Misses

[snapper1982]

If hit you will find feathers. Always watch were Thy run or fly and spend some time looking if you find any feathers or blood

I have seen birds hit and not loose feathers.

[dutch@fx4]

Really Thy seem to loose feathers every time thy shake or fly.any one I have ever hit has lost a ton of feathers.

[old3toe]

 I shot a nice bird year before last and at the shot he lunged to his left and out of sight keeping his footing. I was thinking no way I missed that bird but what I saw told me different. Half sick I approached the spot he was standing in the rocky area and there really wasn't much sign other than the shuffling marks from his feet as he took off. Finally I walked over to where he slipped into some foot and a half tall grass on the edge of a steep down slope and there he was!! He made it about ten feet from where he was standing at the shot and he was hit very hard. I have no idea how he moved an inch. I won't go into detail on the trauma but I was amazed how tough he was. When I got home and was dressing him out I found four or five no 4 lead pellets and even more no 6 lead pellets in his breast and under the skin along with several of my no 7 fed heavy weights mixed in from my 20ga. This was one tough old warrior I thought. The will to survive amongst a wild creature is far more than what a lot of people realize and often varies from animal to animal.And there isn't always sign of a hit in my experience.

[Cut N Run]

Thirteen or 14 years ago, My best friend's father shot at a boss gobbler from 36 yards at my old lease that liked to roost on a specific knoll.  The bird ran off like he was more frightened than hurt and my friend's father thought he'd pulled the shot.  The only feathers he left behind appeared to have been dropped & not cut. We all looked around the direction he went for a few hours and decided to call it a miss.  The next Spring, there was a boss gobbler using the exact same grove of roost trees that didn't seem to want to play when anyone tried to work him. I was able to set up close by getting in the area under cover of rain and darkness. I shot him with some Hevi #6s at 18 yards few minutes after he flew down. Right away I noticed his left spur had an old break and was much shorter than his right.  Cleaning him I found 7 pellets of copper plated #6s in the breast of his left side, which is exactly what my friend's father was shooting on the side of the bird he shot at.  Can't say for sure that was the same bird, but it almost had to be.

Jim

[MickT]

I killed a bird a few years ago whose legs were full of birdshot. Not a recent injury, but I always wondered how they got there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TauntoHawk]

I think we can summarize some are clean misses, many are not, most of those birds survive some do not.

It's an ugly part of hunting but it's part. Think about geese it's not sporting to shoot them off the water so we shoot them out of the air but how many take on pellets that aren't dumped.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Marc]

Most misses are not complete misses. Unless the birds body is obstructed by a large obstacle such as a log or tree trunk.

I have missed exactly 2 shots at turkeys...  The first bird poked his head over a knoll at close range, and I shot above him (some 20+ years ago)...

Last year, I missed a bird walking in tall grass, and I shot above him on the first shot (I put the bead on the head instead of in the grass just below the bird)...  He poked his head back up and I did not make the same mistake.

As you allude to, if the bird is behind an obstruction, you have to put the bead on the obstruction to hit the bird, which makes it easy to either hit the obstruction, or shoot above the bird.

I think on close shots (20 yards and under) that a complete miss could be likely (generally shooting over the bird).
I think that a good majority of missed shots are due to misjudged yardage and some pellets enter the bird.  All too often those birds look and sound much closer than they are, and birds are shot at too far.

[Improvinghunter101]

When I was between the ages of 9 and 11, I had several misses.  Probably 8-10 if I had to guess.  I never once killed one until I was 12.  My dad never let me shoot past 15 yards.  I had a tight turkey choke as well.  One day it was discovered by my dad and uncle that I had been closing the wrong eye.  Not sure if it was due to the nerves or what as I could hit targets very good, just not actual birds.  I couldn't guarantee that none of those birds never ended up dead but I do know that every single one was looked for and not once did we ever find any.  Then last year happened.  For whatever reason I had 3 misses.  Two in my home territory and one in another state.  The two at home were early and my family were still after those birds in late season which was a good 3 week difference so I know those survived.  The one in the other state, I watched for an hour after I missed as he was strutted and gobbled with his hens out in the middle of a field.  I'm guessing he lived too.  I had replaced 18 years of clean kills with couple weeks of clean misses.  I decided I had not been putting my head down on then gun like I should have and practiced for a couple days.  After that I killed 3 birds in two days.  Tight turkey chokes, close turkeys, and the slightest mistake can make for clean misses.  Missing is a part of hunting.  I didn't like it and I'm sure most don't, but it's always possible.

[renegade19]

I don't know.  But based on the previous, healed over injuries I've found on turkeys over the years, some appear to survive such "misses" fairly well.

They are incredibly hardy.  My favorite bird I ever killed had a bunch of healed up lead #6 shot in his breast.