As long as folks hold the person who pulled the trigger blameless, the wrong lesson will be learned from it.
"As long as folks hold the person who pulled the trigger blameless, the wrong lesson will be learned from it."
Well, yes. The shooter is responsible for his shot...always.
I don't know what the rule is in that area, but turning to take a bird that flies behind you is always forbidden on any hunt I've ever been on. It's just too dangerous. First, your line of fire has to pass over the hunter on one side of you as you turn. Second, you have not been following what is going on behind you, so someone may have approached without your knowledge. Third, you'd miss anyhow, since that's just not a natural shot.
Normally, in a line of, say, three hunters, each hunter has a virtual cone in which he may fire. The angle formed by that cone is a matter of discussion among the members of the party, but, in general it's about 60 degrees. That encompasses a full 180 degrees. The side shooters take birds on their sides and the center shooter takes birds in front. The cones overlap a bit, especially for the center shooter. By sticking to this 60 degree cone of fire, you never run the risk of swinging too far toward another hunter, who may have stepped slightly forward.
It's all safety, along with giving all members of the party a good chance to take game.
"As long as folks hold the person who pulled the trigger blameless,"
Which, as I recall, is the tactic of the "Ban All Handguns" liberal left - to blame the weapon, not the person holding it.
I guess for some, this tactic also applies when the person holding it is a member of the Bush Admin?