to his shoulder. He was a phenomenal shot. I started doing this a lot when bird hunting with my O/u. He taught me safety is more important than bagging game. I watch people constantly and will move to their opposite  side or lag back or go ahead just to avoid their muzzle pointing habits. I also have seen them take the safety off as soon as you sit down guys....yeah that hunt usually ends right there. I have pissed people off before because they were offended I questioned their safety practices. If they get real pissed I show them the void still left in my leg after 10 years and ask them if they ever wondered why I have a slight limp. Then we go home! That's why my hunting friends circle is down to 4 guys, I won't tolerate unsafe acts and I have boiled it down to these four that I trust....I guess that's kind of sad

I also watch the guys on the videos and TV shows and it's amazing how much you catch them doing. Just give it a try, some big names are pretty big offenders.

You are so right regarding muzzle control or actually the lack of it. I have seen people sweep other people with their muzzle which I am sure was unintentional but still just as dangerous. I used to shoot Sporting Clay with a guy and one day we got in a discussion bout field hunting for birds and he told me he always hunted with his safety off when he was in the field. I could not believe he had actually said that and argued with him it was unsafe. He argued back that if a rabbit jumped up he was ready to shoot. Decided right then and there I would never hunt with him.

[Tomfoolery]

With the talk of all the youtube videos now days I have been watching some. I have noticed some things some do thatI personally wouldn't feel comfortable doing on public land. 1 that stands out is one particular guy crawls several turkeys that are hung up, creeps up on his belly sometimes through very thick stuff to get close for a shot. Nothing wrong with it, and I have done it on my private leae, knowing I was the only one hunting their. But I can't see myself doing it on public land knowing theres other people hunting, and hearing about incidents like these. No fault to them for trying to get close, but I wouldn't feel safe doing it. Normally when im walking through the woods calling I try to sound like a human as much as possible. I know it's not the best tactic to kill birds, but I am horrified about the stories I've read about hunters getting shot. I guess I just don't trust the general public much lol. I also have been guiding duck and goose hunts for several years now, and I've seen first hand that lots of people arent safety minded with their guns. I've had one gun "go off" in the blind and it scared the living crap out of me. Thank God he had it pointing to the sky when it happend, the hunt ended. I make them have guns oit of cases and chambers open before going on the atv rack. Too many times to count guns were off safety when they pulled them out of the case. Another incident last year I pulled a guys gun out of the case to put on the 4 wheeler and it was off safety, I put it on safety and opened the chamber and a live shell fell out that he had left in from the skeet range the day before. I guess I don't understand because my safety goes on as soon as I pull the gun down off my shoulder, it's so involuntary that I'm always checking my safety and its already on. But i was taught to always check my safety constantly.

[silvestris]

Normally when im walking through the woods calling I try to sound like a human as much as possible.

I definitely do not try to sound like a human when I walk through the woods.  I try not to sound like anything.  If one chooses to run/walk and gun the best choice may be to stop, assess, then call; assess again before walking/running again.  A human walking can often sound like a turkey.  The safest thing is to assess, assess, assess.  If you sound like a human to a human, you can bet that you sound sound like a human to a turkey.

[Marc]

To continue the discussion and bring to light possible safety issues, here is my number one pet peeve :

Muzzle control, know where you are pointing your gun at all times.

Yes...  Muzzle control is the most important part of gun safety.  If the gun is pointed in a safe direction, and accidentally discharges nobody will be injured.

I remember an incident in the recent past in which someone was either killed or injured due to a gun on a quad and a gun rack and and accidental discharge.  Heard about someone's gun going off on the truck ride home during a bumpy ride...  And heard plenty of times about hunting dogs stepping on guns and discharging them...

But, as important as muzzle control is, I feel that these incidents are probably not due to accidental discharge and muzzle control, as they are due to poor target identification or poor understanding of what is behind what you are shooting at.

[Tomfoolery]

Normally when im walking through the woods calling I try to sound like a human as much as possible.

I definitely do not try to sound like a human when I walk through the woods.  I try not to sound like anything.  If one chooses to run/walk and gun the best choice may be to stop, assess, then call; assess again before walking/running again.  A human walking can often sound like a turkey.  The safest thing is to assess, assess, assess.  If you sound like a human to a human, you can bet that you sound sound like a human to a turkey.

This is probably a better explanation of my wrong wording. I don't by any means go crashing through the woods. Like you said I'm constantly looking around and assessing everything.

[FL-Boss]

Muzzle control is very important, but I would bet some of these accidents are due to the extended range of TSS.  A bird gobbles on public land close to a road.. chances are it will be covered up by multiple hunters, many not knowing the other is there. They close in on a bird from opposite sides... thick woods =  that's how someone gets hurt or killed. 

[saltysenior]

someone gets hurt or killed in a HUNT/ SHOOTING indecent 90% of the time because of the shooters overwhelming desire to shoot something.....shooting accidents because of gun handling mistake are a different story.. 

[SteelerFan]

 

Would be interesting to know how many of those are "mistaken for game" shootings as compared to "accidental discharge" shootings.  Hard for me to believe there could be that many mistaken-for-game shootings....

Most are mistaken for game. There's a mental aspect of seeing what you want to see at the time. HRSI (Hunting-related Shooting Incidents) are especially more mistaken with turkey hunting. I know, it doesn't make sense. But it happens. I used to investigate those incidents (retired warden). Some "thought" they saw a turkey. Others would swear on a stack of Bibles that they knew they saw a bird (was not a bird).

Education in positive identification of a full turkey / intended target needs to be emphasized and continue. Seldom would the shooter be able to recall the "entire" picture of the target (because it wasn't there).

[Neill_Prater]

Very few "accidental discharges" truly are accidental. That implies the weapon discharges through no fault of the operator. Negligent discharge is a more accurate description of virtually all unintended firing of any weapon. It's a rare thing indeed for a gun to fire only because of a mechanical malfunction, especially with modern weapons. They fire because, being human, we make mistakes. Most of the time the story ends with "it scared the crap out of me!" Unfortunately, sometimes the consequences are much worse.


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[GobbleNut]

Very few "accidental discharges" truly are accidental. That implies the weapon discharges through no fault of the operator. Negligent discharge is a more accurate description of virtually all unintended firing of any weapon. It's a rare thing indeed for a gun to fire only because of a mechanical malfunction, especially with modern weapons. They fire because, being human, we make mistakes. Most of the time the story ends with "it scared the crap out of me!" Unfortunately, sometimes the consequences are much worse.

Very true. 
Regarding your last statement about the story ending in a scare or a tragedy, it would be interesting to know how many of us have been involved in the first,...and hopefully, not the second.  Personally, I have been involved in a couple of "scares" in my life that fortunately did not end up much worse.  Unfortunately, I also know at least two people who were involved in "worst case" scenarios where someone died because of someone else's momentary carelessness.  When firearms are involved, never let your guard down! 

[Tom007]

X10. Very true......