Hey y'all,
I unfortunately joined the "I missed" club this afternoon and I need some help. I've been hunting these birds for a week now and I finally got an opportunity to harvest one and just didn't connect. Of course, they ran out of the field and I got out of there as quickly as I could without them seeing me. But now I'm unsure of how much their behavior will change. I know where they roost and where they go in the morning, and it was my plan to hunt them tomorrow morning before today happened. I'm now not sure how they'll react when they see decoys or hear my calling though. Do you think their behavior will drastically change, or will I be alright tomorrow morning?
I had one hen decoy out, and the bird gobbled about a minute after I shot. They're pretty vocal in the morning.
We'll never know until tomorrow, but any help is appreciated at the moment.
we all miss, just keep hunting, Mike
I wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes hunters give animals way too much reasoning ability. Gobblers survive on instinct and not memory.
A few years back, I spooked one bad that came in quiet, he left flying and putting, I circled around the same hollow, set up in another spot and within an hour, he had started responding and came right in to the gun
I missed one Wed, killed him Sat. Mike
If anything change calls - get back after him !! Good luck!!
Thanks y'all, I appreciate it. I'm going back tomorrow pretty darn early before sunrise so I can be exactly where I need to be in the morning. If I'm lucky I'll post a pic of a bird tomorrow.
Safe hunting
You missed? Jesus!!
Anybody who says they have never missed one has not hunted them very long. It happens to the best of us. Does not feel good but do not let it get you down. Get back after them.
Several years ago I missed a nice one at 9am and killed my best ever(different bird than the one I missed) in the same spot at 1145. He is now proudly posted on this forum as my Avatar! GO GET HIM!
When you miss, you hang your head, you move on to gnashing your teeth and kicking yourself over it.
Then you make sure your gun is sighted in and move on from it.
Yeh it sucks, but you got to get back in the game.
It often depends on where you are hunting at many times. On hard pressured public land, it is not uncommon for that bird to shut down for a few days at the least - to possibly being done for the year if he gets shot at. On private land, or much less pressured public, it can be totally different. The fact that you heard him gobble that quick tells me that you are most ikely still in the game. The responses on here are pretty accurate, you likely can still kill him. Take the advice another offered, change your call and give him a completely new sound. If possible, move to a different location on the property and try to not call him back to the exact same spot where he was shot at. Here is the thing about turkeys, I hunt pressured birds, and they don't take well to be shot at, but even in pressured areas - with turkeys there is always that one who will totally defy whatever we think that we know about them to begin with. Pressured or unpressured, the bird you missed today may be the one that tomorrow will act as if nothing ever happened. You just don't know for sure what they will do until you go back, and that is part of why I keep going back to the woods every chance I get.
Get back on that horse
Thanks everyone for the stories and advice, I really appreciate it.
I didn't get to go out this morning since I woke up feeling under the weather, but as soon as I feel able I'll be right back out there hunting him.
I've had over 24 hours to think about the encounter and I've come to the conclusion that I over shot him. While I'm still a little bummed about it, I'm just glad he wasn't injured. I'll let y'all know how the rest of my season unfolds with him.
Safe hunting
I hope you feel better soon and get back out and get that bird.
Quote from: kingofspringmi on May 02, 2022, 07:55:33 PM
I've had over 24 hours to think about the encounter and I've come to the conclusion that I over shot him. While I'm still a little bummed about it, I'm just glad he wasn't injured. I'll let y'all know how the rest of my season unfolds with him.
Old timer told me once, "I ain't ever seen nobody shoot one's feet off." His point was that we almost always pull high (that is unless we've got a sight and the sight has been knocked off). Happens to all of us. Like a lot of folks have said, if you ain't missed you ain't been at it very long.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
S.O.L. Old school here. You oughta know better.
Well, I'm gonna swallow my pride. Here is the dreaded update that I can no longer delay...
Four days after missing, I finally got to set up for a morning hunt where I wanted to be. Like clock work, the birds showed up exactly where I expected them to be. They wouldn't commit to the decoys but I estimated them to be at roughly 45ish yard. I squeezed one off and... watched all of them fly away. I couldn't believe it. I knew I wasn't the best at estimating yardage, but I was off by 15 yards. Just my luck.
This evening I set up in a spot to cut them off from their roost. Around 730 I spotted a bird in the field over and recognized the bird. I called and he gobbled. I knew my odds weren't great, but I felt somewhat confident. I turned my head right to watch three hens come screaming out of the woods towards the gobblers. They didn't notice me and feed out in front of me for twenty minutes.
Once they worked into the woods, I turned to my left and saw a big body turkey walking towards them. I instantly knew it was a tom and didn't call or move. I heard a spit followed by a drum and saw the second come out of the woods strutting. I then watched the lead tom turn and start making his way towards me. Just by body language and the colors of their head, I felt that they felt comfortable. It just felt too good to be true though... and I was right. At 100 yards, the tom stopped, got nervous, and quickly walked into the woods, followed by the second tom. Was it the pair of decoys? Probably.
I'll admit, in the ten years I've been turkey hunting (with a gun in hand) this is the first time I am truly frustrated. Mad? No. I'm having fun and this is the most action I've ever seen in a single season. But, I'm just beat as to what to do to get them in gun range one last time. I knew after missing a second time that I'd most likely never get another shot again, but I'm too stubborn to leave the property for another one. I think as long as I put myself in the right place, with a little luck, and one mistake from one of those birds I may go home with an extra 20 pounds.
Sorry for the rough read y'all. Have a good one.
Missing twice is tough. I would to to the range to figure out what is going on with your gun or your head. Either you will find something wrong and fix it, or you will prove the gun is true and it will remind you to do it right - check your mount, aim correctly, slow pull of the trigger.
As far as as what I would change? If the birds turned tail at the decoys once, I would use no decoys the next time.
Range finder will help tremendously for those that have trouble judging distance- I've been hunting a long time but still pop a range on a few trees if time allows and especially in field/ pasture situations- I too would check gun to be sure for my own peace of mind - as for decoys I'm not a huge fan but do occasionally use them on afternoon hunts in fields or pastures- one single hen always for me - too many 50-50 stories of he came in vs he spooked with gobbler or Jake decoys involved for me- my real preference is no decoys. Good luck - keep hunting - a miss sure hurts the confidence
Their behavior won't change a bit. Go back in there and hunt them the next chance you get.
You are still in it to win it!!!! The birds are still there. If they're still roosted in the same area, you can still kill him.
I say that to admit this, 30 plus years ago I was turkey hunting out of state. I was young and very dumb. This was before I heard of how to pattern a shotgun and the importance of this.
I absolutely without any doubt MISSED 3 [THREE] different Longbeards in one morning!!!! Like not even close!!!! All of them were 30 yards and less. Talk about frustrating. I wanted to wrap my gun around a tree.
Moved 150 yards and 30 minutes after the last miss, I killed a Longbeard at 40 yards.
I went back to camp and patterned my gun. It took a side of a refrigerator box to figure it out!!! Joker was shooting every bit of 2 foot high and 3 foot to the right!!! Talk about a bent barrel!!!
By the way, this was one of the very first BENELLI Super Black Eagle!!! That gun was the 1st shotgun that I put a scope on!!!!
Definitely learned a lot since about shooting shotguns.
Have a good one
Bo
Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. I've decided that a rangefinder will be my big purchase for next season.
I'm glad you guys are recommending no decoys too. I talked with my grandfather (the man who introduced me to the sport and taught me a lot about how to hunt turkeys) last night and that was his recommendation as well. I figured it was the next step as well, but I will admit that I'm a little nervous about how it'll go since I'll be field hunting.
I was going to go out this evening, but we're currently experiencing unseasonably warm weather, about 15 degrees above the average for this time period. I'm going to go out in the morning tomorrow at a different piece of property, then hunt these turkeys I've been chasing for a while now in the evening.