Haven't had the opportunity to hunt as much as I would like to due to all sorts of crap. But opening morning, I called in a very nice bird for a buddy who hadn't shot a bird in over 10 years. Of course he was shooting a mod choked duck gun so I called the shot at 15 yds. Sweet. And this bird had some stellar hooks. 2nd sit was dead....3rd sit next weekend, I locate a bird and make my move. It's a BIG boy with 4 hens,finally sweet talk him away from his girls and spend the next 30 minutes staring down my barrel at him. Every time he'd start drifting towards the hens, I'd purr and he'd come racing back. I finally figured the gig was up post wing flip and I clucked to make him lift his head as he was walking towards his hens. I KNEW the shot was longer than I like to shoot...but still felt killable. Well, I missed for he first time. Paced it off at 40. I've never shot further than 20. I think I'm still slightly depressed about it.
4th sit of the season, I went to same area and just set up near where I thought this bird was roosted. Went in dark and quiet and hoped I got in the ballpark. After over an hour of sitting, leaned over to pee and wouldn't you know, I'm under that sucker's tree...FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP. Waaaaaah