This thread reminds me of a time a few years ago. There was an old gobbler, a jake and a hen I'd been fooling with that morning. The hen fed across one field and into the next, with the toms in tow. I circled around to get in front of them and crawled up to the edge where I could see. They were about 60 yards from the other side of the field and headed towards me. About a minute later I heard a boom from the side the birds were on. The hen went down right there, and the other two birds flew off to my right.
I stayed where I was, and out of the hedgerow comes the "hunter". He walked up to the hen and gave her a kick, I guess making sure she was dead, turned around and started walking away. I stood up and hollered, hoping he'd stop and talk to me, but he headed for the woods.
The jake was off to the side, but I'm sure the old bird standing next to her must have taken some shot too. Never saw him again.
I took the hen home, and all I could find was 1 #2 lead pellet in her neck. I could tell you some other similar stories too. Makes you wonder how many times these kind of things happen for each bird killed at long range.
Bob