As a general opinion, our hunting community has little tolerance for one much less seven fellow turkey hunting brethren making that awful trip to the hospital. One of them has been fatally shot. None of us want to be there… In that position… that scenario…
I feel a mighty big soapbox coming along to climb up on. It is a gut reaction, three of those shot were very young, one young hunter shot an adult, and one adult hunter was shot by an old-timer (for clarity of perspective, I am targeted by AARP these days), the 6th is not disclosed as of yet. The seventh hunter was fatally shot, a young man just 23 years old. Tragic, and heartbreaking.
The truth is, most everyone I know that chases gobblers know exactly what I would have to say. We all get it, right? I will spare the sermon as the lessons taught and preached among ourselves is a universal truth taught in every hunting safety class in every state.
Despite two and half million turkey hunters that engage in our beloved past time each year, the incident rate is so far down in the mud that you have to use negative powers of ten to express the unfortunate statistic. 0.003% in an average year is a victim of an errant shooting while afield. Not to lessen the impact of what has just taken place, the context is that 99.997% of us camo warriors manage to abide by safety rules, code of conduct, and do so without incident. That is all well and good and the actuaries and statisticians will be pleased in that. The families and friends of these three boys and four men will have far less appreciation of it.
Rather than detail each of these, I have their news stories linked below. One of the seven is very detailed by my good friend and fellow writer Ken Perrotte from Virginia. I am scheduled to interview the young man in the near future. As updates are released I will update.
Turkey Hunter Survives Being Shot in Face; Virginia Game & Inland Fisheries Investigating https://www.outdoorsrambler.com/post/turkey-hunter-survives-being-shot-in-face-virginia-game-inland-fisheries-investigating By Ken Perrotte
Hunter Killed In Wednesday Accident At Young County Line (TX) https://www.grahamleader.com/news/hunter-killed-wednesday-accident-young-county-line By Brian Smith
Kansas Boy Airlifted to Hospital After Hunting Accident https://hayspost.com/posts/5ea6ce33eb7f1705360383cd Hays Post
Hunter Lucky To Be Alive After Being Shot, Mistaken For Turkey In Shannon County, Mo. https://www.ky3.com/content/news/Hunter-lucky-to-be-alive-after-being-shot-mistaken-for-turkey-569940291.html By Michael Deene
A 14-Year-Old Boy Shot In Jones County Hunting Accident (NC) https://www.jdnews.com/news/20200421/14-year-old-boy-shot-in-jones-county-hunting-accident By Trevor Dunnell
Boy Shot In Hunting Accident Airlifted, 2nd sustained gunshot injuries (W.Va) https://wvva.com/2020/04/28/boy-shot-in-hunting-accident-airlifted/ By Bailey Pace
Some of these are titled and reported as “accidents.” It is a misuse of language and those of us in the turkey hunting community know that one hundred percent of the possibilities are preventable by following turkey hunting ethics and gun (archery implements as well) handling/safety rules.
The following tips, good practices are well advised for your safety and that of others:
- Avoid wearing the bright colors of a gobbler’s head, red, white, or blue. Large areas of black may resemble the body of a turkey. These are turkey colors, and another hunter may mistake you for a bird.
- Be 100% sure of your target. Check your foreground and your background. Those extra seconds of making sure can save a life!
- Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Don’t rely on your gun’s safety. Treat every gun as loaded.
- If you see another hunter, don’t move- any motion can be mistaken for a turkey. Instead, call out to alert the other hunter that you are there. Do not wave or attempt to get up, or use a turkey call to alert the incoming hunter.
- Do not stalk turkey sounds; it could be another hunter. Find a good setup with your back to a tree, rock, or other large natural barriers wider than your shoulders. Then go about working to call the birds to you. Stalking is illegal in many states.
- You may consider placing a hunter orange ribbon high on a tree to help other hunters identify your location, or wear on your person entering or leaving. It is a legal requirement by some states, do not assume orange to be an end-all for safety. Always identify your quarry and what may be in front of, behind, or to either side. You have no guarantee that others are wearing orange…
- Reconsider the assumed risks of using “tail-fanning” or “reaping’ techniques (using gobbler decoys, a synthetic fan, or real tail feathers) out immediately in front of you, mounted on your gun barrel or a head/hat mounted product while crawling or stalking. A fan may be large enough to hide you from view from other hunters and you may falsely assume they will properly identify you vs. a real gobbler.
- Always let someone else know where you will be and when expected to be back via text, email, or phone message. In an emergency, precious minutes can make all the difference for someone to direct first responders to your location or for someone to know when you are late returning.
We owe it to ourselves and to each other to act and hunt in a safe manner and promote the best practices to ensure we all get to come back the next season to spend time in the great turkey woods and all of God’s creations.
As mentioned I will update as more details are published. We pray for those injured, that have succumbed to their injuries and for their families. May they heal well Godspeed.
-MJ
© 2020 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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There is zero zero zero effing excuse for this carp. Should be a law in every state, you cause a turkey hunting shooting you lifetime lose you turkey hunting privilege!!! No exceptions.
Should be no spring gobbler hunting with a rifle, that means you have to be a lot closer and have a lot better chance of realizing that it is a hunter and not a turkey and you dont have to watch nearly as close what is beyond your target