Been a tough season for me so far. My previous go-to spots have been demolished by clear-cutting, so now I'm having to focus on birds in hardwoods bottom-lands that don't really head the same way each day from the roost, have lots of water to deal with, and too darn many hens.
I took a friend of my dad's out this morning. He's a member of a high-dollar duck club he took me to back in the winter. We had an epic morning up there and I wanted to return the favor with a turkey hunt.
We parked the truck on a tract on the Cape Fear River and got out - he opened up the rear passenger door to get his gun, I opened the rear driver-side to get out my gun and my vest. He asked me "Load up here, or wait till we get where we're walking?" We were pretty close to where we were going to start listening for gobbles, so I told him we could go ahead and load. Reaching into the backseat of the truck, he pulled his gun out of its case... I wasn't paying him much mind, I was putting stuff in my vest when BOOM! I was kind of in disbelief, and he's just standing there in shock saying "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God." Apparently he'd started loading with the gun still inside the back of the truck, had forgotten to check the safety and somehow accidentally pulled the trigger. Shot a hole through the bottom-left corner on the back of my center console.... most of the shot ended up below the drivers seat. If the gun had been turned about 20 degrees more to his left, I wouldn't be typing this right now. Pretty scary stuff.
Honestly - I felt bad for him, he was so shook-up. I was just glad nobody got hurt, and I know he'll take care of the damage to the truck.
Figured I'd share that here, as I don't want to embarrass him by telling anyone we know. Also if my wife found out.... that would not be good.
He was so shook-up, he wanted to just go home, but I told him it is OK and it was an accident and we should hunt. Birds were gobbling really well, but unfortunately the bottom-land they were in was flooded (the Cape Fear is really high right now) and we couldn't get them to leave their hens.
That poor guy... if the situation were reversed, I know I'd be mortified. But it was a good reminder about safety (and to always check your safety before loading... preferably OUTSIDE a vehicle)
