Have to agree. No need for a rifle during turkey season
I got shot last year on 2nd day of the season. Turkey loads from about 80 yards sting like a swarm of yellow jackets. Glad the dude wasn't toting a rifle that day, or you would have read about me in the paper
he was shooting at the same bird allan was hunting, and did not see allan, cause you dont have to wear blaze orange
Copy/pasted from last years thread
I hunted a WMA in North Florida this weekend.
Friday Afternoon:
Went in and set up my pop up blind in a spot I deer hunt and saw turkeys every day I hunted there. Got it all brushed in and chilled out in the blind at 6;30PM. At 6:40 I see a blue head to my left. She has me pegged(guess I moved in the blind) but relaxes after a 10 minute stare down. She was the lead bird in a 17 turkey congo line. 11 hens, followed by a really nice Tom, and 5 2" jakes. They milled around in front of me and flew up about 80 yards in front of me. No gobbles, and the hens never made a sound. Talk about a sleepless night
Saturday Morning:
Up at 4AM, checked in the check station at 4:30, drove across WMA to parking spot and stumbled into my blind about 5:30 or so. At first light the trees were absolutely alive with tree yelps. They yelped good off the roost but no gobbles. At 7:15 they all hit the ground at once and it was on. Hens cutting and yelping all over the place. I had one loud mouth hen come within 5 yards of my dekes yelping and cutting every breath. I was hoping she would drag tom with her but the rest of the birds stayed just out of sight down in front of me. Finally at 7:30 tom gobbled one time and the hens drug him and the jakes down the hammock(not exactly positive what direction they went as they shut up after that one gobble). I sat tight for a bit and heard another bird and hens gobbling good down to my right about 200 yards away in a cypress pond I knew about. They seemed to stay in the same spot for a few minutes and were talking pretty good. I decided to bail out of the blind and go to them. I hit the slate real loud and tom #2 responded about the same place.
Now it is extremely dry in this hammock and sneaking is not an easy task at this point with the foot of dry leaves on the ground. This hammock is fairly open but has a small thicket line that runs from where I was to the cypress pond. Somewhere along the way me and the tom passed each other
All of a sudden I heard him drum really loud just on the other side of the thicket from me. It was by far the loudest I ever heard a bird drum. Sounded like someone was cranking an old jeep is the best way to describe it. I hit the bushes and called softly but never heard anything else except a few hens. I eased out of there about 10:45.
Sunday morning:
Went back to same spot as day before. Sat on the ground instead of the blind because I wanted to go to the birds today. At 7:30 I heard a hen down in front of me followed by one gobble way off to my left. The hens were yelping pretty good but staying in one place. I figured it was time to play cat and mouse. I saw a blow down about 60 or so yards in front of me and thought if I could get there w/o getting busted I was ok. I got there and sat down and gave a soft yelp on the double glass. I was immediately answered by some yelping but it wasnt hens. Turns out it was the 5 jakes and they were walking right into my trap. They were at about 60 yards and I was got the super mag up and ready just waiting for the first one to step into range........
Then it happened
Some other dude was in the hammock with me and was watching the same birds.
Thank God I had my head down on the gun barrel and was not looking up because at that point I felt what it is like to take a load of turkey shot head on.
He shot at the birds and peppered me in the process. Luckily I had on a thick layer of clothes and my eyes weren't exposed.
Anyway the birds got up and flew off and the guy got up and left birdless. He had come in from the other side of the block and neither of us knew each other was there
I had a couple friends up with me this weekend. They both heard gobbles and saw a bunch of hens but none would would cooperate. The wind was bad and they were not talking in the afternoons. We hunted this morning and Steve heard three different birds but they shut up pretty early
All in all it was a pretty weekend. Saw a bunch of birds, countless hogs, and a good amount of deer too. There is always next weekend
so did it break the skin, did the shooter come over to help/apologize. I sometimes, esp if on public land put somthing orange in or near where I am sitting to let others know im there. sounds like an honest mistake.
