Wild Turkey Almost Shoots a Hunter.

[jdmidwest]

True story, you can't make stuff up like this one.

Boss comes in late to work this morning packing a shotgun into the office.  Not an unusual start to the day around there, guns are a favorite thing to discuss in the morning at my office.

He points out how dirty his new Beretta is and starts a conversation with myself and the other salesman.

He grabbed a hunt on the way to work this morning at a local family farm.  Hops out of truck and finds a gobbler about 50 yards out in strut.  Pulls down on it with his new Beretta and its new Indian Creek custom choke and lets loose.  Gobbler down and flopping.  Not a clean kill, so he sprints out to the bird.  Not being as faithful to the gym anymore, he is out of breath when he reaches the gobbler and lays the gun down in the open field probably to get the phone out for a glory photo, that part was hazy.  He assumes the turkey is dead at this point since it has stopped flopping.

The turkey sees a large man running at him and decides to flatten out to make it look like its hidden.  It seizes the opportunity of distraction, get up and runs its neck thru the sling of the new Beretta.  It catches the gun and the turkey is in full throttle across the open field and has a head start.  Boss realized turkey is taking off, with his shotgun dragging behind it, and takes pursuit, still out of breath from last sprint.

Somewhere in that chase, he remembered something vital to the story.  The gun is still loaded and in the excitement, the safety is still off.  He altered his course and got the bird and the gun.  Rattled, he left the beard on his truck cover and it blew off somewhere on the way.  All he could really remember was that goofy bird running along with that shotgun bouncing up and down behind it.

The gun had blood soaked sling where it attached to the buttstock and pieces of turkey skin and fat.  Mud on the stock from the field and in the vents of the custom choke.  I am pretty sure that really happened.

 

[jdmidwest]

Had the turkey won, they would have found the victim dead from a gunshot in the field with murder weapon nearby.  That would have been a cold case forever, nobody would have guessed what killed him...

[Quillback]

Now that is an epic story!

[WestCentralFisher]

I've never been assaulted by a turkey, but 20 or so years ago when I was a kid, I did once kill a deer in what I'd have to describe as self defense. 

My dad and I were deer hunting together, each sitting at the base of trees a few hundred yards apart. It was a warm, comfortable day, and nothing was happening, so at some point in late morning I allowed myself a little nap. It abruptly ended when I heard a loud bang.

Good deal, I thought. My Dad shot a deer, meaning we'd have venison later and most likely a good celebratory dinner in town today if we handled the post-hunt business quickly enough.

Except, I looked up, and the deer (a large doe) was very much alive, and in fact, running directly toward me at alarming speed. To say it was charging me would imply intent that almost surely wasn't there, but it was hauling butt, and I was directly in front of it.

I managed to raise my rifle and shoot it at a distance of somewhere between 8 and 9 feet. There is almost no question in its blind fear it was about to run right into me. I have zero idea how exactly that would have played out, but I imagine it would have hurt.

 

[jdmidwest]

Turkeys can inflict damage when they are crippled.  I have been spurred and thumped with a wing.  The thump with a wing feels like a baseball bat in full swing hitting you.  Sucks when it hits you on the calf of the leg or a knee.

I have walked up and stomped down on the head with a good heavy boot to finish off.  That final flopping can get pretty serious.  And like my boss found out, sometimes they are not as hurt as they appear and long from dead.  Shotgun blasts at close range are just too messy and ammo is expensive.  I usually carry some low brass stuff with me for a snake or a cripple turkey now.  

Deer are dangerous, the hooves can get you bad too.