Originally Posted by
ManofTheFall
He didn't shoot. He had him in the 15 to 18 yard range for about a minute and he didn't shoot. They both finally walked off without him shooting at either one. He said he didn't shoot cause he knows they have good eye sight and he didn't want to spook them and run them off. His gun was on a rest and he easily could have moved and nailed either one.
In my experience with my son and other young hunters, they are typically over cautious about squeezing the trigger.
I think part of it is the realization that they are going to kill an animal and take it's life. We seasoned veterans look at it as another turkey - he is probably looking at it very differently. It also doesn't matter if they killed other animals, each one is a different battle at the younger ages.
It may be the recoil. Not sure what he was shooting, but my son refuses to shoot my 12ga pump with turkey loads. He's 12yo and will only use his 20ga, even though he knows he can shoot farther with my 12ga. The pain from the recoil isn't worth it to him.
And finally - the birds were so close he may just be scared of failure. If a young hunter takes a well aimed 35-40 yard shot and misses or the bird runs off - at least there's an explanation. Missing a 15 yard gimme is like a pro golfer missing the tap in - 99% of the time the only reason is human error, and at a young age the kids can suffer some longterm hangups with failure.
Collectively, I've learned there's lots of reasons why not taking the shot can sometimes be the lesser of two evils...