May 18, 2011
Editor's Note: Massachusetts turkey hunter George Hamilton
reports on an incident that took place while he was turkey hunting
last week.
My perspective on luck and Friday the 13th has been changed
forever. Having been fortunate enough to fill a couple of spring
turkey tags early in the New York and Massachusetts gobbler season,
I decided to swap out my shotgun for a recurve on Friday, May 13.
I went to a piece of western Massachusetts property where I was
fortunate to have exclusive permission to bowhunt. On my way there I
saw a truck parked at a spot where hunters have been known to pull
off when they sneak into the property. I was upset but decided to go
hunt anyway. I figured that if I ran into the guy, or heard him
calling, or heard him shoot, then I would get out of the blind,
identify him and report him to the landowner. I had no idea just how
terribly wrong my plan would go.
As I set out the hen decoy 8 yards in front of the blind, I heard
birds gobbling on the hill right behind me. They sounded like jakes
but I could also hear another bird gobbling farther up the ridge. He
sounded like a mature tom. I also heard a bunch of hens yelping and
cutting from their roosts and it was the most excited and loudest
calling I've ever heard hens do while still in the trees. If the
birds followed their usual pattern, they would fly down and come
into the cornfield where I was set up. I was psyched.
The first shot was a complete surprise and shock. It sounded so
close that I couldn't even pinpoint where it came from, besides
really close. Before I even had time to react and get up off of my
seat and out of the blind another shot rang out. This time I heard
pellets whiz by the blind and hit the foliage and ground around me.
I assumed the shooting was over and I was thinking that I had to get
out of the blind and get this guy when another shot went off. This
time the pellets hit the side of the blind, passed through it and
struck my clothing on my right side (you can see the pellet holes in
my blind in the picture below). I clearly remember feeling the
pellets hit me in the right shoulder, right hip and right leg. I was
in absolute shock—and then a fourth shot rung out. This one sent
pellets through the wall of the blind and again, hit me in the right
shoulder and thigh area. This time I immediately felt a sting in my
right thigh and I knew right away that I’d been hit. I screamed out:
"Stop Shooting. You just hit Me!" and thankfully, the shooting
stopped. I took a few seconds to check my leg and it looked as if
only one pellet had actually punctured the skin on my right thigh
and the wound was just bleeding slightly.
I unzipped the door on the blind and looked out toward where the
shots had come from. The first thing I saw was FOUR turkeys that
were lying dead, or dying, in the field in front of me! I started
walking toward the other side of the field and saw a camouflaged
hunter come out of the woods and into the field. Then I heard him
ask me; "George, is that you?" I recognized the guy as someone who
knew that this was private property, who knew that I had permission
to be hunting here and that he, did not. He tried to give me some
crazy explanation of how he thought he was in a different spot, but
it was no use. I knew, and he knew, that he was trespassing. To make
matters worse he had walked right under five, multi-colored, No
Trespassing signs that were posted on trees over a distance of less
than 50 feet. He also shot at the turkeys while he was seated within
10 feet of another No Trespassing sign. The guy then appeared amazed
that there were four dead turkeys in the field (remember, he shot
four times).
