A man shot by his hunting partner in Dallas County this week will recover after treatment for wounds to the head and chest. Iowa’s final spring turkey hunting season is winding down and Mick Klemesrud of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources cautions that hunters must take special care hunting the wily birds. Don’t use a “gobble call,” he advises, and make sure if you back up against a tree that the tree’s wider than your shoulders and be sure that you identify that turkey before you take a shot. Klemesrud says other hunters will seek the gobble call, and could close in on a hunting companion thinking they’re stalking a bird. Hunting brown birds in wooded areas can lead to a high risk of shooting at a barely-seen target. For that reason, Klemesrud also says it’s an important time to wear your blaze orange hunting gear. He says to bring a big blaze-orange game bag to carry out the bird you’ve taken, so another hunter doesn’t glimpse a bird part or head, and take a shot. Iowa’s last turkey season for this spring ends Saturday and the D-N-R says 43-year-old Dave Gray of Clive is the second hunter wounded this season by a companion that the agency knows of, adding there are one or two turkey-hunting accidents in the average year.
