New outdoors card. (No T on the front of the card)

[rick_iles]

You should not be shooting at something white, blue or flesh coloured, you should be shooting at a turkeys head. It comes down to target identification, it has nothing to do with the specific game you are after. If you shoot at something brown in deer season then what about the neighbours horse? Elk? Cow?

I took the turkey hunting course, it had nothing to do with anything other then selling product, honestly, the safety part was nothing I did not see in the general safety course and teaching you how to call and setup has nothing to do with safety.

Im well aware of that Fox...!!! But thanks for the information !

[skypilot]

You'd be surprised at what responds to calls while varmint hunting. I have called several hunters, farmers, farm dogs and one guy stopped on the side of the road for a nature call.

Similar experience when calling turkeys.

I don't use a tail fan and you probably shouldn't either if there is a chance of someone shooting "color"

[Gun Nut]

What took from the turkey course, the prime point, was to position yourself to protect your back, stay in one spot and call the turkey to you. This is the keys point to safe turkey hunting, protect your self, and stay stationary, and don't pursue the birds . Until it is part of the new hunter education course, there is a possibility that those who have not taken the turkey course and have their hunting licence already may attempt other ways of hunting turkeys, e.g. stalking them by honking in on birds that are calling to one another.
It may never happen, but it could, someone attempting to call a tom in, could become a victim of a hunter who is attempting to stalk turkey. There was an old film call, "Gunning The Flyways," which portrayed turkey hunting in quite a different light in the episode the turkey hunters were attempting the walk the bush and push the turkeys towards one another and shoot them on the wing as they flew overhead.

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

[Fox]

Im well aware of that Fox...!!! But thanks for the information !

So why did you put in that comment, if people are shooting at white or blue they should not have passed the hunting course, mind you I know of a lot of people, mostly older, who walk around with their finger in the trigger guard and say "oh, it ain't loaded" as they swing it past the group.

Just because you do not see orange or you see something that may be a turkey or a deer or whatever does not justify shooting.

[Gun Nut]

So why did you put in that comment, if people are shooting at white or blue they should not have passed the hunting course, mind you I know of a lot of people, mostly older, who walk around with their finger in the trigger guard and say "oh, it ain't loaded" as they swing it past the group.

Just because you do not see orange or you see something that may be a turkey or a deer or whatever does not justify shooting.

Older people walking around with their finger in the trigger guard, may have develop the habit as a result of using hammerlock firearms. When you are stalking game with one of these guns the tendency is to keep your thumb on the hammer spur, in order to the hammer to bring the firearm into action. Unless you have a very large hand, the limited span between the thumb and the trigger finger makes it almost impossible to have the trigger finger outside the trigger guard, and get the leverage needed on the hammer spur to fully the hammer. This is particularly true of old double barrel shotguns. By contrast firearms with modern safeties are less cumbersome when it comes to readying them to fire.

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

[rick_iles]

So why did you put in that comment, if people are shooting at white or blue they should not have passed the hunting course, mind you I know of a lot of people, mostly older, who walk around with their finger in the trigger guard and say "oh, it ain't loaded" as they swing it past the group.

Just because you do not see orange or you see something that may be a turkey or a deer or whatever does not justify shooting.

Well Fox, there have been issues with people shooting at a flash of red, etc., in other jurisdictions where turkey hunting has been legal for many years before Ontario started. Most of the safety issues brought up in our training resulted from actual events in these jurisdictions. One only needs to read the MNRF press releases of charges laid by COs, to realize that just because someone has taken and passed a HSTC, doesn't mean they won't hunt unsafely or illegally!

[Fox]

Older people walking around with their finger in the trigger guard, may have develop the habit as a result of using hammerlock firearms. When you are stalking game with one of these guns the tendency is to keep your thumb on the hammer spur, in order to the hammer to bring the firearm into action. Unless you have a very large hand, the limited span between the thumb and the trigger finger makes it almost impossible to have the trigger finger outside the trigger guard, and get the leverage needed on the hammer spur to fully the hammer. This is particularly true of old double barrel shotguns. By contrast firearms with modern safeties are less cumbersome when it comes to readying them to fire.

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

You do not need to pull the trigger to a hammer gun, it is never a safe practice, you should be walking with your hand covering the area of the trigger guard to protect it from brush, I have quite a few hammer guns, half and rebounding hammers.

The turkey course does nothing that the hunters safety course does for safety, if it is not the game that you are hunting and you are not sure of what is beyond the target then don't shoot. If there is concern that someone who had received their hunting license a long time ago may go out and shoot people when turkey hunting then we should re-examine sending everyone back to take the course again because we have a whole pile of dangerous hunters in the woods, if this is the case.

If it is red don't shoot, if it is a turkey and there is a safe back stop then shoot, simple as that.

[greatwhite]

I bet that happens more often during deer season. Obviously they are not teach much about safety during the hunting course.

Well Fox, there have been issues with people shooting at a flash of red, etc., in other jurisdictions where turkey hunting has been legal for many years before Ontario started. Most of the safety issues brought up in our training resulted from actual events in these jurisdictions. One only needs to read the MNRF press releases of charges laid by COs, to realize that just because someone has taken and passed a HSTC, doesn't mean they won't hunt unsafely or illegally!

[mark270wsm]

so all this talk over the years how it was dangers of hunting turkey and madatory course was really just a money grab Wow .. i sure hope all the parties involved are ready for a lawsuit when some guy shoots someone . and i sure hope the money that was generated by these people was put to good use .. i think we should get our money back with intrest. WE HAVE BEEN SCAMMED

[greatwhite]

I have to ask since I took the PAL course 20+ years ago maybe things have changed since then. Do they still teach hunting safety in the course? From what I gather in this thread they do not. So maybe they need to teach hunting safety again.

Should there be a safety course for deer hunters and migratory game hunters?

so all this talk over the years how it was dangers of hunting turkey and madatory course was really just a money grab Wow .. i sure hope all the parties involved are ready for a lawsuit when some guy shoots someone . and i sure hope the money that was generated by these people was put to good use .. i think we should get our money back with intrest. WE HAVE BEEN SCAMMED