Crying shame

catman529

catman529

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That's what I am, I suppose I won't be any different unless I quit turkey hunting altogether. Shouldn't even be posting this, it's been a long tough day hunting and i have to vent. I don't really know what to say now I'm that pissed off at myself. I called in a flock of hens with a gobbler about 30 min before sunset, I got his head up, shot and missed. I got the freakin iron sights this year to prevent looking over the barrel, so I just made a bad shot. He ran a few steps and stopped, I shot again, I SWEAR I SAW him flopping behind the bushes, ran up there all excited and NOTHING THERE....

Circled around got on where some of the hens had flown to the trees about 15 minutes early. There he was in a tree, yes I was going to limb lift that SOB. I had to sneak closer while he putted and then I got his neck craned out and swore that was a clean shot. I wasted another shell watched the bird fly away. I ought to break my gun in half. I don't know how or why I do this to myself and I hope the critter doesn't die slowly


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Don't wish ill on them for messing up.

2 years ago I missed 5 birds the first week of the season, some magnificent hunts were ruined by me not doing my job at the end and not understanding my issues with a new gun in this case. I fought through the frustration and it all ended up just fine.

Missing happens and it stings every dang time, I never get over them and just try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Be thankful for the opportunity.

See cat unlike you I won't hold a grudge and use the opportunity to bash you like you've done me the last few days. :poke:

Pick your head up, and kill the next one, the seasons just begun.
 
I know how you feel man, I've never had problems missing turkeys until last year, I missed 3 due to not keeping my head down on the barrel, I bought a red dot scope this year and so far I love it, it has a circle with a dot in the middle, as long as his head is in that circle I know he's dead.
 
Go pattern it. I talked to a guy Mon and he found out that his gun was about a foot low when taking a shot and he blew the breast out of one.
 
Redeeming myself don't matter when I'm going to miss another one later this year or next year. I shot the gun with the new sight before season. Setterman I know you missed 5 times in a week but that was a gun related issue, my problem is I'm a terrible shot, same with deer, I can't keep my cool when my blood starts pumping. I owe it to the birds to not redeem myself because I injure too many, there's no way I didn't get pellets in that bird. There was another one down the hill from him I want to go back and kill but I don't need to be going back making the place worse. I swear if I didn't value my belongings I'd have thrown my gun off a bridge into the creek. If I do go back there I might have to leave my camera at home and just bush whack one and not worry about the setup. I had my full attention on aiming the gun at the bird and would like to think the video camera had nothing to do with it, but maybe it makes my nerves worse. I don't know


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That's always a sinking feeling for me. Just the missed opportunity and sometimes it was my fault for rushing. Happened to me during bow season I gut shot a good buck because I be vale impatient waiting for the right shot. But there will be better days. I've seen you post enough stuff to know you'll get your fair share of turkeys. Just one of those days you have to shake off


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catman529":1eerlrgx said:
Redeeming myself don't matter when I'm going to miss another one later this year or next year. I shot the gun with the new sight before season. Setterman I know you missed 5 times in a week but that was a gun related issue, my problem is I'm a terrible shot, same with deer, I can't keep my cool when my blood starts pumping. I owe it to the birds to not redeem myself because I injure too many, there's no way I didn't get pellets in that bird. There was another one down the hill from him I want to go back and kill but I don't need to be going back making the place worse. I swear if I didn't value my belongings I'd have thrown my gun off a bridge into the creek. If I do go back there I might have to leave my camera at home and just bush whack one and not worry about the setup. I had my full attention on aiming the gun at the bird and would like to think the video camera had nothing to do with it, but maybe it makes my nerves worse. I don't know


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Yes, you will miss again. We all will.

Sadly every one of us will cripple a bird at some point.

It's the ugly side of hunting, that we all hate.

Even after lots of dead turkeys I still am juiced when it's time to lay one down. That's why we do it. What helped me was waiting just a second longer, and as the shot presents itself tell myself to stay calm and go through my checklist and kill my target.

My gun issues were I couldn't keep my head down with the steady grip stock, so I bought a Fast Fire, and so far so good. But i will miss again I'm sure
 
Get a new gun!

I bought my current 870 on a Saturday afternoon after missing that morning, yet again, with my trusty old MB 500 that I had had for many years and taken many birds with.

I'm sure it was me, but I lost confidence in it and have been pretty much "money" with the new gun. I have no idea what was causing them.

I sold the other one to help pay for the new one.
 
Talk yourself through it step by step. Get your breathing down and squeeze the trigger. My first thought is you're pulling the trigger and moving the gun in the process. I lost a stud of a buck this year with a muzzleloader and am still sick so I know the feeling.
 
I missed 3 in a row with my 3" 12g back in '97.... after the 3rd miss, I went that afternoon and bought a 10g rem sp-10. It's been the finger of God when it comes to killing turkeys, but it became even more deadly when I added a red dot to it about 10 years ago. If you aren't a natural aim with a shotgun, I'd HIGHLY recommend going to a red dot or holographic sight. It makes a world of difference.

Sorry about your disaster, and don't throw away your gun- get a red dot :)
 
Catman, you had a crappy morning but I had a damned good laugh at your story! (Sorry, but in my defense your writing was excellent and very descriptive.)

After a couple of misses the year before last I bought a Burris FastFire III.
Highly, highly recommend.
 
Don't worry about the bird. My buddy killed one that had pellets in its breast that looked like they were there from the season before. The holes had healed over and scarred. So I'd bet the bird will be fine. Go get the other bird to redeem yourself. Thats what I aim to do so I cam redeem muself from my three misses yesterday
 
I had a red dot sight a few years ago that wouldn't hold zero and missed 3 birds! It happens man. Better to get the kinks out the first week of the season, and end well
 
Reading these quotes reminds me of the times I've missed deer and even turkey's. Hunters go through cycles of confidence, over confidence then we miss. Then there is doubt and self loathing until we finally connect and start the cycle over again. The one good thing about a miss is what it teaches us besides humility is patience and better concentration. Catman, you are an imperfect human so you will make mistakes. But don't waste them. Use them to be better. If you do, it will have been well worth it. Best of luck.
 
The factory rifle sights on my mossberg 835 worked fine for 5 years and then one year they got to where while walking the back sight would jar to one side or the other. I don't know if your new sights are adjustable or not but I took mine off and bought a cheap set of truglo rifle sights that aren't adjustable and my gun has been dead on ever since but I still miss every now and then just like everyone else has or will. The best way to ease your pain is to go right back in there and kill one.
 
What bothers me to no end is that I regularly miss turkeys, not just once in a while. 2013 spring I missed 3 times, 2014 spring missed twice, missed once in fall season and now missed 3 times this year already. That's not good record on shooting, I don't know what my problem is. I can't shoot regularly because I don't have a good place to shoot nearby. But every time I shoot a target I put a lot of pellets in the zone. I can't afford a fast fire iii and I have never wanted a sight that has a switch and takes batteries anyway. Man I hunted hard all day that makes it 100x worse. 2 pm I had two hammering their brains out right across a creek on the other bank, when they didn't fly over I backed out and hauled it to the truck and drove way around to another access and hiked over half a mile back to where the birds were and they were gone. So I went bak and forth all day trying to kill one and finally I set up on one and not only had him in but his harem of hens, they came I first, passed by me from 15 to 25 yards and I never got busted, the tom was probably 25-30 yards when I first shot at him which is well within my range. I don't know what went wrong


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Until you have missed 4 birds before lunch on the same day you don't have a problem. #5 that day wasn't so lucky. Best way to get over it is to go kill one. It won't be the last time you miss one.
 

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