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Turkey hunter shot in MA

whacko said:
Unbelievable .
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Why is it unbelievable? The guy was shot in the back so I would assume he had no idea the shooter was back there. As for the guy who pulled the trigger, given that the victim checked himself in to the hospital it seems to be a relatively, non-serious injury, indicating that the victim was a decent distance away from the shooter. Turkey hunting is tough because everyone is in full camo and still. The shooter probably never realized the other guy was there.
 
Its a big deal because whoever shot the guy was clearly not able to clearly see where he was shooting. One reason I wear a hunter orange X on my back when turkey hunting....
 
boilermaker said:
Why is it unbelievable? The guy was shot in the back so I would assume he had no idea the shooter was back there. As for the guy who pulled the trigger, given that the victim checked himself in to the hospital it seems to be a relatively, non-serious injury, indicating that the victim was a decent distance away from the shooter. Turkey hunting is tough because everyone is in full camo and still. The shooter probably never realized the other guy was there.
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That's why you set up stationary and call birds in! The guy that shot him must have been out stalking birds.

If im set up stationary and some a**h*** runnign and gunning shoots me in the back......he better run fast cuz I shoot back!
 
I will be curious to hear the details if there was a turkey between the two hunters or if the shooter was stalking turkeys and shot a noise not to many facts yet. Still no excuses for shooting anyone just curious on the situation.
 
71montess said:
Ive never heard of stalking turkeys, they would always see you 1st.
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They dont always see you first and dumbasses do it. See the post just under yours? Those guys in the back were stalking turkeys! And they shot somebody. People do it and it's not safe.
 
Admin said:
+1

This is why we can't have nice things.
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Absolutely true.

Many years ago when Turkey hunting was only a few years old in MA a guy in Dudley got shot and killed. This lead to the law of only having only #4 shot or smaller, and stickers on your gun. Before that you could use #2's, which were very effective, and no dummy sticker.

Next will be mandatory orange and more regulations.....as usual a few morons ruin it for the rest of us.

I actually think an orange hat when moving place to place is a good idea nowadays. When I turkey hunted I did, and it never caused me to lose a bird.
 
This is why I hate hunting public land. My property is surrounded by two WMAs and a State Forest, out in the Berkshires
I don't know where these idiots come from . . . hoping pretty far away
Deer season is much worse. I stay on my property then, and as much as possible during turkey season
 
All private in south hadley except for the one tiny piece where it seems this occurred, off ferry street. I only hunt public myself, I try to stay away from other hunters as much as possible.
 
boilermaker said:
Why is it unbelievable? The guy was shot in the back so I would assume he had no idea the shooter was back there. As for the guy who pulled the trigger, given that the victim checked himself in to the hospital it seems to be a relatively, non-serious injury, indicating that the victim was a decent distance away from the shooter. Turkey hunting is tough because everyone is in full camo and still. The shooter probably never realized the other guy was there.
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He didn't get to the hospital on his own...

"Chief Parentella explained that the shooting was apparently accidental by another hunter. The victim was taken to the Holyoke Medical Center by other hunters and then transferred to Baystate Medical's Trauma center. He is expected to survive."

Man shot by other hunter in South Hadley
 
71montess said:
Ive never heard of stalking turkeys, they would always see you 1st.
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What? Do you turkey hunt? I just bagged a 22 lb Gobbler and I stalked him through the woods. Took me a few hours to get him to come but once he was in range I set my decoys out and boom. I also wear a red hunter orange square on my backpack so people who don’t look where their shooting might see me
 
As usual, the article sucks and just says "a birdshot" hit the guy. Of course, the media will spin it so all us hunters are dumb and shooting at anything, including each other.

I'm withholding my blame until more facts are available. Accidents happen, especially when all camo'd up - it doesn't have to be the shooter who is the dumbass, it could be the shootee. With the close range of turkey hunting, I'll say it's unlikely that it was an unavoidable accident.
 
boilermaker said:
Why is it unbelievable? The guy was shot in the back so I would assume he had no idea the shooter was back there. As for the guy who pulled the trigger, given that the victim checked himself in to the hospital it seems to be a relatively, non-serious injury, indicating that the victim was a decent distance away from the shooter. Turkey hunting is tough because everyone is in full camo and still. The shooter probably never realized the other guy was there.
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There is NEVER a reason to shoot a human being when hunting ANY game. If you do not know what your target is YOU DONT f***ING SHOOT. If you can’t identify the kill zone, YOU DONT f***ING SHOOT.

Know your target and what’s beyond. It’s really that simple.
 
boilermaker said:
Why is it unbelievable? The guy was shot in the back so I would assume he had no idea the shooter was back there. As for the guy who pulled the trigger, given that the victim checked himself in to the hospital it seems to be a relatively, non-serious injury, indicating that the victim was a decent distance away from the shooter. Turkey hunting is tough because everyone is in full camo and still. The shooter probably never realized the other guy was there.
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No excuse. The idiot shot someone. I hope he does time. These are the morons who make gun owners and hunters look bad.
 
Woodsy said:
What? Do you turkey hunt? I just bagged a 22 lb Gobbler and I stalked him through the woods. Took me a few hours to get him to come but once he was in range I set my decoys out and boom. I also wear a red hunter orange square on my backpack so people who don’t look where their shooting might see me
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I’ve turkey hunted off and on since the season opened up and have always heard and been advised, don’t stalk turkeys. Scout, set up and call em in. Don’t stalk turkey.
 
Dumbass didn't ID his target. Pure and simple really. I don't know what the punishment should be - but there should be punishment. Loss of hunting license, loss of ltc, becoming a prohibited person, and paying the medical bills and pain and suffering and lost wages ought to do it.

I don't think stalking turkey is dumb either. No dumber than sitting in front of a turkey decoy and throwing out calls... One thing I like to do that someone told me once.... When calling every once in a while make it known you are a human. Do the jake-got-a-haircut-2-bits on the box call. Any human within earshot will know you're not a turkey at that point and will have a general idea of your location... Thought that was awesome advice. Also if you suspect calling you hear could be another hunter do the jake-got-a-haircut and wait for them to respond with the 2-bits. Then you both will know about each other...

Cerfur - on this forum - told me that... I think it's good advice.
 
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ThePreBanMan said:
I don't think stalking turkey is dumb either. No dumber than sitting in front of a turkey decoy and throwing out calls... One thing I like to do that someone told me once.... When calling every once in a while make it known you are a human. Do the jake-got-a-haircut-2-bits on the box call. Any human within earshot will know you're not a turkey at that point and will have a general idea of your location... Thought that was awesome advice. Also if you suspect calling you hear could be another hunter do the jake-got-a-haircut and wait for them to respond with the 2-bits. Then you both will know about each other...
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I was pheasant hunting once, and sat down in the woods to have a cigar and enjoy the day. Full orange, full noise (I don't use a dog so I just wander into "birdy" areas and kick stuff until something flies or I get bored, don't laugh, it works) and sitting in the open on a boulder enjoying a stogie. I hear movement, and see a bird head. Thinking it's a pheasant, I wait - until a flock of birds comes into view. Within 2 minutes I was surrounded by ~18 birds (no permit, of course) that gave zero effs about my presence.
I'm guessing stalking would be more effective.
 
Now I am one who believes that almost every hunting accident is definitely avoidable. I firmly believe knowing my target and what is beyond it before I let a bullet, shot or an arrow go.

Think about this scenario. I am fully camo'd in the brush and invisible to the turkey I am trying to call in. The bird is 40 yards out and coming in slowly and I am waiting for him to get in range for a good shot. At the same time, some other hunter who is stalking the turkey, something I know some do and I don't agree with, comes over a hill and sees the gobbler in front of him facing away. He sneaks within range and lets a shot go. Gobbler down. But because I am directly at the other end invisible to him I take a bunch of pellets as well. Same holds true for him sneaking up from behind me at the gobbler coming in and not seeing me because my camo is perfect, he shoots the bird that I am waiting for a better shot on and my shoulder gets peppered in the process of the turkey taking a dirt nap because it was slightly sticking out the side of the tree I am sitting against.

The reality is a hunter who is generally very safety conscious could possibly ingur another hunter in both of the scenarios above without being a complete idiot shooting irresponsibly (sort of). Yes there are lots of a**h*** unsafe hunters but when it comes to someone stalking turkeys (again I don't agree with) the scenario is possible.
 
bdb said:
Now I am one who believes that almost every hunting accident is definitely avoidable. I firmly believe knowing my target and what is beyond it before I let a bullet, shot or an arrow go.

Think about this scenario. I am fully camo'd in the brush and invisible to the turkey I am trying to call in. The bird is 40 yards out and coming in slowly and I am waiting for him to get in range for a good shot. At the same time, some other hunter who is stalking the turkey, something I know some do and I don't agree with, comes over a hill and sees the gobbler in front of him facing away. He sneaks within range and lets a shot go. Gobbler down. But because I am directly at the other end invisible to him I take a bunch of pellets as well. Same holds true for him sneaking up from behind me at the gobbler coming in and not seeing me because my camo is perfect, he shoots the bird that I am waiting for a better shot on and my shoulder gets peppered in the process of the turkey taking a dirt nap because it was slightly sticking out the side of the tree I am sitting against.

The reality is a hunter who is generally very safety conscious could possibly ingur another hunter in both of the scenarios above without being a complete idiot shooting irresponsibly (sort of). Yes there are lots of a**h*** unsafe hunters but when it comes to someone stalking turkeys (again I don't agree with) the scenario is possible.
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Very well said
 
Too many good turkey imitation calls which leads to hunters stalking the caller, I don’t put myself in that situation. Doesn’t matter if I’m the careful hunter in this interaction.
 
The thing that kills me (pun partially intended) is that not only does the shooter have to know he's shooting a turkey, this time of the year he has to make sure he's shooting a male turkey. How the hell do you mistake a 15 pound, two legged, feather covered, beard having bird?
 
Wickedcoolname said:
The thing that kills me (pun partially intended) is that not only does the shooter have to know he's shooting a turkey, this time of the year he has to make sure he's shooting a male turkey. How the hell do you mistake a 15 pound, two legged, feather covered, beard having bird?
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Because he's a spray and prey hacker...
 

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