I missed... Now what?

[kingofspringmi]

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.

[Timmer]

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.

[Wigsplitter]

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

[dublelung]

Their behavior won't change a bit. Go back in there and hunt them the next chance you get.

[runngun]

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

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[kingofspringmi]

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.