Turkey hunter cited for shooting fellow hunter

From the Times Argus Staff - Published: November 19, 2009

Turkey hunter cited for shooting fellow hunter


BRADFORD – A hunter accused of shooting and injuring another hunter last month in Bradford has been cited to appear in Vermont District Court in Chelsea to face an aggravated assault charge.

Richard Sylvester, 42, of Topsham told police he thought he was firing at a turkey when he pulled the trigger and shot Ryan Terrill, a 22-year-old Bradford man on Oct 25 at about 8:20 a.m., according to a news release from the Vermont State Police.

Sylvester and Terrill had arrived separately at a cornfield on Sand Hill Road in Bradford on Oct. 25, police said.

Terrill showed up first and set up a hunting chair in the woods near the cornfield, said police.

Sylvester told police he arrived at the field, saw turkeys, parked his vehicle and started stalking the birds, the news release said. He reported hearing a turkey and shooting at what he thought was a turkey within the wood line, and ended up shooting Terrill, police said.

Terrill was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. where he was treated and later released for his injuries.

Note from
Eric : fortunately these type shootings are rare, but not rare enough! Everyone is preventable. First and foremost you should never fire until you are 100% sure of your target and beyond. Any doubt at all and it is a no shoot. 2) turkey hunters should never stalk - the odds of success are remote, and most of all it can lead to tragities like this one. Stats show that if there is a hunter shot, 50% of the time it is the person being stalked and 50% of the time it is the stalked who is shot. 3) Lastly hunt defesively . If you see someone coming into your are speak up and tell them you are there, don't wave, stand up or make animal sounds. If your are using a ground blind, put some orange on it - without movement it will not scare turkeys but it should alert other hunters.
During the rifle season for the sake of your family and the future of hunting wear orange! It works

New safety and game recovery products of note

From the Outdoor Wire:

Rifle Reel and Magic Dust Rolled Out

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - Two new products designed for the safety of hunters and game recovery are now available in stores and on-line. Created and engineered by Wayne's Wicked Enterprises, Inc., the Rifle Reel® and Magic Dust® product lines are original and first to market of their kind.

The Rifle Reel is an automatic adjustable strap for rifles, muzzleloader, shotguns of all kinds, and even crossbows. Magic Dust is glow in the dark dust that is "puffed" into the air to aid in stalking and recovering game during no or low-light hours of hunting.

"Both of these products have been designed to help hunters," said Wayne Woolsey, president of Wayne's Wicked Enterprises, Inc. "Of course, our customers are talking about their 'cool factor,' but honestly, whenever we develop new product concepts, we are always looking to help hunters in two ways specifically - to make hunting as safe as possible and to help hunters more effectively stalk and recover game. If we can do that, we know we are making a difference in the industry."

read more

Turkey Hunting Safety Tips from VT F&W

WATERBURY, VT For many Vermont hunters, May first is almost as important as the opening of firearms deer season, and while turkey hunting-related shootings are rare, extra precautions are needed.

Wild turkeys are not the dummies popular myth makes them out to be. Their keen eyes can easily detect movement and out-of-place colors, making camouflage or drab colored clothing almost mandatory, at least when you are set-up. Unfortunately, camouflage has the same affect on other hunters as it has on the turkeys. Consequently, hunter safety experts warn that you never hunt turkeys by attempting to stalk them.

“Stalking is the common denominator in twenty-one out of the twenty-four turkey hunting-related shootings we have had in Vermont,” said Vermont Hunter Education Coordinator Chris Saunders. “Sometimes it’s the stalker who is mistaken for game. Sometimes it’s the other hunter.”

With the opening of spring turkey hunting season near, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department urges hunter to review the following safety tips:

Ø Never try to stalk a gobbling turkey. Your chances of getting close are poor, and you may be sneaking up on another hunter

Ø Stick with hen calls. A gobbler call is intended for special situations and might attract other hunters.

Ø Don’t be patriotic. Avoid red, white or blue. A tom turkey’s head has similar colors.

Ø Avoid unnecessary movement. This could alert turkeys and attract hunters.

Ø Don’t hide so well that you impair your field of vision.

Ø Wear hunter orange to and from your hunting location, and wrap your turkey in some hunter orange cloth for the hike back to the car.

Ø Always sit with your back against a tree trunk, big log or a boulder that is wider than your body. This protects you from being accidentally struck by pellets fired from behind you.

Ø If you use a decoy, place it on the far side of a tree trunk or a rock so you can see the birds approaching from all directions, but cannot actually see the decoy. This prevents you from being directly in the line of fire should another hunter mistakenly shoot at your decoy.

Ø Never shoot unless you’re absolutely sure of your target. Since only turkeys with beards are legal during the spring season, lack of positive identification could result in shooting an illegal bird, or worse, another hunter.

Ø Consider wearing hunter orange while moving from set-up to set-up. Take it off when you are in position.

Remember, only turkeys stalk turkeys! Keep hunting safe in Vermont and make it even safer.

New Camo what does it mean for safety?

The Gore company has developed a new camo that appears to make you invisible to deer and to hunters. Check it out at the Science of Nothing or http://www.optifade.com/ Skip to the 2nd and 3rd videos. It is pretty amazing.
The question it raises to me, being the old hunter ed instructor, is what does this mean for hunter safety. We are already seeing a rise in mistaken for game shootings during bow season with the current generation of camo. Also, Vermont has no orange law during rifle season, and more folks wear camo than Darwin's survival of the fittest should allow for. Once this new generation of digital camo gets out there it will become very difficult to "be sure of your target and beyond" no matter how conscientious and safety minded you are.
Seems to me it is time to get ahead of this increasing problem and require orange during deer rifle season and while small game hunting. Coupled with this should be experiential training during basic hunter education class and outreach/advanced training for seasoned hunters, covering defensive hunting It could be easily blended in with the Successful Hunting seminars that have been piloted by myself, Orion and VT Hunter Ed in Stowe and Putney.

Profile of a responsible hunter

We've all seen slob hunters - similar to the description of pornography by one of our Supreme Court Justices - "you know it when you see it". That is one extreme, but what criteria needs to be met to be a responsible hunter? We all think we are one, but are we?

Here is my opinion of the criteria that needs to be met:

1) Safe - bottom line is you must follow the safety rules for gun handling and hunting. If you endanger yourself, others or property you are not a responsible hunter.

2) Lawful - Game laws can be complicated and tempting to bend or break. But they have a vital purpose and must be followed to the letter and spirit.

3) Clean Kill - Responsible hunters only shoot at game they know they can kill, not to see if they can hit it. Stuff happens, but we do everything we can to make one-shot kills. Excuses like I didn't have time to sight in, or practice or check my pattern don't make it. Taking shots byond your ability to hit the vital area, moving shots if you are proficient at them and high risk angle shots are other no-no's. Among the worst are the "bowhunters" who brag about sticking deer - ahhhh - a great way to lose hunting.

4) Full Utilization - If you kill it; you (or someone else) eat it. If you don't like mergansers and don't know anyone who does - don't shoot them. For game like moose, it takes planning ahead to be sure you can get it out of the woods and cool it down before it spoils, not as easy as you might think. The exception to this rule is damage shooting. But that is different than hunting and I still think the critter should be used if at all possible, even if it is just cleaning the coyote skull for the local Boy Scout troop.

5) Practice Fair Chase - If it is a 100% guaranteed kill or the animal can't get away, it is not an ethical hunt. The outcome of the hunt must be in doubt up to the instant the trigger is pulled. Anything else is just shooting or slaughtering. Within this definition is lots of room and it will vary between hunters and even for the same hunter at different times of their lives.

There is inherent conflict between fair chase and clean kill. If you erect to high a barrier to harvest, say using a homemade stick bow, you could without a lot of discipline, set your self up for wounding animals because your skill level is not high enough to be successful under reasonable conditions. More on fair chase and hunter preference in future posts!

6) Support Conservation – This applies primarily to more experienced hunters. I don’t think you can call yourself a responsible hunter unless you are actively supporting wildlife conservation beyond buying licenses and paying tax on equipment and ammo. We need to be in the arena supporting scientific management and environmentally sound policies both politically, physically and monetarily.

I also don’t think paying dues to a hunting club or conservation organization is enough. It is a great start but not enough. We need to be actively engaged with that club, doing habitat work on the ground and making those phone calls to legislators. It also means building support for conservation and hunting, like taking a kid hunting and showing the neighbor kids how to read sign.

As you can see, I think there is more to being a responsible hunter than what happens at the instant you touch the trigger. All of this together is what makes hunting such an engaging and ever new and challenging activity.

I’d love to hear your thoughts ….