A friend of mine was mistaken for a turkey on opening day 2009. He was shot in the back and died in the field, doing what he loved. Should we not implement proper target identification courses as responsible sportsmen? I mean MANDATORY. Evidently some hunters are going into the field very uneducated. This was an archery fatality by the way.
                                      In loving memory,
                                        Aaron Long
                                      Aged 20yrs.
                                    October 1 2009

Heath,
I am terribly sorry for the loss of your friend. 
I do not understand misidentification and yet it keeps happening.  We have an obligation as hunters to identify what we intend to kill, period.  There should be no accidents due to misidentification.  Because we are free to go afield and harvest our own game doesnt give us the right to be irresponsible. In my mind, this man is negligent and should pay for his act.

Your original question on whether we should have identification courses makes me think of the safety course I had a long time ago.  They showed us pictures (kind of like before and after) and asked us, shoot or dont shoot.  I was amazed at the people that said shoot when a huge set of antlers were sticking out of a fir bush.  It ended up being a man rattling horns behind that bush.  I am not sure of the current safety programs but I would bet that most already have some sort of target identification program.

It all comes back to being a responsible hunter.  How do you honestly mistake a man for a turkey?

Mike,

I am with you on this.  How does anyone mistake a person for a turkey.  In my opinion, that person what shooting at movement and not an identified and verified target.  I sometimes stop and talk to farmers occasionally to see if they might let me hunt their property and one of the biggest comments I get - just after NO - is that they have cattle and they don’t want them getting shot.  I always laugh and tell them that I have been hunting for the better part of 30 years and I have yet to bag a cow.  I also tell them that any man that can’t tell the difference between a cow and a deer shouldn’t be in the woods and they definitely shouldn’t be carrying a gun.  I usually get a chuckle but these same farmers hear stories too and they just don’t trust hunters much anymore unless they already know you.

Heath, I truly am sorry that you lost your friend to an idiot hunter but I do hope that some others will hear what happened and possibly think twice before they pull the trigger on something they are unsure of.

Mike
USA

Heath,

Can’t even comprehend how a grown man could appear to be a turkey. Can’t say publicly what should happen to the moron that let loose the arrow. Public stoning is about the nicest thing I guess. My Dad always said, “You can’t teach common sense!”. That statement is made true way too often now days!

Very sorry for the loss of Aaron.

This was a truly a tragedy and what makes it more tragic is, the way I read this on another forum is, he was shot by his 16 year old friend.

There are no excuses for something like this to happen of that there is no doubt.Given this young mans age however I think him having to live with killing his friend will be far greater punishment than anything the legal system can do to him.Also I read that there will most likely not be any charges filed as it was an accident and done during a legal hunt with no laws broken.

I do feel this young man should be held accountable in one form or the other.If they are not going to press any criminal charges perhaps his states dnr can pull his license for a while and have him earn it back by talking to other young people about hunting safely and proper target identification and what can happen if you shoot at something when you are not sure what it is.

In the end you must feel for the families of both these young men as it was senseless and one young man is dead and the others life will never be the same.

Liberty,
I think you put everything into perspective here. Not knowing the full details of the incident, I am quick to jump to conclusions. I agree whole heartily with you that this is tragic for both families. Being a young hunter I am sure that people in his state will be questioning whether their hunter safety courses are adequate or not. 

Hunting is still a safe sport.  Unfortunately, incidents like this are put directly into the spotlight and outrage people. 

This young man has a long life ahead of him.  Lets hope that he turns this nightmare into something positive.

May have gone on a rant again with my previous post, but “mistakes” like these are not excusable!

How unfortunate, what an understatement! Liberty, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head! My heart goes out to both of the families! I agree some form of punishment is necessary. One thing that none of us could ever begin to comprehend is the feelings of the young man who pulled the trigger. I couldn’t imagine having to live with that for the rest of my life. The only appropriate thing to be done is to make the most out of the most unfortunate of situations. This needs to become an educational opportunity, such as the video Mr. Higgins put up here on this forum. This needs to be turned into an educational opportunity for other young hunters. Maybe this young man’s unfortunate death can be used to prevent further incidents! I send my prayers to all individuals involved in this sad situation! On a related note, there seems to be more accidents involving turkey hunters than any other form of hunting. Whether it’s archery or shotgun doesn’t seem to matter. Does anyone have any thoughts on why this is? I’ve turkey hunted, and for the life of me cannot figure out how this could be so much more dangerous than other forms of hunting!

sorry to hear this!! there is always something like this every year. hunter safety course is a plus and in my opinion should be renewed so that you can get a license. keep it fresh in your head .
we have safety meetings every day at work and a gang box meeting every time we start a job in the field. Southern Nuclear, and southern company in general, start each day with this logo

TARGET ZERO
everyday, every job, safely!

should be that way when hunting with a group. a truck, tailgate meeting! explain the rules so everyone understands the rules. we all get complaceant in our hunting, (“it will never happen to me, it happens to others that dont know what i know.”) well let me be the first to say it .......“you dont know it all and you have forgot most of what you have learned.” i aint calling no one on here stupid but i will say that if you are not willing to put safety first then ..........well maybe you are.

i am ranting. just heard a 16 year old was shot while hunting. a mishandled firearm of somekind. something to get the ANTI-GUN people something to stir the pot with.

YALL BE SAFE! I LOVE THE STORIES SO POST THEM UP!!!

Sorry to hear about Aaron, my thoughts and prayers are out to both families…I know we all hate going to safety meetings (Trust me…Im an Ironworker) but to be honest it does keep everyones head out of there ###’ and most of the time if I do something wrong (unsafe wise) I have a brother tell me, You know next time you should…Blah blah blah, but damnit, we as hunters need to start getting our heads out of our ###’ and be a little more focused on safety rather then im going to kill that big one…Had a guy fall last year, was wearing a harness and it ended up strangling him to death….Has anyone ever thought about what they would do if they did fall with a harness on???Trust me it aint going to be that easy to just grab the tree and climb back up…Always let SOMEONE know what stand your hunting that day….We are all guilty of this!
Anyways I gotta head to the stand….this will give me something to think about tonight while Im sitting there!