Shot at a bird...23 steps...he was framed by two trees...head up...looking right at me...boom...flys away unhurt...not a feather missing..not a feather on the ground. Bark inside of both trees skinned off 22-26 inches from ground. Bird was right in middle between the two trees...totally mystified. Tell me what happened because I don't know.
Dang that stinks. Especially when you don't get too many opportunities to squeeze off on one and then that happens.
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Missed him.
It happens. No Kevlar.
We've all missed before.
Forget about it and go kill the next one.
Happens to us all sooner or later. Been there did that, except I only had one tree about 6 inches round, Longbeard beside it 25 steps and thats pushing the distance. Putted one time, popped his head up, BOOM!!! And he walked out of my dreams forever. Pellets about chopped down the tree. Softball size pattern!!! And it was a heart pounding hunt as well.
If a man says that he ain't never missed a turkey, he ain't hunted enough, or killed very many, OR he's LYING to you.
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I call it "divine intervention".
I don't miss. Only three times that I can think of in 45 years worth of spring seasons. Two of those were brutally easy to explain. Once I shot off a sumac tree I had an hour to look for but never saw, Once I mis-chambered a grossly incorrect shotshell into my gun.
And then.............. the OTHER one. Called a longbeard and a jake right up out of a small draw in big, mature timber. Like shooting down a fairway at Pebble Beach. Absolutely NOTHING between the muzzle of my Super X2 and the standing bird. 36-37 yards. Gun on my shooting stick. My back against a centuries old oak.....heels solidly dug into the soft dirt. Took a breath. Squeezed like I was shooting a sandbagged rifle from a benchrest. The gun went off. The turkeys ran..........and KEPT running. Not a drop of blood. Not a cut feather. Not NOTHING. There was NO WAY that I missed that bird.......except I did.
To this very day, I have NO explanation.....reasonable or otherwise.....except that the Lord shielded that bird from 2 ounces of #6's at 1300 fps. Beyond that, I got nothin'
First thing I would do is make sure your gun did not get bumped and mess up your aiming devise whatever that may be.
It happens to us all. I'll go with what Yoder said, "divine intervention".
It keeps us humble.
Shake it off, don't dwell on it, check out the gun and go get the next one!
Quote from: Ihuntoldschool on March 23, 2024, 10:26:18 PM
Missed him.
It happens. No Kevlar.
We've all missed before.
Forget about it and go kill the next one.
X2
Quote from: runngun on March 23, 2024, 10:34:47 PM
Happens to us all sooner or later. Been there did that, except I only had one tree about 6 inches round, Longbeard beside it 25 steps and thats pushing the distance. Putted one time, popped his head up, BOOM!!! And he walked out of my dreams forever. Pellets about chopped down the tree. Softball size pattern!!! And it was a heart pounding hunt as well.
If a man says that he ain't never missed a turkey, he ain't hunted enough, or killed very many, OR he's LYING to you.
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Quote from: King Cobra on March 24, 2024, 06:37:11 AM
Quote from: Ihuntoldschool on March 23, 2024, 10:26:18 PM
Missed him.
It happens. No Kevlar.
We've all missed before.
Forget about it and go kill the next one.
X2Quote from: runngun on March 23, 2024, 10:34:47 PM
Happens to us all sooner or later. Been there did that, except I only had one tree about 6 inches round, Longbeard beside it 25 steps and thats pushing the distance. Putted one time, popped his head up, BOOM!!! And he walked out of my dreams forever. Pellets about chopped down the tree. Softball size pattern!!! And it was a heart pounding hunt as well.
If a man says that he ain't never missed a turkey, he ain't hunted enough, or killed very many, OR he's LYING to you.
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Yup.. ^ what they said.
Hit the range and shoot it again for sure. Nobody wants that in a season. Last year it happened to me. Sometimes we just whiff.
I missed one last year, nothing between us but air, no clue how I missed but I didn't even touch him, right at 40 yards so a nice sized pattern.
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Blown Pattern
Quote from: runngun on March 23, 2024, 10:34:47 PM
Happens to us all sooner or later. Been there did that, except I only had one tree about 6 inches round, Longbeard beside it 25 steps and thats pushing the distance. Putted one time, popped his head up, BOOM!!! And he walked out of my dreams forever. Pellets about chopped down the tree. Softball size pattern!!! And it was a heart pounding hunt as well.
If a man says that he ain't never missed a turkey, he ain't hunted enough, or killed very many, OR he's LYING to you.
Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk
I did same thing last year! Had a bird at 25-27 yards strutting behind a 3" tree about half way between us. Had a hen about 15 yards to me 10 o clock and i'm sure he was gonna follow her, but I just got impatient, and decided I could see his head on the right side of the tree, I should be able to kill him. Put the dot on his head and squeezed the trigger... and I dead centered the tree and he flew off :z-dizzy:
Easier to miss than you think.
23 steps pattern still pretty tight.
If he was hit at that close of range he would have been rolled , feathers flying...
We can sit here and Monday morning quarterback and diagnose until we're blue in the face.
It's a miss, that simple. Blown pattern, twig who really knows?
If I had to GUESS, shot sailed high over his head..
Body hit bird would have been rolled at 23 steps.
I have experienced the same thing. So you're not alone!
No kidding there I was.
I had made a move on the inside of the pasture. Some small pines. The bird was in the hardwoods. Of course there was a fence. For whatever reason he didn't come into the field. I could see him behind the trees. He strutted up behind a big split tree. Came out of strut. I put my scope on his head. Which was in-between the trees. I really didn't give it a second thought. He was in range. I squeezed the trigger. Boom.
All of a sudden I saw a Gobbler fly off. I laughed to myself. Thinking it had to be a second bird.
Once I got to the tree. I looked behind it where the bird had once stood. NOTHING! I looked at the front of the tree. Perfect pattern.
The only explanation I can think off. He moved his head during my trigger squeeze.
Shot over him
I've missed once in 30 years.Had my pheasant choke in.Stupid mistake.
I have missed a bird that to this day I have no idea how. Rolled him at about 35 yards. Got up to get him and off he scoots. Same gun and load that year killed one at 47 yards (mismarked my bush to shoot him at on a field) and still stoned him.
All I can say is I have had ducks on the water in easy killing range and shot them to finish them off and had the pattern explode all around them and they keep swimming. Over the head most likely if a true miss or a small nothing twig in the way that deflected enough to spare him.
Better look at your pattern. Last year I missed a bird I was pissed off but I went home and shot it to see the pattern and that gun shot like straight ???? turkey choke or not it shot terrible. I bought a new gun and needless to say pattern whole lot better so pattern yo gun
you missed, it happens, if you hunt long enough it will happen
There's a lot of difference between a total miss and hit him and he still flew off. If you don't break a wing or leg they can take quite a bit of lead or TSS and still leave the scene. The first gobbler I killed this year had pellets between the breast meat and feathers. He had been "missed" before.
I shoot lead #5s so it was obvious they were not from my shot.
I wonder how many of these "misses" with long range shots are feeding gobblers to vermin when they get away and die of their wounds later or are too weak to fly up to roost that night and end up in a raccoon or bobcat.
Missing can also have a lot to do with how you have your gun setup with sights / optic / red dot and keeping your head down on the gun.. Especially if your gun has a youth model stock... So again it all depends on your setup in my opinion.