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Nate Shult · April 28, 2012, 02:13 AM

I guess the only real close call I had was 2 years ago or so. I was walking a crick on a Wildlife Management Area where I routinely jumped wood ducks at mid day. This day it was a little later in the afternoon. I came up on a group of 6 that were tucked under the near side bank that didn't flush until I was 10-15 yards away from them. The first shot hit a nice drake and 4 birds flew across the creek to the left. 1 bird took the near side and flew to my right. The limit in Minnesota was 2 wood ducks back then so I didn't want to risk shooting 2 with 1 shot. I swung right and just as the barrel was clearing through the bird I heard a shout of "don't shoot!" I lowered my gun very startled cause I was alone and there weren't any cars in the lot. Then I saw a guy in a treestand bow hunting deer. It turned out he lived next door to the WMA and routinely bowhunted out of a stand he had hung out there 20 some feet up. I never saw him coming up and even when he started talking. Nothing real bad happened but it always scared me as to what could have happened in the blink of an eye. He told me he had seen me coming and knew there were ducks there so he didn't want to ruin my shoot, but I wish he would have said something before I started shooting.

April 28, 2012, 02:13 AM	#33
Nate Shult Junior Member Join Date: April 23, 2012 Posts: 14	I guess the only real close call I had was 2 years ago or so. I was walking a crick on a Wildlife Management Area where I routinely jumped wood ducks at mid day. This day it was a little later in the afternoon. I came up on a group of 6 that were tucked under the near side bank that didn't flush until I was 10-15 yards away from them. The first shot hit a nice drake and 4 birds flew across the creek to the left. 1 bird took the near side and flew to my right. The limit in Minnesota was 2 wood ducks back then so I didn't want to risk shooting 2 with 1 shot. I swung right and just as the barrel was clearing through the bird I heard a shout of "don't shoot!" I lowered my gun very startled cause I was alone and there weren't any cars in the lot. Then I saw a guy in a treestand bow hunting deer. It turned out he lived next door to the WMA and routinely bowhunted out of a stand he had hung out there 20 some feet up. I never saw him coming up and even when he started talking. Nothing real bad happened but it always scared me as to what could have happened in the blink of an eye. He told me he had seen me coming and knew there were ducks there so he didn't want to ruin my shoot, but I wish he would have said something before I started shooting.