I've not ever quite understood how someone gets shot while spring turkey hunting.
HWD
I can't speak to the experience in other states but here in NY there are often more turkey hunting shooting incidents, and more of them are serious than any other kind of hunting. When the number of turkey hunters vs the number of deer hunters are figured in the difference is, in some years, more than 10 times the incidents as deer hunting.
Part of the issue is that folks continue to do dumb things like stalking turkey sounds, shooting decoys, shooting at rapidly moving turkeys etc but a lot of it is the nature of public land hunting where everyone is camouflaged. Especially in the fall season, there are more game seasons open than just turkeys and the camouflaged turkey hunter may get shot by an upland game or rabbit hunter. Since the turkey hunter is well hidden and holding very still it's hard to blame the bunny or grouse hunter.
Many of the folks that get shot were on the other side of the turkey or decoy and were , of course, well camouflaged and staying very still.
Other aggravating factors are denser than lead pellets and tighter chokes. They are seen by many as a way to stretch the distance at which they can harvest a turkey but the same capabilities make them more dangerous to others and the extended ranges make clearing the backstop for your shot tougher. Several years ago I started using stout Hevi-Shot loads and a really tight choke that patterned well right our to 55-60 yards with enough pellets to drop a tom right now. About a year into the experience I got my head out of my butt and realized that in the mature hardwood tree stands where I hunt I wasn't likely to get a shot at those distances and I sure could not have seen a camouflaged hunter on the other side of the bird.
I carry a wide safety orange belt and put it around the tree I'm sitting under. The turkey don't mind it and anybody anywhere nearby can see it.
My personal feeling is that anyone who uses a decoy on public land or private land where there is more than a very remote chance that another hunter is out there is a fool and so is anyone who stalks a turkey sound. There are good reasons for the old turkey hunter's phrase "Stalking stinks!"
Lance