[cizinec]

Always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

That said, a “safe” firearm is one with a mag/tube whatever out, action locked open, safety on, unloaded, preferably with a chamber flag in, firearm grounded with no one touching it.

So, how many safety rules to he have to break to get shot?

[AnAmericanMother]

That's a counsel of perfection that's not going to fly in the field (especially the chamber flag, although I might have put a glove or a whistle lanyard into the receiver with an antsy dog around. But then again I wouldn't have put down a loaded gun even with the safety on.)

May not have been anything to safely wedge the firearm into (like a forked tree trunk or a training bag) to ensure it was pointed in a safe direction. But if it's on the ground, it ought to have at a bare minimum the action open and the safety on. And if he was done shooting for the day and collecting the decoys, unloading the thing wouldn't have hurt either.

I don't ever put down a loaded gun except on the staging table at Cowboy Action shoots. And there's a Range Officer and three spotters keeping an eye on it (and no stray dogs).

[GYL2]

Always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Are you talking about the dog or the gun?