bald9eagle

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.

Topgun 3006

I'm not going to take the time to look up numbers, but I can tell you that there are more hunters shot when turkey hunting than when hunting any other animal or bird. Now add in this trying to fake like you're a bird with a fan in front of you is just taking an even bigger chance of getting shot just for a few pounds of meat. Whatever, as the kids say nowadays!

bald9eagle

Actually the opposite is true. Looking at the numbers for Wisconsin ( http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/incidentReport.html) deer hunting is by far the most dangerous and most likely to see a hunter get shot. Next is small game...mostly squirrel and quail/grouse. Squirrel hunting alone has had more shootings since 2010 than turkey hunting. By my count there were.....

Deer - 42
Squirrel - 15
Pheasant/Grouse/Quail - 17
Waterfowl - 12
Turkey - 10

Wisconsin is considered one of the top turkey hunting states. Alabama had 2 turkey hunting related incidents in 2013 and 2014 combined. It's funny that turkey hunting has such a stigma attached to it yet it is fair more safer than deer hunting.

Mottz

I'm going to have to go with bald9 on this one. Doing this in the timber is definite no for me but a wide open are? Heck yeah I'm going for it. I actually tried it yesterday. Seen 8 or so birds in a pasture. Ducked in and out of cedars til it was all open. Squatted down and slowly walked towards them. I would've reached them if 3 bedded deer wouldn't have gotten up and ran right through them. I wasn't worried.

Now lets discuss the safety again. 1st though lets remember that the turkeys focus on the fan. So, I'm out there 5'11 walking in a field with a fan held out in front of me. Seems to me that would be out of place to anyone, even the dumb ones. Mainly because when turkeys come in, they have a sort of hypnotizing beauty, a distinguishable walk that has, at least me focused on its every move. So I know exactly what it is and what's beyond it.

Now as far as getting shot while hunting. 2 years ago deer rifle hunting I had a road hunter shoot at a running deer. That deer was running right at me. I heard the bullet overhead. Now I'm in hunter orange. My head, gloves and sweatshirt. No deer head in front of me. I've had 3 friends get peppered from pheasant hunting. Walking in a line with dogs, a bird gets up and someone swings wild. Deer drives? People pushing a draw while others shoot at the exiting deer. Not knowing where the pushers are at? What about bowhunters at 1st light? Someone sneaking to their stand a little late and gets mistaken from a hunter who's already there.

Safety is always my priority so if I even have a shred of doubt, I won't do it. IN THE OPEN. Because, and here is my reason, if there are birds in the field, and say there is another hunter there, then chances are he will see them also. He will then see me enter the field. But I guess the only way to hunt safely is either not go or do it out of a pickup window.

Topgun 3006

"But I guess the only way to hunt safely is either not go or do it out of a pickup window."

Please give me a break when you try to compare not hunting at all to not have an accident to crawling around with a turkey fan! There are also a lot of accidents right around or in vehicles, so that comparison also doesn't hack it. Also, I would bet if bald9eagle would have dug further into the stats he posted and they are available he would have found that the number of people turkey hunting that are shot out in the field is at a higher percentage than those hunting other species. One reason is because people are in full camo and another is due to people calling and idiots coming to that call with a shotgun that has more of a chance to hit someone with many pellets you are putting out compared to a rifle. Coming to a call is also a big nono, but you read about many accidents where a person did exactly that and then shot the hunter that was sitting hidden while calling. In a nutshell, this is one where a couple of us will just have to agree to disagree with the two of you.

bald9eagle

That's the crazy thing...you don't really have to crawl. If you watched the video I put up you see how high my buddy stood. My reasoning behind the safety aspect in the open is pretty simple. The point at which you leave cover you are now obvious. If there was another hunter within range of you at that point it is highly likely that the two of you have made some sort of contact. If birds are in the wide open but close enough to cover to be within range of another hunter then he will have already shot. So by the time you get in range of the bird the chance of you being in range of another hunter is slim to non-existent.

I don't carry decoys in timber. I only use them in open situations. I have tried the fan thing one time and that was just after my buddy shot his bird last week. I used the decoy to see if the strutter was still in the county.

My brother has been shot 2 times....once by me and once by dad. The first time was on a quail hunt and the second time a rabbit hunt. Dad has had several close calls rabbit and quail hunting. What makes them more dangerous is that you are well within fatal range of a shotgun. In the turkey woods you generally are going to get shot at greater distances and outside of deadly range of a shotgun.

Topgun 3006

I think you should have quit while you were behind! You don't have to be killed when you're shot with pellets, as I also cherish my eyesight and one pellet will take an eye out at well over 100 yards! I give up after reading your last post.

bald9eagle

So you are saying that the ratio of hunters/incidents is greater for turkey hunting? I have to imagine that there are far fewer bird and squirrel hunters out there so they would carry the greatest percentage.

Also, Alabama boosts one of if not the highest number of turkey hunters and out of state turkey hunters in the nation. Here's some numbers....in 2010/2011 there were 255,771 licenses sold in AL. It is estimated that 25% of those turkey hunted. So we are just guessing that in spring of 2011 there were 64,000 turkey hunters, though that seems low to me. If we say there were 2 hunter shootings that means that .00312% of hunters were hurt. Estimated that 90% of licensed hunters deer hunted. Average about 15 incidents per season. So for 230,000 hunters that means about .0065 % of deer hunters were involved in an incident....more than twice that of turkey hunters.

bald9eagle

How so? My point is that in all my years of hunting that my brother was involved in small game hunting incidents but never a turkey hunting incident. Ask him about the rifle bullets he has heard wiz past him! My point is that it is no more dangerous than deer or small game hunting and is in fact less dangerous than either of those.

Mottz

and here is what I wrote

Let me start over. I get that mostly everyone will use timber/blind/or whatever for cover from the sight of turkeys. So with that in mind, a person is either looking in an open field or in the timber. So if a person is looking in an open field then you can see the birds coming. And this time of year a person can see quite a ways off due to no crops being up. Pretty easy to tell if it is a tom/hen/jake before they get into range. But you can also see if deer, a coyote or a 5'11" person would happen to be in the field. Which is why I wrote Now being in the timber where a person could hear the lightest crack, shuffle or whatever noticeable noise and then raise the gun for that quick shot moment, I wrote I don't know where my explanation of what I do is going wrong? But I get it. You would rather be that guy who will find all the negative things that could happen just to say I told you so. Fanning has become huge around where I hunt. Which I'm guessing you will say(And no I'm not putting words in your mouth) which is why its more dangerous. But in all actuality its not because everyone around here knows about it. They know the process. They've seen it done and a lot have tried it. So, they make themselves more aware of their surroundings. and most importantly, the target. Which is why I am willing to do it.