# Riding in Turkey Season?



## ilyTango (Mar 7, 2010)

So turkey hunting season is open now, and I am a little bit concerned about riding out around here. I mean, I know to wear bright colours and all that, but you get a lot of cidiots out who have never shot a gun and who don't know the land. There's never been any record of anyone accidentally shot around here (at least not to my knowledge) but there also aren't a lot of riders around our area. What do you guys do during hunting season? Should I still be riding off the property and around to the woods and stuff? If I only ride around home day after day my horse gets so ridiculously bored and goes crazy, so I kind of have to keep her entertained by going new places.


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I used to guide trips during elk and deer season in Colorado. We would wear lots of orange and put surveyors tape all over.










Don't ask if we were safe. Horses are shot every year by yahoos. A hunter from Missouri showed up at a tag station during mule deer season with.....yup, you got it.....two MULES!! As in riding mules.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

I don't trust the people around here. I get nervous just having our pasture back up to a run of woods that hunters like to use. Our property doesn't extend very far into the woods so while we have our part posted, they are all over the rest of it and I put little stock in them realizing just where the line is. I remember growing up the cows and other animals that would be lost every year on the free range during hunting season. 
So, I, personally, don't like to take the chance and we stay out of the woods.


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## ilyTango (Mar 7, 2010)

As terrible as it is, I still laugh at the hunter replacing mule deer with actual mules. But all that's what I'm worried about-I want both me and the horse to be safe, and not be shot accidentally by some idiot who can't handle a gun.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Honestly, the true idiots there is NOTHING you can do to make yourself safe from them but avoid them altogether.


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## ilyTango (Mar 7, 2010)

That is true. Sigh. I can't remember how long hunting season is...at least a few weeks. Gawd, my horse is gonna be nuts when we finally do go out riding again.


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## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

I try to ride throughout the year and have ridden during various hunting seasons on both coasts. So my two cents (with apologies to contentious hunters everywhere) ....

Turkey hunters are generally a bit better (better being relative I know) about knowing what they are shooting at. Turkeys are wily critters and those that hunt them seem to be a higher caliber if you will. The scatter guns that they use for turkey also do not have the range of other weapons which helps to keep us a bit safer. I have had a few scary situations when I've ridden up on a "stump" that started talking. Neither I or my horse recognized it as a human.

Bow hunters - Same as turkey hunters if not a bit more careful about their target and aim. Similar to shot gun users a bow doesn't have much range so the hunters tend to be much more careful.

Rifle hunters - Those hunting large animals such as deer and elk with large caliber weapons and shot gun slugs have the unfortunate ability to "reach out and touch" far beyond the hunter's sight line. This makes some hunters a menace when they're in the woods. We've all heard the horror stories. 

If you're not going to ride the trails during hunting season you wont spend much time at all on the trails. There are hunting seasons throughout the year. Statistically, you've a much greater chance of being hurt by your horse than by a hunter. 

Happy Trails!


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Huh. We don't get much people shootin' turkey's out this way. 
They are EXCELLENT training tools, though. Nothing like one of 'em running under your horse's nose for getting used to things!


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I am an avid hunter. I am always in the woods during hunting season. I don't see a problem with riding during hunting season. Put some Hunter Orange on and go have some fun. if your are worried about turkey hunters, Don't go around gobling like a turkey.

We get to see some of the best of nature by riding 12 months of the year.









Hunting Season in Utah begins in August and runs through November, Spring Turkey hunting is April and May. If I didn't ride during hunting season, I'd miss 7 months of the year.


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

I'm with Painted Horse. I too, hunt pretty regularly - wear hunter orange in the states, Red in Canada, maybe have some trail bells on and you should be good to go. Not a bad idea to bring a cell phone anyhow. I also carry a pistol. However, with my area, the hunters arent' the problem - the meth heads cookin' in the 'remote' woods are.


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## yukontanya (Apr 11, 2010)

I do lots of hunting, but when hunting turkey's you use a shoot gun, with pellets that have a range of roughly 50 yrds... also when hunting turkey's you wait for them to come to you... I would not really worry about being shot...


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## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

I do not stop riding during turkey or deer season. If I am going to ride in the woods, I wear my traffic safety vest, and my horse wears his flourescent reflectors and his jingle bells. My area is agriculture, so there are a lot of fields with small patches of woods (50 acres or less) spread out. If I see pick up trucks parked next to a patch of woods, I avoid that patch, or will just ride the outskirts.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I am in the White Mountains in Arizona, as there are elk seasons all through the fall, from about the end of August through mid December. I am not about to give up my riding for the yahoos in the woods with guns! 

Elk season is really the only hunts I worry about, and perhaps deer season too. I figure a horse looks more like an elk than a turkey, lol! But yes, I do take it seriously and I wear bright orange or yellow hunting vests and dress my horse in hunting vests too! Here are some photos of how I dress y horses. Usually, the hunting vest on his rump hangs down and covers his hindquarters better, but there must have been a breeze when I took these pictures of him enjoying the flowers.  And then I hang another vest around his neck. If I am feeling very paranoid, I might put a red halter on under his bridle and stick some flagging tape on his tack too. I think the bells are also a good idea, but then a hunter might shoot you out of spite, lol! :lol:

Those orange/yellow vests that construction workers wear are great too, and usually they are even more visible than the cheaper hunting vests, IMO. They usually even have some reflective tape on them in case you are stuck out later than you thought you would be, or ride along a road. 

So during hunting season, I am wearing a construction worker vest, and my horse is wearing at least two orange hunting vests. We stick out like a sore thumb! But we need too...... I am also guilty of calling for elk on horseback and have called in bow hunters before!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

And here is another hunting season photo. I didn't have vests on my horse for some reason, but maybe I thought the blazing orange t-shirt was enough, lol! But it shows the flagging tape and red halter. Maybe the halter doesn't really do anything, but the flagging tape flutters in the breeze, so even though it's small, it will hopefully catch a hunters eye and alert him that we are not an elk. :shock: 

In the background is a Mustang stallion I got my picture taken with. My riding partner, who was on a mare, didn't want to get too close to him.


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## ilyTango (Mar 7, 2010)

I feel...assured. Definitely will keep riding.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

As a hunter I know what I have to look for before I actually start thinking of shooting anything. For Elk, I have to decide if its a cow or a bull. If its a bull I have to decide if its a mature bull or a spike bull. If I have a mature bull tag, I can not legally shoot a spike or a cow. If I have a spike only tag, I can not shoot a cow or a mature bull. So Ihave to look at each elk carefully and decide if they are legal.

When hunting mature bulls, we are trying to score them on the hoof. So we look at their horns very carefully to try and determine how big they are. There is no mistaking a mature bull elk or a spike bull for a horse. 

Turkey hunting and deer hunting are the same. You have to determine the sex of the target prior to shooting, Heck as a duck hunter I even have to determine the species of the ducks as they fly by at 40mph before I pull the trigger.

So if a hunter shoots something he pretty well knew what it was. I don't buy the stories about he shot a mule thinking it was a mule deer. It just doesn't happen that way.

Accidents happen where a hunter shoots at something and the bullets goes past that point and hits something behind that point. This is where Hi Visability clothing helps. It catches peoples eyes and helps them be aware that something is behind the intended target. A hunter who is paying attention is going to be very aware of what is going to stop his bullet. Inexperienced hunters get excited about taking the shot and forget to look at where the bullet may travel after it misses or passes through the traget.

Good Luck and have fun. As SkipsFirstSpike said, If you know a hunter is in a copse of trees, just go the other way.

Trailhorserider. I hunted elk one year over by Luna NM. So I got to see some of the White Mountains. Beautiful area.


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

Painted Horse said:


> So if a hunter shoots something he pretty well knew what it was. I don't buy the stories about he shot a mule thinking it was a mule deer. It just doesn't happen that way.


Not with you, maybe....but I got this straight from the DOF officer who saw it. I was a guide that spent every fall packing game out by horseback. My fancy event horses spent that time getting ridden into all areas of the west elk wilderness to quarter and pack elk and deer. Believe me, I saw crazy stuff myself. 

BTW, I am definitely NOT anti hunt, so have no reason to lie about such a story. People in the area are still laughing about it.

Also, I lived in Crested Butte, Co. It is still home to the #1 world record elk.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

No the record for free roaming Bull elk is held by the Spider Bull shot in Utah in 2008. It scored over 500. Which is absolutely Huge for an elk.

If Crested Butte still holds a record for a large elk, It would have to be for a captive or High Fence bull, not a public land free ranging bull.

Do a google search for Spider Bull and there are lots of hits that show photos of this grand bull.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

The old Joke goes:

There was once a hunter who was arguing with cowboy about an elk he had shot. The cowboy said to the hunter, OK, OK It's your elk, But do you mind if I get my saddle off it before you gut it?

As a hunter I may see Deer, Elk, Moose and occassionally Antelope on the mountain while I'm hunting. I will see both sexes of these animals. Most states only issue one Big Game Hunting license at a time. So depending on what tag I have in my possession, I have to determine what I'm looking at; is what I have a tag for. Yes I am sure there are idiots out there that have shot the wrong animal.. But it is the exception not the rule.

People have a much higher odds of having somebody making a bad decision on the road and causing an accident than a hunter mistaking you for a deer. Yes each year we read in the paper about somebody getting shot during hunting season. Usually it's self inflected by somebody accidently discharging their own gun and getting hurt or killed. If not self inflicted, it is usually somebody from their own party of family or friends, who was careless with a gun and caused the accident. It is extremely rare that somebody gets shot by somebody they don't know.

But if I was to read the rest of the paper, there was probably a traffic accident that killed somebody that same day. People talk about how dangerous it is to ride horses. And yes I read about 2-3 deaths each summer from horse accidents. But I read about a death almost weekly from ATVs. So which is more dangerous? Utah averages 2 hunting deaths per year, but it averages almost 300 auto fatalities each year.

So which makes a better news story that will be retold by more people. The one stupid man who shoots a mule or the ATV rider that broke his neck? I suggest that the one idiot who shot the mule, gets his story retold over and over. As you said they are still laughing about it years later.


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## IllComeALopin (Apr 6, 2010)

Here in Pa you can hunt turkeys until 12:00, you must be out of the woods by 1:00... so I go riding after 2:00...


'course in the morning, before I ride, I'm out hunt'n turkeys


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## shmurmer4 (Dec 27, 2008)

Keep the shotty attached to the saddle,


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

I guess the only thing I could really add, is that if you're riding across anyone elses' property that even if you have permission, to ask if the landowner is planning on hunting turkeys. You may have permission to cross, but it is irritating if you've been sitting there, hunting since dawn to have someone on a horse, atv, bike, walking - whatever, just go on through. 
We had a situation like I'm describing happen a week or so ago. A neighbor, that had been told several times to CALL first before attempting to cross our property just decided to disregard our request to let us know before she showed up. The reason being the path off the farm is often blocked off with electric fencing, the path to the back may be blocked, or it just may not be safe to cross for any of 100 different reasons. Well, she went out & stopped right in front of my husband's blind where he was hunting. He'd been out there for hours, and she was instantly apologizing up & down for not calling. We've told her this is her last warning - call first or we'll pull permission. 
I could go on about her, but long way around it - it never hurts to double check. If you're nervous about hunters, ask if there should be any out there. Just because season is open doesn't mean there's a hunter behind every tree.


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## grayshell38 (Mar 9, 2009)

My boss(a DVM) told me about a horse that he got called out to patch up after some city "hunter" shot at it. Luckily the horse was pretty far away. The horse was in it's pasture which boardered a piece of woods, the guy didn't have permission to be in those woods, nor did he have a hunting permit. He just came out cause he felt like shooting something and didn't know the first thing about proper hunting. One lawsuit later everyone is happy again....except for the trigger happy fool. 
But other than that incident I don't think we have all that many calls for hunting accidents every year, which is good. That means the majority of people are using their brains.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

One year after having a holstien cow shot by a stupid deer hunter (yes, a black and white holstien!) we used orange livestock crayons and drawing big orange letters on the cows saying COW on the side. Our white horse was labeled HORSE and the goats... etc.

We figured maybe they would be less likely to shoot our animals if we spelled it out for them. 

Haven't had one get shot since, but our neighbor had 2 flea bit grey arabians shot in the neck and shoulder a few years ago.


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

Painted Horse said:


> No the record for free roaming Bull elk is held by the Spider Bull shot in Utah in 2008. It scored over 500. Which is absolutely Huge for an elk.
> 
> If Crested Butte still holds a record for a large elk, It would have to be for a captive or High Fence bull, not a public land free ranging bull.
> 
> Do a google search for Spider Bull and there are lots of hits that show photos of this grand bull.


 
No, it was free ranging, but the 2008 has probably overtaken it. I have been away from all that for a while. Sad to see the record change. We had it for a VERY long time.

http://www.cbweekly.com/page.cfm?pageid=3417


The spider bull was an atypical bull, so not what one would call a normal record, IMO.


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## Juniper (May 4, 2007)

Definitely get that orange plastic tape and put it all over your horse. I leave it on the horse in the pasture too. All in their mane and tail. I like the idea of putting a vest on the horse, never thought of that. but as much orange or day glo as you can put on.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

> I guess the only thing I could really add, is that if you're riding across anyone elses' property that even if you have permission, to ask if the landowner is planning on hunting ....


This needs to be said more often and louder. I have permission to ride a gorgeous piece of property, and am the only horseman that has permission to ride that property, because the condition is ....don't interfere with the hunters who PAY to lease the hunter rights on the property and maintain it. 

Whatever your opinion of hunters and hunting, if a group of hunters has reached an agreement with a landowner, they're going to be very careful and conscientious hunters to protect their rights to use the land. Horseman and hunters can use the same land only with mutual respect.


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