Well, I thought I would be sharing a great story of the 1st bird for this year........BUT..... Instead I will tell a crazy story.......
Got set up this morning and just after sunrise I did a fly down cackle and had a Gobbler sound off about 150 yards away............. I wait about 5 minutes and do a little yelping and he gobbled again but closer.... He was coming a different way than I expected.....I had to move around the tree and I was behind a deadfall, perfect setup I thought............Then I heard another Tom gobble to the left of the 1st bird.......I do some soft purring and both Tom's gobbled about 25 yards above me................. I waited not knowing which way they were going........I heard them coming and got ready.....I just caught a glimpse of turkey legs among the deadfall.....I am hoping this is not a Hen and I don't get busted...........Then I saw a little blue and red head coming around the deadfall tree.......I waited to see if it was a Jake......Then I see the Tom with about a 9" beard......just as I see the head, chest and the head, I line up my Tru glo's and the head and fire..... I hear the bird flopping and wing hitting the ground..........I jumped up and jacked in a round just to finish him off....As I get around the tree I see him jump up and fly down the ridge......??????????? How can you miss a bird at 6-7 feet ?? Any way, maybe things will go better next time.............
It's a lot easier to miss a turkey at 5 feet or less than at 20 feet because the pattern is so small at the closer distance!
I had one charge me a few years back. He saw my dek. and came running in from my right. The wad went right past his head. I've never seen a bird duck a shot like that. LOL kinda funny looking back at it now. It took another year to kill that bird.
That'll make you reach deep down into your darker vocabulary. Sucks that it happened but at least you got another memory of the turkey woods.
Different critter I know but I had a deer do that to me once, bam 270 rang out flop deer fell over and didn't move I walked back in the house put away the rifle and by the time I got back outside no deer no blood no anything. This was about a 30 yd shot. No idea what happened to this day. Some crazy stuff happens out there and that's a fact! Hate it happened to you but I think we learn more when it ends bad than when it goes text book.
Go get his buddy tomorrow!
Justin