Not sure but that could be it. I do know it's not the equipment it's the driver. I also know that I get gobblin fever so bad I feel like I'm gonna puke or pass out

I would do three things, and then I could pretty much promise you won't miss again.

1) Stay cool under pressure. Try not to get nervous to he point where your shakin' like a whore in church. Position yourself so you can use your knees or something as a gun rest (this is the hardest of the three)

2) Pattern your gun to make sure your hitting where you suppose to at 15 yards.

3) Change your sites. Put a fixed power scope on your gun. I have a gun set up strickly for turkey hunting, look into it.

Funny you should mention you cheek on the stock! The comb on most field guns is too low causing aiming problems. The scope is a good fix but just shooting at paper and getting comfortable with the comb height will help. You can also raise the comb height with kits or foam and tape on the stock,hope this helps.

Not only do you have to practice calling you might want to practice shooting as well

id definently practice some close target shooting. if your pattern is tight and not shooting center that would be a problem at close range. to fix either adjustable sights or a scope is needed. or start shootin them a little farther away.

and be more selective of your shots. shooting strutting birds/flying/running birds is pretty much a no no. it can be done but they arent ideal shots..

gotta learn to keep your cool and make the shot. i know its hard when you got a bird close strutting and gobbling in your face..but itll come..just gotta go into a diffrent frame of mind and focus on killin him..once that saftey is off im done watchin the show..its time to put big boy down..i go into a completely diffrent mind set and focus on killing him..breathing..sight picture..squeezing off the shot. what helped me was letting birds come in and NOT shooting them. one day i had a jake come in so close he brushed my pants. no intentions on killing him..it was opening day and there was a long beard strutting infront of me. i let the jake get in my face and faced off till i HAD to blink. i lasted a couple minutes without blinking..tears rolled down my face..it hurt...heart pounding thought i was gunna pass out...but that cured gobbler fever...i still get mighty excited...but not so bad i cant make the shot now..

Wow did not expect this many replies! I believe I'm trying to combine shooting instinctively and aiming at the same time. The turkey I killed that was flying, I remember telling the guy I was hunting with that I wish they all would fly. It was fluid to me.

I was really just wandering if anybody had the same problem or if it was just me.

Someone mentioned staying calm When that happens then I have become bored with hunting!

I do like the idea of a dedicated turkey gun but that's not happening for a while because I'm as broke as this morning's breakfast egg.

I'm not real worried about the issue.

Fantail,

Could be the gun, could be you. Lots of good suggestions here, let me add one more.

I missed a bird 4 years ago and I am 99.99% sure its because I picked up my head to 'peak'.

I now have a mantra that I go through right when I'm about to shoot. Believe me, the heart is still pumping and the adrenaline is flowing like crazy but right before I'm about to shoot I take 1 more second to ask myself if my head is down. I even practice it prior to the season just trying to visualize a bird walking into the site and taking that pause. its worked very well for me.

If the gun is sited in like you say and you are shooting two-feeet over then you are likely moving right before the shot to 'see what happens'

Practice makes perfect...................

Well picture it this way:

5-10 Yards your trying to hit the turkey with a softball sized pattern

as opposed to

30-35 yards your trying to hit the turkey with a 30" circle of a pattern


It would be alot easier to hit it at a further distance within reason (20-35) rather than up close and personal because the pattern has time to open up.

probably cant in every situation, but why not shoot the turkey as soon as it enters comfortable gun range, instead of waiting for it to get this close. I waited for it to get closer and closer one year and blew my opportunity because after a LONG STORY i didnt even get a shot because i waited too long.

You're probably on to something there. I always did have that very problem with a scoped gun.


I'm glad you mentioned that because I forgot to mention only 1 of these birds was called in the rest were either spot and stalk or just appeared out of nowhere. If they work in slowly I usually don't miss em. The one that was called in was actually a pair of jakes and we wanted a double but either I didn't have a shot or my buddy didn't and that's how they got so close. In my defense on the jake, I did take out a small tree that I didn't even notice.

I don't want anybody to get the impression that I'm a "good" caller because 95% percent of my success comes from spot and stalk. And before anybody jumps on me with both feet, what I mean by spot and stalk is finding them in a field, trying to figure out where they are going, and getting in front of them as my schedule doesn't always allow time for me to really work one unless he's lonely on the roost.