My first miss

[Marc]

I'm sick thinking that I might have wounded him.

I paced it off and the range was 38 yards.  I'm a forester and pace all the time, so I'm pretty confident in the range.  Since just his head and neck was sticking up I hope that I missed him clean.

I missed a bird the same exact way once...

Shotguns commonly shoot high with a 60/40 pattern being prevelant (60% of the pattern above the target and 40% below).  Generally we (or at least I) "aim" at the neck where it meets the body...  Almost always below the head...  In order to hit that bird, you would have had to put the bead on the bush, and I am betting dollars to donuts that you put the bead on the head and shot over the top of him...

For me, the bird poked his head over a knoll...  In order to hit him, I would have had to point that bead at the dirt, which is very difficult to make yourself do.  I am not quite ready for a shotgun scope, but for those situations that you only see the head/neck, it would be nice to have one on the gun.

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[turkey john]

Welcome to the Club. If you hunt much you will miss one now and then. I don't know a real turkey hunter that hasn't missed occasionally. ....Still frustrating though..

[mudhen]

Only two types of hunters, those that have missed, and those that haven't missed yet....

In 36 years, I have had a few accuracy issues....

I've hit a few tree branches, shot high, etc.

My most memorable is losing track of a Nebraska tom in heavy cover, I mean heavy cover, and the next thing I knew, he was maybe 3-4 feet away, beside me and a bit behind me, he flushed, I missed, he flew about a mile, last I saw him he was floating over the Keya Paha River 

Unless you seriously crippled him, no big deal, even if you did, still no big deal as long as you don't make a habit of it, coyotes will clean him up, get fat, and then they are easier to kill!

mudhen

[Spitten and drummen]

Just gotta get back on the horse. Shake it off and keep at it. You will remember the misses the rest of your like. Wont be the last most likely. Most important, keep having fun.