RiverBottomBowHunter

While turkey hunting this weekend, we call in a big tom. He is 25 yrds away. My partner shoots, and the bird goes down. As we jump up and run down hill, the tom stands up and fly's away. we watched him land. we must have walked 1/2 mile and didn't see him.
question 1
has this ever happened to you.
#2
is their something different I could've done to prevent this.

#3
do you think this turkey will live.

by the way, he was shooting 3 1/2 , win. supremes. #5shot. with a super full choke that patterned great out to35 yards.

thanks guys.

tnichols

Sure have on the biggest gobbler I had ever seen in my life. It happened in Missouri 7 years ago. I had been hunting this old bird for 3 years. He had been shot before because he walked with a limp. This bird would tip the scale at almost 30 pounds. Called him in right after a thunderstorm, I was setup in a brush pile out in the middle of a field. Had 2 decoys out and he popped his head up out of a bottom. He moved cautiously to the decoys. I could tell he was skittish, the decoys were out at 25 yards, he approached them and started circling around them out of range. I took the shot @ 38 yards( I stepped it off) I was shooting Mossberg 835 w/ Kicks Gobblin thunder turkey choke. Shell 3.5 Winchester #5. Well to make a long story short I nailed him and the bird did 2 flips got up and flew off.....I could'nt fricking believe my eyes. I rolled the bird!!! He flew up on a ridge and I looked for him for a couple hours, did'nt even find a feather. My father-in-law picked my up in his truck and we were heading back to the farm and lo and behold the darn Tom I just shot was standing in the road struttin for a couple of hens. When we stopped to watch him he looked right at us and gobbled his head off as to say to me up your!!! [8D] He must have had a a flak jacket on or something. Needless to say I think the old boy died of old age or lead poising. Turkeys like that keep me coming back each spring. I wish Hevi-shot was around then, I know he would have been in the turkey fryer that thanksgiving.

Antler Eater

Saturday I was calling for a friend. I called a mature tom in to around twenty five yards and told him to fire when ever he was ready. At the shot the birds head snapped back and he pitched sideways. After a couple of "flops" the bird comes to its senses and starts running away. After getting to his (the shooter's) feet, my friend tries to shoot him again but I don't feel like he hit the running bird. The bird then runs into a cut bean field about 125 yards away and squats down. We were able to catch up to him and finish the job. This was a 27 1/2 pound tom with one broken spur and the other measured an inch and a half. He was as tough as leather and took the pounding to prove it.


I do think a person needs to know the limitations of both themselves and their equipment. That can only come through experience, which of course means practice, preparation, and participation. A twenty-five yard shot should be "money in the bank!" However even then there are no absolutes.

I wasn't there, I don't know what happened on your partner's shot.
Here is what I think happened to my friend when he shot.

I have seen him shoot pheasants so I know he can shoot a moving target. However, we were laying on our bellies on top of a ridge in an alfalfa field with no cover to get to in any direction (a long story). If the alfalfa was four inches in length, it was long, I would have had more cover hunting on my front lawn. At any rate because of the position his body was in, I feel it affected the way he lined up his gun (the gun he was shooting carries only a single bead without the benefit of even a rib). Thus I think he caught the bird with just the edge of the pattern.

Hard to say without being there and even then it would only be a guess. I have found buckshot in a turkeys breast before and he was doing just fine.

spitndrum

First longbeard I shot at...I had killed two jakes and was on a junior turkey hunt about 5 years ago and was going after my first long beard....make a long story short...belly crawled up a very large steep hill to a bowl at the top...peeked over a rock and noticed a 25lb tom struttin his stuff....lemme tell you...this twelve year old about crapped his pants! Beard was draggin....prolly 12". It was at about 28-30 yds. Problem was...this was a semi-guided hunt...guided by volunteer veterans. My 870 had a problem chambering shells so i had to use the guides benelli nova. This is no excuse for not killing the bird but....it may be a reason. Well he gave me the gun which i later found out had a plain modified choke in it. It was loaded with 3" 5's but only 2 SHOTS. this is totally my fault since I did not check to see if it was fully loaded. Well Anyways...I took the shot and rolled that tom...it came rolling down the hill and came to a stop about 15 yards in front of me. I was SO excited. Well as soon as my dad got up the hill...the damn thing took off and started running STRAIGHT towards me....so what did I do? Put shot number two into him. He rolled right to my feet...literally...he hit my foot. At this time he got up after a second jumped into the air and took flight...he landed in the tree right above my head...so what did i do....i pulled up and took shot number three....wait...there was NO SHOT NUMBER THREE. needless to say that bird took off and never saw it again. I was terribly upset...not for not baggin the bird...but for leaving the bird wounded out there. I knew it would probably not survive. Let me tell you...one upset 12 year old...

cj5

something of the sorts happened to me two years ago in arizona. we were on top of a small mountain when my wife heard one gobble towards the bottom, so we set off down the mountain after him, when we got with in 50 yrds we stopped and started calling him, he finally gave in to curiosity and responed to us and got within 30 yrds and i let him have it, he did a backflip and flopped on the ground then roled behind a dead tree, when we go over to the tree there was no turkey, nothing but some feathers. all thatwork of sliding and rolling down a mountain for a hand full of feathers!![:@] but oh well it was fun.

T/C fan!

Yes its happened to me. Three years ago, I shot a mature gobbler with a 3-inch # 5 at about 28yds. His neck snapped back and he flopped a few times and then lay still. When I went to pick him up by his legs, he found a second wind and darn near beat me to death with his wings and got me with a spur in the forearm. I couldn't get another shot at him before he went off over a hill and out of sight. I looked for him for two hours but never saw him again. I just guess it wasn't his time to go.