Greetings from NY and would love some advice!

[Sportsman335]

Good Morning all, and thanks for having me on the forum! I hunt in both Northern & Southern Zones of NY, and honestly stumbled across this forum last week while frantically scouring the internet for guidance on a situation I ended up in with a Jake. This forum is extremely informative, and seems to be a great community. I'm excited to join in and would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions for future, as self admittedly, turkey hunting probably falls third in line for me (behind deer first & small game second), but it's something I am getting increasingly more into.

Apologies in advance if I get long, drawn out, and boring...

Last Thursday morning, I was watching a lone hen way out across a field, when I happened to hear some light rustling in the leaves over my shoulder, and turned out to be 2 Jakes walking right into me. First one was small (1.5-2" beard), second was better (4.5-5" beard) and I don't know how much I'll be able to get out the rest of the season so decided I'd like to take that bigger Jake if the opportunity presented.

First saw them about 50 yards out, walked into what I thought was 30 yds (was 34 on the rangefinder), smaller Jake gave room, and I was rested against the tree and squeezed on the bigger Jake. Flops over immediately, flapping his wings a little bit. The smaller Jake did one of those little jump flight things that they do when spooked, came back down, I glanced back over to the one I shot still flapping on the ground. What in this moment told me to turn my attention towards the smaller Jake booking down towards the field will forever be beyond me, but in that moment I figured everything would be hunky dory. Look back over towards the downed Jake...aaaand there's no Jake.

In absolute panic mode I run over to the shot site to find 10-12 spots of blood, and a whole bunch of .5"-1.5" feathers. Most looked like the ones that run up the neck where meets the head. I spot some short feathers a little further away, then a couple drops of blood, then some feathers, then some more blood, etc. etc. Anyway, it ended up being about 30 yards worth of additional drops of blood & feathers (never in my life figured I'd be following a turkey blood trail), and then it came to a stop with no bird in sight.

I checked the entire radius of low brush & bushes as best as I could, and walked 200+ yards out scanning the ground, to unfortunately come up with no bird.

To me, and please correct me if I'm wrong, the blood signifies neck. Continuous blood at that. To my understanding, say it was a flinch that dropped my shot to hit chest, that bird would be clotting up any blood? Plus the tiny feathers. I don't know...

I know that my idiotic mistake was taking my eye off of him, and obviously wish I could take that back...but along the way I just keep thinking to myself what could I be doing differently in the future beyond that? Between myself, my father, and grandfather (may he RIP), we've been lucky to have taken a whole bunch of birds, but this is the first time one has flat out taken off on us. It always sparks the great debate of if you pull the trigger and immediately beeline to the bird, or sit back at the ready. This instance almost gets me leaning more towards beelining to the bird, but then maybe you don't want to have him start beatin' you up either lol.

I guess at the end of the day, what I'm really wondering too is how often is a situation like this gonna happen...have you guys had birds take off running & disappear on you too? Maybe my family & I have just been rather lucky!

I've been in the woods 16 years, and unfortunately we all know too well that these are all parts of hunting...but they certainly still suck too.

Thanks again for bringing me in, and look forward to staying tuned in and learning from you all.

Good luck to all who are heading out!

[Greg Massey]

   And like you said it's all part of hunting. Good luck in the future.

[Sportsman335]

  And like you said it's all part of hunting. Good luck in the future.

Thank you Greg, same to you!

[Tom007]

Welcome! In the heat of the moment, stuff happens. You will pretty much experience a little bit of everything hunting the Wild Turkey. Sit back, take it all in, and enjoy!. Good luck.....

[Sportsman335]

Welcome! In the heat of the moment, stuff happens. You will pretty much experience a little bit of everything hunting the Wild Turkey. Sit back, take it all in, and enjoy!. Good luck.....

Absolutely true, and nothing quite like being out in the woods. Thanks Tom007, good luck to you as well!

[callmakerman]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from central NY and have been down the same road you're on. Nothing hurts more than rolling a bird and feeling you got him good to look up and see that bird getting up and running and/or flying off. You end up thinking about all that you could have done wrong, but in the end there's no clear answer. Bottom line is moving on and the next bird you will definitely pay attention to every aspect before squeezing the trigger. I hate to say it can and may happen again as I'm well aware of. In the end every day we're out there we learn something and it's up you to make it a positive lesson. Good luck the rest of your season.

[Sir-diealot]

Welcome from the Finger Lakes Region of NY great to have you. I can't offer much help, have only gotten the one.

[Sportsman335]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from central NY and have been down the same road you're on. Nothing hurts more than rolling a bird and feeling you got him good to look up and see that bird getting up and running and/or flying off. You end up thinking about all that you could have done wrong, but in the end there's no clear answer. Bottom line is moving on and the next bird you will definitely pay attention to every aspect before squeezing the trigger. I hate to say it can and may happen again as I'm well aware of. In the end every day we're out there we learn something and it's up you to make it a positive lesson. Good luck the rest of your season.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. Certainly never want it to happen again, but as we know, it's hunting. Was just saying the same exact thing last week with a buddy; Every time out we learn something new...some days we come away with little notes, and some are harsh realities. But each experience benefits us as hunters in the end. Thanks callmakerman, and good luck!

Welcome from the Finger Lakes Region of NY great to have you. I can't offer much help, have only gotten the one.

Thank you Sir, good luck rest of the season!