Hey Top,
warning!
We're hunting some typical MI woodlands. We've got an indeterminate number of longbeards, a group of 3-4 jakes and 2-3 vocal hens that roost on the adjacent property (no hunting, but the owners allow us to walk). We know where the roost trees are, and I've been able to sweet talk turkeys into our setup 4 times in a row. For one reason or another, he hasn't been able to drop the hammer.
I called in a few jakes and hens this morning (hung up at 60 yards), and then a lone gobbler sounded off about 400 yards away in the opposite direction, from a woodlot across a large field (that's not part of our property). The jakes and I enticed the hens to start cutting...which pulled in the gobbler.
The gobbler took his time, and after about 30 mins he had quietly worked his way down a deer trail right at me (my son and I were on opposite sides of a large cherry tree), and I could have dropped him multiple times at about 30 yards. He then worked his way around us (the trail dips down), and he then started to climb the rise in front of my son, just to my son's left. I told my son to shoot him when he crested the hill...
As the bird began to crest the small hill he stopped behind a large oak, obstructing my son's shot - basically, the only place he could stop and block my son's view (ugh). While we were watching the gobbler (and the jakes, and the hens), and unknown to either of us, a deer had snuck into our decoys (from my son's right/my left) - the deer stomped and snorted at the gobbler and took off. The gobbler turned directly away from us and headed straight to the live hens, who were making small talk about 80 yards away...I'm convinced he saw the decoys and was headed straight to them (which would have given my son a 20 yard unobstructed shot), but then detoured due to the deer...
My son should have pulled the trigger when the gobbler cleared the tree - but he thought the bird was beyond his range. He's shooting a compact 20 ga Weatherby SA-08 (semiauto), fitted with a Hevishot Carlson choke that's throwing deadly groups of Winchester #5s to 35 yards - but he doesn't feel comfortable with his vision and steadiness with the bead on a target past 35 yards. Afterward, we determined that the bird was ~37 steps from our tree, so right at the very edge of his comfortable range. He was quite upset when he realized the distance and knew he could have shot, but I explained to him that the regret of not pulling the trigger is nothing compared to the empty feeling in your gut when you miss
We both could have shot at the same time and dropped him dead, but to call it a booboo? Nah - it's his first season, and this particular hunt was screwed up by a stomping/snorting buck at about 10 yards. All in all, they were gobbling on the roost, we called in jakes and hens, and a lonesome gobbler. I'll take that day anytime in the turkey woods...but that gobbler - by all rights - should be dead...
