Ok how many of you once you shot your bird jump up and run to get it or take your time and walk out and get it. Me Im off my butt and running to get it. But of course if the legs are a sleep its a little harder to move...

Man afteri kill a bird i sprint to it. It fact the bird i killed last spring i was in a blind and the zipper got stuck on the door so i tried to climb out the window. Didn't work too well though.

This one of my personal safety issues Arrow...I agree getting to your bird in a hurry "wise move"but I dont like the idea of running with a loaded gun though,especially with legs that are stiff and asleep,plus I question how many forget to put that safety back on with all the excitement at hand.Not directed at you Arrow but just a safety heads-up spend time with your turkey thumper and shoot at quality ethical ranges and in most all cases there will be no need to run......

depends...if i can see it well and its barely floppin, i aint runnin. ive fell alot more than once in the woods..i dont need to be running with the adrenalin higher than a crackheads and a loaded gun in my hands...

after last years expirience though, i will make sure i got that empty out and am locked and loaded and gun pointed on the bird...kinda like clearing a house lol...

last year i made a horrible shot. jerked the trigger and the hevi shot 6s absolutely clobered the bird in the wing butt. shattered the wing hard. when i fired, i watched it fall like a deer and never flop...i KNEW something was up...ive never saw that. it fell sideways..it was wierd. i THOUGHT i racked another shell in...i had the empty in my pocket actually...i get 10yds away and see him lift his head and take off...pulled up CLICK! BAD SHELL!! rerack!! cycled the action hard and by that time he was 40yds down the hill...head was up laying on a log...put the bead on his head and fired. dead bird...i was right on his head and it was fully extended..no way he made it from there. calmed down, reloaded my shotgun and walked down the steep hillside slowly...got down there...no bird!!! feather trail the whole way down there...blood all over the log and could clearly see my pattern nailed him there...hmmm....creek was not even 100yds down the hill..could see down to it easy and no bird...some blood went right..so i zig zaged the hillside for about 300yds looking for the bird...nothing..down to the creek..i walked the creek bottom between the creeek and hillside back to where i last saw him...nothing...did the same thing to the left..nothing. came back...nothing..walked up to where i shot him, gathered my calls and gear i left behind..i wasnt giving up...trying to piece the clues together...walked a straight line from where he was at the 2nd shot and got to the creek...not a big creek, but i didnt think a wounded turkey was crossing it...standing there thinking and looking around and i about died when he poked his head out of a brushpile across the creek...soak and wet, busted wing....very much alive, but it would been a mess to shoot him again...set the gun down and waded the creek and grabbed his head and we wrestled...i won...

still dont want to run through the woods with a loaded gun, but i dont know what to do after an expirience like that....

incase you are questioning my story, heres a couple pics..

notice the blown up wing and how he is SOAKED....and yes, he was about half naked....



now notice the beautiful blue spring sky?? definently wasnt raining that day!! bad pic...tried using the self timer..



had no idea i shot him in the wing...and had no idea i short pumped the gun, i have a problem with that and my 870 and i dont know why...maybe i need to replace the spring...i think the previous owner used it as a home defense gun or something...it had no plug in it, which is very odd...could left it loaded for as long as he owned it and killed the spring...or maybe my arms are just short...going to replace the spring now that im thinking about it though...

I never run to my bird. Just a brisk walk.

i dont run, i go at a fast walk, last year it got me a bird well i was walking for my mom's. My mom shot a jake and i was walking to it and i get 30+/- yards away from the bird when i see another turkey walk up and look at the dead one, who was still flopping, i saw a 3'' beard on this second turkeysoupmy gun went, and i had myself two birds to carry back to the truck

I always get excited when i get a kill and run right out there!!

I usually get up and move towards my bird as fast as I can. I do keep a couple yards between the bird and I until I know for sure he is completely dead. Seen too many pics of guys where they got spurred in the hand and had to go get stitches...I try to avoid that.

It's according to whether or not I have multiple birds in my set.

If I have several.....I surely don't want to bugger that spot up by running out there to retrieve my bird. I have always tried to let things settle down and let the birds move off on their own before getting out there.

Excellent point Bobgobble and I wish more would heed that.

I had a bud of mine run to a brid I dumped and if I needed a second shot I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE IT! Tried to point that out to him......

What I do after I have shot a bird is keep the gun in the birds direction! If for some dumb reason - all I did was wound that bird.....I am ready to take the second. If the bird flops to where I can't see him - I will at least move to where I can and again be ready.

I see no reason to run and as BobGobble informed you - I bet more than one of you are running with a loaded gun in the heat of excitement.

JW