• Help Support TNDeer:

Why we miss turkeys

I have missed for every reason imaginable. I think most of them stems from wingshooting and shooting on muscle memory and panicking when bird does something wrong while not being patient and breathing.. Most often if I have time to line him up and especially if I have time to line him up and raise his head with a call he's dead...
 
Not verifying POA = POI before going hunting (switching chokes, switching shells, etc), and lack of follow through with cheek weld gets most folks. Most dedicated turkey guns are not your typical squirrel scattergun with modified choke and #6 lead shells, but many still believe that the two are similar enough to not prepare ahead of time.
 
We miss turkeys because we hunt them long enough to eventually do so. I've only missed one, and I know dang well that one isn't going to be the last one I miss if, Lord willing, I get to turkey hunt another 30 years or so. I only started hunting turkeys 9 years ago so I'm sure it'll happen again.

I'll tell you, that one I missed was every bit as memorable as the ones I've killed. Just in a different sense. I remember calling my wife after it happened saying I thought I was going to be sick.

I'd been chasing that particular one for 2 weeks, hunted him 4 or 5 times over those 2 weeks and never could outsmart him. Then on the last day of the season I had him at about 10 yards as he followed 3 hens I called my way, had to let him get that close so I could have a chance to set up for the shot, and shot right over him. Just got too excited I guess.
 
I've either had these happen to me, or I know someone it has happened to.

1) Shooting at running birds, which usually doesn't end well.
2) Too close with over-choked guns.
3) Focusing old eyes on close beads and far away turkeys.

And here's some that may not be as common:
1) Choke tube loose.
2) Forgetting to change the choke tube from skeet to turkey.
3) Changes to shell manufacturing. Years ago, I was shooting a load that was putting ~100 pellets in a 10 inch circle at 40 yards. Missed 2 birds (new box?) and rechecked pattern. It was only putting 30 pellets in a 10" circle!
 
Urban_Hunter said:
Number one reason for missing is not using an 835
Click to expand...
I was going to say a 500! I've missed 1 bird in 30 years and it was because I rushed the shot. That was my 2nd year turkey hunting. I do not take risky shots though, but then again I don't kill very many turkeys either 😀

My dad pokes fun at me and tells everyone "If he draws a bead with that old 500, get the grease hot"
 
Not knowing how to shoot a shotgun number one. I think misses are possibly more frequent now, if you were to look at it without those that use red dots.
People now don't grow up outside shooting guns at anything that had feathers or fur like some of us did.
Number two is excitement and or rushing the shot. Which could also be related to not know how to shoot a shotgun.
Number 3 probably misjudging distance or trying to shoot through thick stuff.

Also so super full chokes inside 25 yards is tough.

All of the above is with bead only. If you miss with red dot then I have no suggestion. Other than you just choked. (Or me)

Unless you're a child, really small, or have muscle, joint, skeletal issue I will never understand missing for recoil. I ain't never felt anything shooting at a deer or turkey.
Yes shooting a 835 with 2-1/4oz load at paper sucks. But I'm a grown man. It is fine.


And sometimes you just miss. It happens.
 
Huntaholic said:
..................but the truth is we SELDOM completely "miss" a bird.
Click to expand...
Facts! I'd rather completely miss 5, eat crow and stick my lip out than wound just 1, especially longbeards. I am extremely hard on myself if I think wound any game these days (squirrels, deer. turkeys, etc).
 
Andy S. said:
Facts! I'd rather completely miss 5, eat crow and stick my lip out than wound just 1, especially longbeards. I am extremely hard on myself if I think wound any game these days (squirrels, deer. turkeys, etc).
Click to expand...
Amen, reason i want the tightest pattern i can have out to 40, i aim head only so if i miss one of these days hopefully it will be high!!
 
Huntaholic said:
If you havent missed, or more accurately, let a wounded bird get away, then you just havent hunted long enough! I dont like it any more than anybody else, but the truth is we SELDOM completely "miss" a bird.
Click to expand...
This is a good point!
Very few birds fired upon are totally "missed".

I believe an alarming number of birds presumed "missed" actually die from their wounds within a day or two, if not but hours, often less than 15 minutes (but they've flown away & fallen in some thick cover, unrecovered by the shooter).

With a single pellet to an artery, a bird can fly away, appearing totally missed, yet die of blood loss a few minutes later. With a single pellet to the gut, the bird will typically die with a day or two.

IMO, the main reasons for presumed misses are . . . . .

1) Impatience
Those who are lacking patience are just more likely to take low-probability shots,
which results in a lot more unrecovered wounded birds.

2) A lack of respect for the game.
Those who don't care about how many wounded birds die unrecovered
purposely take low-probability shots.

3) Not using optical sights (properly sighted in with POA equaling the POI).
Sure, not everyone "needs" optical sights, but they can prevent most of the "misses" credited to poor shooting form, poor cheek weld, etc.

4) Not habitually using a rangefinder to ascertain distances to objects (such as certain trees BEFORE you call from a new position). There is often no opportunity to range a turkey, but you can pre-range your surroundings.
 
Andy S. said:
I'd rather completely miss 5, eat crow and stick my lip out than wound just 1.
Click to expand...
x 2
Better yet, neither miss nor wound 😃

nate17 said:
I have missed 2 birds in 23 or so years of turkey hunting. . . . . . . I have a few hard rules I try to never break.

1. Don't shoot a moving bird
2. I try to always have a rest. Either gun on my knee or elbow in my ribs.
3. There's no shame in letting a bird walk away. It's a much better alternative than taking a low percentage shot and crippling a bird.
4. Don't take 60-70 yard shots with TSS just because you can. It's unethical and you'll benefit in the long run and become a much better Turkey hunter from watching a bird move into ethical shotgun range.
Click to expand...
THIS!!!
 
Last edited:
Remington700 said:
Typically it is anticipation of recoil. People tend to jerk and miss the target. My daughter has done this more times than I care to mention. Also with turkeys they seem to get you in bad positions that are not a typical shooting style.
Click to expand...
If a person gets fired up as a hunter should be if he or she loves this hunt . Thought of recoil should never even enter the mind . IMHO .
 

Latest posts

Back
Top