Missjudged range, TOM still on the ground thanks to LB_XR!!!

[Marc]

Safety is the main issue here...

I have seen hunters turn things into animals or game they want to shoot, and sometimes our brains do funny things...  At least he shot a turkey.

Looking through a scope at a turkey (which I have never done), I can see getting a bit more excited and wanting to take the shot...  I'd have no idea how to range a bird looking through a scope, without lifting my head to look at the bird...  That may or may not occur to someone full of excitement, never having had such an experience before.

California states the bird must "have a visible beard," but I am sure that states vary.

Glad the loads worked, and I am always looking for a load capable of taking game further than I actually "want" to shoot it...

[Flounder]

Man... after 20 .. I'm shootin a 20? Lord have mercy. Hang in their buddy! It's all good.

[fallhnt]

 

[MK M GOBL]

Not my rant, but if misjudged by 30 yards... I have never had the issue because of my scope, it is made to give you "It's under 40 yards" estimation. For me I am at the under "20 Yards" and mostly happens at 15-17 yard range.

MK M GOBL

[surehuntsalot]

Whatever happened to learning to call.  I have let more walk than I can count at the maybe range and hope to have a few more humble me before I am through.

Amen to that
just about no such thing as a turkey hunter anymore, all anybody wants to do is see how far they can shoot

[longbeards]

Vpsaline
I know you are getting flack for taking your shot
But when you use a rifle scope on a shotgun
You change your visual perprespective and it
Complicates judging distance.
For this reason I use a Burros fast fire 3
And can shoot it or the open sight depending
On need at the time. Without magnification
It is easier to judge distance...
Congrats on your gobbler!!
A month out till season here in wv!!
Longbeards

[Happy]

Oh sad but true.

[Bowguy]

Guys it's cool to get excited. We all make some mistakes. However if someone can't tell its 70 yards away it's either a person with a problem or a poke n a hope.
Far as the 9 out of ten times thing, if you were wounding 1 out of every ten birds Id say that youre certainly being irresponsible.
Mistakes happen, we all misjudge, maybe he misjudged 10-15 yards since he already knew it was way long. There's no way 70 yards is an innocent mistake, if it was than the shooter needs to reevaluate himself. The bird shoulda been passed. Nothing high brow about it. Simply ethics .

[tomstopper]

Guys it's cool to get excited. We all make some mistakes. However if someone can't tell its 70 yards away it's either a person with a problem or a poke n a hope.
Far as the 9 out of ten times thing, if you were wounding 1 out of every ten birds Id say that youre certainly being irresponsible.
Mistakes happen, we all misjudge, maybe he misjudged 10-15 yards since he already knew it was way long. There's no way 70 yards is an innocent mistake, if it was than the shooter needs to reevaluate himself. The bird shoulda been passed. Nothing high brow about it. Simply ethics .

Not joining in on the bashing but I totally agree. I hate wounding animals and will not shoot if the bird appears to be farther than 45 yards. A couple seasons ago here in NY I was hunting on a dairy farm by a lake and the fog was thick inside the tree line. I had a gobbler come into about what I thought was 50 yards and next to a tree with an orange Posted sign attached. I let him walk after I couldn't get him any closer. A couple days later, I was back at that same spot and used a range finder only to find that he was at 41 yards when I let him walk. Yes I was upset with myself for not getting him but I was more pleased with myself that I didn't take a long range shot that I was uncomfortable with and didn't wound an animal. We all misjudge yardage (maybe 10-15 yards) but 60-70 yards is really bad. My suggestion is to buy a range finder or switch to a red dot & take all of the comments on here as constructive criticism, learn from your mistakes, and have a great remaining season.

[Cullenhunter]

'''''''' my max range is 35 yards with 6 shot''''''''''m'. This was certainly necessary to have a basic understanding of how the loads would perform on the hunt at varying distances, but it wasn't really much of a pattern test of my own at the range using a box of 12-gauge 3-inch No. 6 Long Beard XR Magnum loads

Shots were taken at distances of 25, 40 and 60 yards, and no optics other than the shotgun's standard front bead sight was used. For each shot, I counted the number of pellets falling within a 30-inch diameter circle and a 20-inch diameter circle of the point of impact. I then divided these numbers by Winchester's estimated pellet count (425) for the No. 6 Magnum loads to determine the pattern performance and core density, respectively.

At 25 yards, which is near the distance where I shot my bird, the patterns were incredibly tight, with almost all of the pellets falling within the 30-inch circle. The averaged count was 413 pellets, which led to a pattern performance of around 97 percent. Core density, an especially important measurement for turkey hunters, was equally impressive, dropping off by only 2 percent.

There was very little reduction in performance as I extended the distance to 40 yards. An average of 391 pellets remained inside the 30-inch circle, resulting in a pattern performance of about 92 percent. The number of pellets within a 20-inch circle of the point of impact did fall off slightly, with approximately 339 pellets staying inside the circle for a core density of about 79 percent. This is still very good, and the patterns visibly illustrate that a turkey caught in this spread would certainly regret it.

As is to be expected with any load, performance tapered off more substantially at 60 yards. Even so, the Long Beard XR Magnum loads managed to deliver ample pellets on target. An average of 320 pellets struck within a 30-inch circle for a pattern performance of 75 percent, while an average of 198 pellets fell within a 20-inch circle for a core density of around 46 percent.

[Gobble!]

Leave the guy alone, he was just saying how good long beard is and saved him on this one and was just stating how shocked he was. If you've been hunting long enough you can misjudge in the moment and if you know you can kill a bird that far with your set up which not all ppl can, but you can, why not.

Here's a pure case stone cold dead at 67, another 9 of out 10 times bet his set up will produce the same results. Sorry for the folks that can't do this. And I don't urge everyone to do so. Winchester and other manufacters wouldn't advertise this stuff saying you can go out so far if it couldn't. They've been in the feild and killed em out there. There's not a fall off a 40yd, "sorry guys that big bird you've been hunting all season is at 43yars no way you can kill him gotta let him pass" is just not real and you'd be lying to yourself if you actually thought that. So it's only down to your set up if you can't kill them that far out. It's your responsibility of knowing if it can. If your gun doesn't have the ability that's it you can't done and over with. And base of this is saying know your equipments ability.

On that note good job man and congrats on the bird.

No way. With #5s at 67 yards his pattern is not there 9 out of 10 times.

[trkehunr93]

Not  something I would even think of mentioning.  I would look into getting a fixed power scope, just my thoughts since it seems the excitement kept you from cranking it back 2X or whatever the minimum setting is.  like some have said you need to make sure it has a beard before you shoot.  The worst fear of LB XR is making a shot at that distance and being "lucky" you killed the turkey, looks like that just happened.  We all have misjudged distance before but 27 yards beyond an acceptable max range is unacceptable in my book.  Hopefully you learned from it and will either use a range finder to mark acceptable shot distances learn how to guesstimate 40 yards. 

[Marc]

I started bird hunting with my father at an early age...  Never shot anything with fur, but was in a duck blind with my father at 4 years old...

Started turkey hunting in my 20's, and I can attest to the fact that a 70 yard turkey looked like it was in good range to someone who was used to shooting ducks...  I currently have enough experience under my belt that there is no excuse for making such a mistake, but I will admit to having shooting at birds far too far in the past...  And realizing it right after.

I am NOT a fan of these shell companies advertising (and in my opinion encouraging) long-range shooting on birds.  I see it as advocating irresponsibility and killing as opposed to hunting...

On the flip side of that coin, I want a load that is capable of killing birds further than I want to shoot them, so if I do make that misjudgment, I still come home with a bird.  I just do not care for the way that these loads are frequently marketed.

As to the OP, not having any knowledge as to his experience level, and never having shot through a shotgun scope, I will refrain from judgment as to his misjudgment, and congratulate him for taking a bird home, as well as being honest about his own shortcomings...

.

[hobbes]

Whipping a deadhorse aren't we?

I believe there was more than enough thrashing over this when it was posted in May 2015.  Probably not reason to dig it back up and whip him again.

[Spitten and drummen]

Whipping a deadhorse aren't we?

I believe there was more than enough thrashing over this when it was posted in May 2015.  Probably not reason to dig it back up and whip him again.

Amen brother. Clicked on just to say what you had already said. Maybe someone needs to post up some new topics. Really slow around here when people are posting on threads over a year old. Lol