Run to bird after the shot?

[sendero558]

Run grab the legs and step on the head with a good yank.....old habits are hard to break

[Turkeyman]

As many of you, I'm up at the shot and certainly hustling...at my age sprinting days are over! I'm always prepared for a finishing shot if needed.

[grayfox]

Only if he looks like he's about to get away & I can't get another good shot from where I'm sitting.

[12point]

I'm 56 and my days of run after a shot is pretty much over LOL. Ok maybe running at all is over LOL.
I did the same thing as you did years ago, running after the shot.
I believe like you do Scoped guns and TSS shot have changed that.

[Swenny]

A shotgun propped up on the knee offers a much steadier and more accurate follow up shot if needed than free handing one coming to a quick halt from running.

Yep.  I sit and let the moment wash over me with the next round ready to go if I need it.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[derek]

Depends on the situation - a bird that's in plain site and obviously crunched - I may bask in the moment.  I typically feel a lot more comfortable once I have him under my control though.  If its a bird I can't see after I shoot, or has potential to get where I can't see very quickly - I'm sprinting.  I'm not sure I realized how often I do this until I started filming.  It's pretty comical at times watching myself go hauling off after one, especially when he's rolling down a mountainside.   One thing I will not do which I've often seen in videos is take my eyes off of him after the shot - It blows my mind how many shoot then have conversations with the camera before going to pick him up.  Crazy stuff can happen.  I want to be ready for whatever happens and don't truly relax until he's in my hands. 

[mcw3734]

One thing I will not do which I've often seen in videos is take my eyes off of him after the shot - It blows my mind how many shoot then have conversations with the camera before going to pick him up.  Crazy stuff can happen.  I want to be ready for whatever happens and don't truly relax until he's in my hands.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice this. I started watching the YouTube videos last year and I was amazed at how they would divert attention away from the bird after the shot. Honestly, seeing that was the main reason I started this thread. But... they always seem to get up and find it, so, who am I to say they're doing it wrong?

I'm like a retriever in a duck blind, once a bird goes down, I do not take my eyes off it until it is literally in hand (or under foot).

[TonyTurk]

Unless I am being chased by a bear, I am not running anywhere at my age. 

[Howie g]

Well , I ran to one today that my son shot with a 410 !  Probably was pretty comical watching me chase him down . But it was worth it !!

[3bailey3]

Congrats Howie, i get to them as fast as i can, i was also turned off by some off the yoububers that sat there a long time before going to the bird!

[dzsmith]

it all depends. If I have any doubt...any at all. I get over there. But typically I click by vest off, pick up my shell, and walk over there. 99% of the time, im to the bird before he even starts flopping even when taking my time. I grab the bird by the legs, put my foot on his head "not mashing it or stomping it just to hold it to the ground,and hold him while he flops so the wings hit me instead of himself. I had a bird flop a beard off once...not completely but it broke it up pretty bad. I don't waste time by any means, but I don't run to get my stomp on....I don't stomp heads period. I enjoy my pictures, and try to take care of birds as best I can. Ive see people throw them in the dirt, kick them, all kinds of unnecessary stuff......I don't do that. I have a had to snap a couple necks before from making a bad shot, semi low, and you walk up on the bird awake and conscious quivering. I hate that......so I end it as quickly as possible for them. with all that said. I do think its probably best when introducing people to the sport to encourage them to get on the bird as quickly as possible. better to be safe than sorry...and over time if they kill more birds they can make there own judgement from there.

[Marc]

Around these here parts, where turkeys are generally found on some pretty steep country, every second you sit and wait after the shot is another ten or twenty yards down the hill a gobbler will flop.  I get to them as quickly as I can, cuz I don't want to have to carry one back up the slope any further than I have to.

Unfortunately, nowadays "as quickly as I can" is something more of a fast shuffle, or maybe even a medium waddle, than what you young'uns would refer to as running.   

I am often hunting steep country, and once had a dead bird roll out of sight.  The happiness of success was soon replaced with the irritation of that long walk down, and the worse walk back uphill carrying a bird.  Granted, I was still happy after following that trail of feathers and actually finding a dead bird.

I have always made haste after making the kill, and generally anchor the bird's head with my foot...  Unless the head was missing...  Then I just let it keep flopping.

This season, I am going to try a new tool I used for duck hunting called "The Finisher."  It looks like a sharp key, and is basically used to "pith" the birds.
Thought it was junk when I got it, but it kills birds very quickly without wringing the necks or biting their heads...  They can bleed like a stuck pig sometimes though.

[quavers59]

    I really can't Run anymore. I love to Hike though still. I will walk out Briskly to a Big ol Bird and as always- my Foot is on that Turkeys Neck.

[Howie g]

Depends on the situation - a bird that's in plain site and obviously crunched - I may bask in the moment.  I typically feel a lot more comfortable once I have him under my control though.  If its a bird I can't see after I shoot, or has potential to get where I can't see very quickly - I'm sprinting.  I'm not sure I realized how often I do this until I started filming.  It's pretty comical at times watching myself go hauling off after one, especially when he's rolling down a mountainside.   One thing I will not do which I've often seen in videos is take my eyes off of him after the shot - It blows my mind how many shoot then have conversations with the camera before going to pick him up.  Crazy stuff can happen.  I want to be ready for whatever happens and don't truly relax until he's in my hands.

Agreed ,   A man once told me when I was young to beware of the guy who treats a dead gobbler like a dead chicken , slings him around/ throws in bed of truck etc ... Kenny Morgon was his name .

[mtns2hunt]

Really have enjoyed reading everyone's experiences. One of the few posts I have read all the way through. I treat every animal I shoot as being alive and after the shot wait to be sure it does not move or is not breathing. This go's for Turkeys, deer, mtn lions, coyotes or bobcats. Once grabbed a deers antlers and it started getting up. I was much younger than and knew better. Any animal can hurt you! Step on a turkeys head? No, very seldom if ever, especally with the better patterning shotguns and shells of today.