Turkey safety issues

[mookyj]

Opinion poll on your perception

[GobbleNut]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

[Rio Fan]

Well said, GobbleNut!

[VanHelden Game Calls]

I voted run and gun.

IMO any time your moving with a loaded weapon, sometimes crawling, sometimes negotiating difficult terrain/fences, etc there is a greater chance of mishandeling or loosing control of the firearm and having an accidental discharge of it.

Then you take into the account that you are moving in on a target you may or may not have a visual on in terrain that may be unfamiliar to you and the possibility you are not the only hunter targeting those birds and you have a situation developing.  Add to this the fact you may be under physical stress from the increased activity or adrenaline from the stalk and you may not be thinking clearly and may make a mistake by not following the basic rules.

Its the only method listed above where one could become confused and make an accidental error in judgement putting another life in danger. 

[Old Gobbler]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

x2 I don't think I could have said it any better 

[stinkpickle]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

Pretty much.  It's however the shooter mistakes you for a turkey. 

[DirtNap647]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

excellent 

[GobbleNut]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

Pretty much.  It's however the shooter mistakes you for a turkey. 

Yes sir,...therein lies the problem.  It don't make no difference if the shooter was to blame if you are the one on the other end of the mistake!!  No matter what we're doing out there,...it's best to be on the lookout at all times.

[tomstopper]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

Could not have said it any better.......

[Snoodsniper]

Regardless of the methodology used, turkey hunting accidents are caused by one thing, and one thing only, and that is a careless shooter.  That fact can be exacerbated by the victim not using good judgement in what he is doing, but it is the shooter's responsibility to be absolutely certain of his target and what's beyond.

There has never been a hunter that has ever looked like a real, live wild turkey,...ever!  I don't care if they were trying to,...or not.

Could not have said it any better.......

Yuuuup!

[firstflight111]

Yeah that's why I am a blind hunter now , I can set up in the middle of a big field ,not stuck to the edge in the woods .

Sent from my C811 4G

[BC]

The vote shows an ignorance on the subject by a lot of turkey hunters. The data shows that almost all hunting accidents are hunters sitting in cover and working a bird, and some moron firing at sound or some grass shaking. Fanning........ not so much.

The vote was largely slanted towards fanning being the most dangerous, when 100% of all turkey hunting accident reports say otherwise.

Just because you have a couple of votes that agree with your viewpoint mookyj, it still does not overrule the facts.

[GobbleNut]

Although I think the poll has little scientific benefit, I do think it is interesting to see the results from the limited number of individuals that responded.  For instance, I was a bit surprised that the second highest vote total was for "running and gunning", and can not help but ask why?  Of all of the choices listed, I would think running and gunning would be the least likely methods of hunting to be deemed unsafe.  How could a person moving through the woods, without any visual resemblance of being a turkey, be mistaken for one,...and somehow end up being shot?  It seems to me that the standard, accepted method of sitting and calling is much more likely to result in a shooting incident than R&G. 

I think, if anything, the poll just shows the bias we hunters have against certain forms of hunting, which is why I believe R&G received the number of votes it did.  And although I can understand the "perception" from a hunters standpoint  that "reaping" would appear to be the most dangerous way to hunt, I agree that there is little factual basis to support that position at this point in time.  It is just too new a form of turkey hunting to have any factual, data-based support for declaring it to be unsafe.  Only time will tell if it is truly a more dangerous way to hunt. 

I think the facts show that by far the most prevalent form of hunting accidents involve people mishandling weapons and accidentally shooting either themselves or someone that's with them.  (It is interesting that this is not even listed in the poll, for one,...and even if it was, I suspect the "bias-factor" would come into significant play in how many votes it would have received, even if it were included)
 
If one were to draw conclusions from that fact, however, there would be considerable evidence to support the establishment of a law that states that no hunter can have a loaded weapon any time other than immediately prior to firing at a turkey,...or some other such nonsense.  An informal poll done here on OG many months ago showed a significant number of hunters load their weapons immediately upon getting out of their vehicles when hunting.  If the truth be known, that is one of the most dangerous things we do as hunters,...yet I have seen no call from the masses to outlaw that practice.

To his credit, Mooky did qualify the poll by stating that it is an "opinion poll on your perception".  The fact is, though, that very few conclusions can be drawn from it regarding the use of hand-held decoys to attract turkeys,...and the real safety risks associated with doing so.

[mookyj]

BC, again change your diapers. no slant was implied or given. No emphasis was placed on any one choice. I  thanked everyone for their votes, and did not comment on conclusions.

Re-read the question:Which method of spring turkey hunting is most at risk- accidental shooting (opinion)  Hint- perception of danger

It asked for a vote based on opinion. You don't like the fact that some agree with my points. I have not claimed absolute victory, conclusive findings or anything close to that. This was not large enough scale  or had scientific controls that would be used to prove something conclusive.  You should be smart enough to know that it was simply a general "what do you think about this" question. There wasn't that many votes given the membership, so take what you want from it. I see you brought your agenda and had to jump on it with your own assumptions.

Again, public information on shooting incidents  tell few details, so unless you are going to provide us with access to these databases to prove your assertion, which by the way you haven't, your just another troll. I know of incidents not far from me, and public info tells nothing of the details. So in order to satisfy your demand, one would have to know the date & location of each occurrence in order to submit a freedom of information act, or have access to law enforcement databases. Please provide that and I'll gladly work up search terms to see what pops up.  Since you deny or refuse to accept common sense, please find testimonials from any firearm safety instructor who promotes reaping, fanning, etc. Looking forward to your findings. As others have also pointed out the re-emergence of Reaping or fanning is not that old despite being done ages ago by native americans. Give it some time, and we'll see where it goes. Maybe there will be enough bloody pictures of faces shot to open your mind. I hope that never happens, as I doubt it would change your opinion anyway.

The dam truth here is that I would rather not find a single incident regardless of cause as I believe any and all could have been averted following basic rules including not presenting oneself as a target. Ever hear of defensive driving? Sadly we all know of someone shot or killed due to very stupid acts and poor decisions in the turkey woods.

This reaping is no different than wearing a deer suit on opening day of rifle season. A jury would be hard press to convict anyone shooting someone that dumb to wear a deer costume, a turkey decoy on their head, decoy on their barrel or directly in front. If you want to keep your head buried in the sand, and not acknowledge the inherent danger this presents, then you are lacking common logic skills. BTW that is my opinion just so you don't get confused.

So continue to beat this to death with your nonsense. I have stated my opinion here in so many ways and you fail to admit any possible danger is presented by this practice. You can't fix stupid as they say. I have books to write, work to do, and I am done with responding to your foolishness. Anything further I can say will not satisfy your ignorance.

[BC]

Mike,

I don't have an agenda. I could care less if someone fans a turkey or not. I've never done it and have no plans to. So please tell me about my "agenda". I also want you to know that I am not stupid and I am growing weary of your name calling because you are being taken to task on your "opinion". I would expect that type of behavior from one of my children and not a supposed grown man.

If you can't discuss opposing viewpoints without calling people names, you should really consider not coming to a public forum and posting things that are factually wrong. Notice how I have been debating you on this and haven't called you a single name. That's how grown folks act.

Now go ahead and call me some more names and throw yourself another hissy fit if it makes you feel better.