OK. We never like to admit it but sometime I (I mean we) make a bad shot. <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> Last year my 2nd bird was walking right to left and I stopped swinging my gun when I shot and hit him in the side. Fortunately it broke the left wing AND leg but the bird was a long way from being dead.

Here's my question: What is the best way to dispatch a wounded bird? I hated to unload another 2oz of shot at point blank range but was, honestly, a little intimidated by his big ol' flopping spurs.


Ended up doing it anyway. Notice the head's a LITTLE BIT messed up.

Romans 8:28

..Ive been lucky to make good clean kills sofar,but i dont no of any other way,unless you crack him over the head with a stick or gun barrel,,lol....

..JESUS IS COMING BACK BE READY...

i agree it happens to ALL of us, if you hunt long enough that is. i think it is our responsibility as ethical hunters to make as quick a kill on an animal as possible, whatever the animal were hunting may be. if it means taking a second shot and taking a chance of messing up the pretty little birds head or feathers, or ruining a little meat, oh well. too many times ive heard hunters say &quot;i didnt want to shoot him again because i want to get him mounted&quot; or &quot;i didnt want to waste another shell&quot;. my response to that is &quot;too bad&quot;, buy more shells and there will be many more opportunities in your lifetime to harvest game to have mounted. besides a good taxidermists can perform miracles on a shot up animal.

&quot;I got turkey on the brain&quot;

Edited by - gobble stopper on 03/02/2002 14:00:08

Maybe I wasn't very clear in my original question. Please understand, I don't mind taking another shot if it's warranted. I'm just trying to find out if there's an accepted way to kill them after they've been wounded. i.e.: &quot;you wring a duck's neck&quot; type of thing. You see them in teh video's runup to a flopping turkey and put their foot on its head, then in the next frame the turkey's loose as a goose across the guy's shoulder.

Is that clearer for what I'm trying to find out?

Romans 8:28

Ive done it lots of ways. In the early years I would run up to em like they do on tv and stand on his head or neck till he quit flopping. That way makes a mess out of how your turkey looks though!
The last thing you want to do is try to grab those legs! Instant cuts and spur gouges!
Last year one of my sons shot one and lost part of his pattern to foilage and saplings. He picked the bird up and as we were walking off I happened to look back at him and that turkey HAD HIS HEAD UP LOOKING AROUND! i told him to hold on tight and I picked up a stick about the size of a little league baseball bat. As the bird stuck his head out to see what was going on, I hit him right at the base of the neck as hard as I could! We killed that one with a big stick!
Generally speaking, nowadays I will get hold of his head right at the base of the neck and with BOTH hands, wring his neck. It is very important to not let his head slip or roll in your hand as you wring it. When you feel that neck snap in your hands yuo know that one is done for!

My Dad told me a story similar to TN_Hunter's. He called this longbeard in close in a patch of greenbriar, waited for a hole in the stuff, and dropped him. He hustled over there and the bird was lying on the ground, wings open and his head was straight up, lookin around. Not wanting to risk a spur to the leg or hand, he looked around for a heavy stick and decided to practice his golf swing on that turkey!

PBB

Pick a hair.....or a caruncle!!