Misjudged Distance

[mathews bowhunter]

What's the farthest u have killed a turkey with a 20 because of misjudged distance? I have misjudged with a 10 and killed them over 55. Open woods will fool u. I like them to be inside 40 but the last 2 years I killed one at 12 yards and one a 7. Only because he came in from behind me did I kill the one at 7. But Fed 7s should have plenty of energy to break one's neck at 40 right? I've seen some penetration tests and it out penetrates lead 5s. However I have not done any of these but I don't want to misjudge and mess one up. May need to invest in a pocket rangefinder

[mathews bowhunter]

I didn't realize I was still in this forum. Delete it. I would but can't figure out how

[tubecaller10]

What's the farthest u have killed a turkey with a 20 because of misjudged distance? I have misjudged with a 10 and killed them over 55. Open woods will fool u. I like them to be inside 40 but the last 2 years I killed one at 12 yards and one a 7. Only because he came in from behind me did I kill the one at 7. But Fed 7s should have plenty of energy to break one's neck at 40 right? I've seen some penetration tests and it out penetrates lead 5s. However I have not done any of these but I don't want to misjudge and mess one up. May need to invest in a pocket rangefinder

Thats the exact reason i shoot tss. all these guys that swear they never shoot past 40, what are they ranging every turkey with a rangefinder out of a blind or something? I love my birds to get close as possible, but if my eyes deceive me and I shoot one at 50 which i have, I want my shell to kill the bird dead as a hammer.

[surehuntsalot]

when I setup on a bird, I pick out a landmark such as a bush or tree and that is my mark, if he doesn't come past that line, he doesn't get shot at and we play the game another day.
I don't have to kill a bird to have a great day turkey huntuing

[tubecaller10]

when I setup on a bird, I pick out a landmark such as a bush or tree and that is my mark, if he doesn't come past that line, he doesn't get shot at and we play the game another day.
I don't have to kill a bird to have a great day turkey huntuing

How do you know your landmark is 40 yards? What if you misjudged your landmarks and its only 35 and the bird is 5 yards out of your landmark? Your really going to let him walk off with all the time, effort and money put in to the sport? That's fine if your okay with it but I turkey hunt to kill the bird. Period. That's the point I thought.... So instead of the turkey walking off, I choose to shoot a shell if I do misjudge the distance the turkey is still dead and not wounded running off.

[the Ward]

when I setup on a bird, I pick out a landmark such as a bush or tree and that is my mark, if he doesn't come past that line, he doesn't get shot at and we play the game another day.
I don't have to kill a bird to have a great day turkey huntuing

How do you know your landmark is 40 yards? What if you misjudged your landmarks and its only 35 and the bird is 5 yards out of your landmark? Your really going to let him walk off with all the time, effort and money put in to the sport? That's fine if your okay with it but I turkey hunt to kill the bird. Period. That's the point I thought.... So instead of the turkey walking off, I choose to shoot a shell if I do misjudge the distance the turkey is still dead and not wounded running off.

Some of us WILL gladly let the bird walk. We ain't doing this to keep from starving.We don't feel the need to belong to the "have to have something dead in the back of the truck to validate my prowess" club. Nothing wrong with having a cushion if you miss judge  a bit, but if your not 100% sure of a kill when you pull the trigger he's probably too far. 

[tubecaller10]

I WILL gladly let him walk if I truly feel hes out of my range. I totally agree. Here is my point... We turkey hunt to kill the turkey correct? If not, why are you there in the first place? So when I go into the woods and I'm there to try to kill a turkey, I want my best options available to try to do that. I yelp year round trying to be as much of a hen turkey in the woods as possible. I study the terrain and know in and out the property I hunt. I love the game... but when the game has been played and he makes the loop like most turkeys do, I want the game to be checkmate. If that's at 20 or if its at 60 because its wide open woods and you cannot tell exactly how far he is. I never shoot a turkey the second he hits 60 yards. I want him to come close as possible and when I feel hes as close as hes gonna come and in my range, Im shooting him in the face. That's why I also reload TSS. For that exact reason. Not because I shoot turkeys at 60 yards every time because I rarely do, but the fact is when I go to hunt turkeys, I want to maximize my success rate. TSS gives me an extra cushion that lead does not. Nowhere in the turkey handbook does it say (Insert Number) is max range with all shells. its not true period. With lead shells, I do agree 40 yards is a good number. but lets not say that TSS and Lead are equal by saying (Insert Number) yards is the max range for every hunter and every shell.

[alloutdoors]

Let's be honest, 9 times out of 10 "I misjudged the yardage" is really just a euphemism for "He hung up at 50 yards and I decided to shoot anyway". You may not shoot a bird as soon as he hits 60 yards, but it's pretty obvious from your posts that if one stands out there at that distance and isn't coming any closer you are going to touch one off. There's no doubt that with the chokes and loads available today it's possible to put together a rig that will get the job done well past 40 if you put the time into setting it up. If that's what makes someone happy and they are killing birds cleanly I'm not going to tell them they need to do it differently. But if that's your thing then man up and be honest about it, the "I thought he was at 40 but when I paced it off it was 60" *nudge nudge wink wink* routine is getting old at this point and frankly it's just insulting to peoples intelligence (I'm not singling out your posts, just pay attention to how many variations of the misjudged yardage story show up once the kills threads start rolling in this spring).

It's also not hard to carry a small rangefinder and quickly range a perimeter around your location when you sit down. And yes, there are definitely guys out there who won't pull the trigger on a bird at 42 yards even though they are carrying a gun that would flatten one at 50.

[tubecaller10]

Yes I will touch one off because i have full confidence in my gun and know exactly whats going on at that range from patterning and sighting in my gun. The misjudging the distance thread did not start with me and you are exactly correct. I understand completely everyone has their own way of hunting and thats cool! I do not understand if a bird is at 42 and you know for a fact you can kill to 50 and you don't shoot that kind of doesn't make sense to me but to each his own. I am just glad you said that their are guns out there that can shoot past 40 and kill consistently. If a hunter just picks up his shotgun, throws some lead 6s in there, and goes hunting not knowing where his guns shooting and tries a bird outside of his range is where we get into this mess. If guys would just take the time and know what their gun is doing.. their would be much less wounded birds.

[surehuntsalot]

when I setup on a bird, I pick out a landmark such as a bush or tree and that is my mark, if he doesn't come past that line, he doesn't get shot at and we play the game another day.
I don't have to kill a bird to have a great day turkey huntuing

How do you know your landmark is 40 yards? What if you misjudged your landmarks and its only 35 and the bird is 5 yards out of your landmark? Your really going to let him walk off with all the time, effort and money put in to the sport? That's fine if your okay with it but I turkey hunt to kill the bird. Period. That's the point I thought.... So instead of the turkey walking off, I choose to shoot a shell if I do misjudge the distance the turkey is still dead and not wounded running off.

it's called a range finder
if you think you have to kill a turkey every time you go hunting to justify the money and time you have spend, you have no clue to what turkey hunting is all about

[g8rvet]

But Fed 7s should have plenty of energy to break one's neck at 40 right?

yes.  Easily with an acceptable pattern.

[tubecaller10]

when I setup on a bird, I pick out a landmark such as a bush or tree and that is my mark, if he doesn't come past that line, he doesn't get shot at and we play the game another day.
I don't have to kill a bird to have a great day turkey huntuing

How do you know your landmark is 40 yards? What if you misjudged your landmarks and its only 35 and the bird is 5 yards out of your landmark? Your really going to let him walk off with all the time, effort and money put in to the sport? That's fine if your okay with it but I turkey hunt to kill the bird. Period. That's the point I thought.... So instead of the turkey walking off, I choose to shoot a shell if I do misjudge the distance the turkey is still dead and not wounded running off.

it's called a range finder
if you think you have to kill a turkey every time you go hunting to justify the money and time you have spend, you have no clue to what turkey hunting is all about

No I don't by any stretch feel like I have to kill one but I would love to do that.. Also didn't mean to fire anyone up because I love playing the game as much as anybody. I just feel if you shoot one past 40 yards your not breaking any rules unlike some guys on this website. Back in the day when all you had was 2 3/4 lead with factory chokes I totally get that 40 was a good rule of thumb. That is not the case today with technology and the load/choke combos that are available. But if you are still old school and don't think turkeys should die past 40? Perfectly cool by me. But really its a pride thing not a gun thing to not shoot 1 past 40.

[Gobble!]

 

[mathews bowhunter]

Well after shooting my 20 with 3 different boxes of shells, 2 boxes of 7's and a box of 6's. All patterened really close to the same. Less than 130 in the 10 at 40. I can't figure out why it shoots them the same. I ordered some tss and components to build my own. I've killed birds at 50 simply because I had plenty of confidence. And if confidence is there and he won't get closer I'll pull the trigger.

[g8rvet]

What gun and what chokes are you using?  I have got two different 20s to pattern mid 160s at 40 yards in a 10" circle with Federal HW#7. 

I can't even fathom trying one at 60, but I have never patterned a gun at that range and so consider it out of my range.  But then again, 90% of my birds are inside 25 yards.