freaking missed.........

[hootn]

same bird been hunting the last 3 days. he was abou 20 yards from the tree he has been in the past 2 days. slipped in to 55 yards of the tree. set up and was not going to say anything.
he starts gobbling about 0615 to some hens behind me. i am beteen him and the hens. when the hens started clucking he starts gobbling. he flies down about 0635 a hens joins him. he there about 60 yards away then starts easing to right to left then drops over the ridge or it seemed. then starts back to my left. i see him and i finally cluck with a slate.he is easing my way when i get a good look at him.
well at 0645 i get a good open shot and i freaking missed. thought i had him but he starts going from flopping to getting up i send another shell at him no joy. that was the last time i saw him he gets behind some oaks and i loose sight of him i got that way and he aint there. went back to the tree and sit there for a little bit. all the time hens are cutting and yelping. i finally get up gin and thry to see if i can see him laying over the ridge and the side of it since that is the way to the truck. nothing again. i didnt see any feathers or anything. so maybe i did not hurt him. going to give him a few days to calm down.

scott
_________________________

[bird]

If he was floppin' like you said then he is defiantly going to die somewhere nearby.

[Nick_The_Tinkerer]

If he was floppin' like you said then he is defiantly going to die somewhere nearby.

Thats what I was thinking

[TRKYHTR]

Dang it I hate that for you. I've been following your hunt with that turkey. Hope he is OK and you kill him in a couple days.

TRKYHTR

[Sherrell]

In Florida we are able to hunt with unplugged shotguns during the Spring .years ago on public land next to my private property,a hunter unloaded on a bird one morning with five shots.a week later when a permit was no longer required I sat up with my Son on the public side.you guessed it.a gobbler on my private side.I zigged and he had zagged.a hour later I had worked him over to the WMA side,but he wouldn't commit the final yards and stayed at 40 to 45 yards.I like my birds up close and personal.if he is crippled he will be in range for a follow up shot.we let him walk and I reset up and within a few hours I had him at 25 yards and told my Son to clean his clock who was ten years old at the time using a youth model Remington 20 gauge.

He takes the shot and rolls the gobbler stone cold dead with a perfect head shot.it was a exceptional bird with those typical hooked Osceola spurs.I wanted to have him mounted and took it to my Taxidermist.told my friend I thought this bird had previously been shot at..he wanted me to come by and take a look...his backside under his skin was completely filled with shot.we shoot #6 and this was no # 6 shot.I give a wild turkey no credit for learning much in his short life span,but this old bird was weary to that particular area.


point is he did survive his first encounter with a back shooter...hope your bird made it and you get another chance at him.

[Basser69]

That's tough to swallow. Sorry dude. Hopefully you can get him in a few days, if he makes it]

[TauntoHawk]

Had my first non recovery last year on a real good bird last day of the season.. tough, still upset about it. I dropped my barrel at the shot and must have gone low and pulled a body shot..

Just gotta figure out what went wrong, learn from it, and declare revenge!

[TRKYHTR]

I talked to Preacher this morning and he missed today as well. It happens sometimes.

TRKYHTR

[RutnNStrutn]

Sorry to hear about that. Have you been back to the area to look for buzzards?

[BamaProud]

Bummer.  Better luck next time Scott.  ...Looks like I might get to squeeze in a hunt this weekend in South Bama after my Sons B'day party.

[T-town]

Umm, I feel bad... hope my miss opening day didn't rub off on you

[timbrhuntr]

Man first your scope messes you up, then you miss one. Your luck sucks. Hope it turns around for ya.

[redleg06]

At least you missed with plenty of time to redeem yourself....

I ended last season with a miss. I had one tag to fill on the last day of the season and flat out missed one at 35 yards....But did put a pretty good dent in that mesquite tree.

[WVhuntEER]

In 2005 I missed two birds within a couple of hours of each other. I tried to shoot too far away on one and the other was clucking and about to take off.   At that time I didn't pattern my guns and was still green as grass on hunting turkey.  I just shot any old shell and learned my lesson hard.  Point is don't feel bad we all have been there at some point.   

[Neill_Prater]

Scott, sorry you didn't connect. In 35 years of chasing birds, I've made every mistake in the book, most of them multiple times, and missing is just one of them. Since I began using a red dot, it has only happened  a couple of times, but it has happened. Hopefully, your gobbler will survive. I've killed more than one bird that has been shot before. We all talk about killing patterns and effective range, but there is a difference between the pattern board and the hunting woods. Clip a few limbs you don't notice in the heat of the moment, bark that little sapling knocking a hole in your pattern, the turkey drops his head just as you fire, any of those scenarios can change a "sure thing" into a "Holy crap, he's running away!" in  a heartbeat.

Good luck, man. Neill