Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
I do not have to go back and read it, I read it quite thoroughly the first time. You don't believe it could happen, I know it can. I have seen hunters shot in mistake for game in timber, on the edge of and in open fields. If you want to do it, by all means do so. I posted because of those who may be thinking of doing it, because I believe it is unsafe and have seen enough carnage in turkey and other seasons to have some basis in fact for my belief. You are not always alone on a property, even when you are supposed to be and there is no other species that causes to do stupid things. I have called in hunters when I was supposed to be the only person on a property, and that was using a hen call in spring gobbler season. You never know who is lurking around listening to the same bird as you are working. Not going to turn this into a protracted argument, I said what I had to say and you will do what you want to do. Be safe, I am out of this.
I believe you when you say that you've seen hunters get shot. But really...A guy in the wide open more than 100 yards for the closet cover standing up in the open....Seriously?
I've had hunters walk in on me and I've done the same to other hunters. Those incidents all happened in timber. In this case I'm talking about 40 and 80 acre sections of cut over. Quite honestly it is much more dangerous to set up with decoys 20 yards out in front of you in timber than to do this.
This is strictly an open territory tactic. There is absolutely no way to get in range of another hunter and him mistake you for a bird. If you are trying to sneak to a bird you are already fairly close. If you get shot by another hunter in the open while sneaking in then he has obviously already seen the bird you are hunting and is just plain ole mad at you.
It sounds as if you have seen lots of accidental turkey hunting shootings. In my 25 years of turkey hunting I can remember 2 in north Alabama. Could it be that the 1 turkey limit in PA drives guys to shoot at whatever moves? I wish I could find solid statistics that show how many shootings there are per state each spring. It would be an interesting study to see if there is a correlation.