Well, when I checked my cards on my time lapse cameras on the field I killed the nice bird on, I noticed a nice strutter coming into it almost every day. After not being able to hunt for nearly a week I was finally able to hunt him today. Set up in a blind on edge of field this morning and decided for minimal approach, I would not call unless I heard a bird or until well after sunrise and no decoys. It rained yesterday so this morning was dark and overcast with no bird sounds. About 2 hours after daylight I decided it was time to do some light calling. As I was getting ready to work my slate something caught my attention to my far right. Easing around I could see a red head periscoping from the hill below me. As I lifted my binoculars to verify, he went into full strut. As I eased my gun up I was telling myself a number of things: 1. Last toms I saw in this spot eased off below the hill circled me in the woods giving me no shot, so if the shot ptresents itself, don't wait; 2. Because of the angle
don't shoot high on the bird. As he came out of strut he stretched his neck out at the 2 o'clock
position (44 yards)and it was then I decided to let him have it. Boom, the bird pitches backwards and starts flopping down the hill towards the woods to my left, hens (never saw them till I shot) exploded all around him. I scrambled out of the blind after the gobbler but when I got to the wood line all I could find were feathers everywhere. I literally trailed the bird 60+ yards into the woods by his feathers. Some were even stuck onto trees and branches on the route he took. Finally I ran out of feathers and began making widening circles looking under bushes and in thickets for the bird. After an hour I decided to run home and bring back my Catahoula puppy in hopes that his tremendous nose could do what my eyes could not. We came back and circled the area out to 200-250 yards from the last sign but could find no further trace of the bird, im sure he was confused at bring asked to track a bird rather than a deer as normal. I'm physically ill at the thought of this fine bird being left for
scavengers but I've exhausted my options at this point. I know I shot too low and probably broke his wing down but I've had that happen before and this birds reaction was totally different. Anyway, I'm due to hunt in Florida later this week so I'm now trying to psyche myself back up and put this miserable experience behind me.
You have just exactly described the plot to a recurring nightmare that I have.
Be strong, grieve the loss, go on.
FC
What you shooting there Harleytom?
Stoeger 3020. The load I had in the pipe was a TSS duplex of 2/3 #9s and 1/3 #8s. I killed a bird at 52 yards with this exact load. This was totally operator error.
these things happen, put it behind you and soldier on, enjoy your hunt in florida
You did way more than most by searching as much as you did.