Frustrated!

[MouthCaller]

Im revoking my own man card.... make that THREE MISSES!!! I called in a gobbler within 10 minutes of calling set up in the same place as my afternoon miss monday evening and he came in and hung up at 50 yards... I had every intention of letting him walk in my lap and he spotted something and started clucking... he took 4-5 steps away and I let some #5 fly his away and away he went... This is getting old Im not this bad of a turkey hunter.... .......

[RussM311]

You will get one... just hang tough. 50+ yds can be a long shot.... are you confident in your pattern at that range? I have been getting much better patterns since I switched to Hevi 13 Magnum Blend ammunition.

[spaightlabs]

1) have more respect for the game than to just blaze at 50 plus.  You said it yourself - you are frustrated and you made a poor decision and shot as a result.  No doubt that you put a few pellets into him, not likely you had a dead clean 100% miss at 50.

2) if you have seriously missed 3 times this season, stop.  Go back to the basics and figure out what you are screwing up.  Have someone watch you or film yourself to see if you are jerking your shot.

3) get 'em closer and get 'em in the bag.

Good luck.

[tomstopper]

Im revoking my own man card.... make that THREE MISSES!!! I called in a gobbler within 10 minutes of calling set up in the same place as my afternoon miss monday evening and he came in and hung up at 50 yards... I had every intention of letting him walk in my lap and he spotted something and started clucking... he took 4-5 steps away and I let some #4 fly his away and away he went... This is getting old Im not this bad of a turkey hunter.... .......

OK to start this is why here at Old Gobbler there are rules about posts about shooting over 40 yards. I am not judging you but beware that topics that talk about these long range shots will stir up a hornets nest. The reason why is b/c shots over 40 yds have a greater chance of wounding & not killing the bird humanely. Spaightlabs post is spot on. If you were sure about your guns patterns b/f the season started I would first shoot at a closer range & even shoot your gun b/f you go out again just to make sure. Good luck for the remainder of your season.

[redarrow]

Relax and enjoy just being there. Head down on the stock and squeeze. I missed a dandy in Ky. one year cause I was looking over the barrel at the bird instead of getting my head down on the stock.

[Matt Meyer]

1) have more respect for the game than to just blaze at 50 plus.  You said it yourself - you are frustrated and you made a poor decision and shot as a result.  No doubt that you put a few pellets into him, not likely you had a dead clean 100% miss at 50.

2) if you have seriously missed 3 times this season, stop.  Go back to the basics and figure out what you are screwing up.  Have someone watch you or film yourself to see if you are jerking your shot.

3) get 'em closer and get 'em in the bag.

Good luck.

X3

[MouthCaller]

Yeah like I said in my other post in another topic its not my pattern Im not some yahoo going trigger happy at the first head I see at a cray distance. I use hevi shot #5's in a 2 ounce and I have a good pattern at 50 I got the gun and patterened it a year or two ago. yeah all 3 misses have been between 40-50 which is in range and Im not trying to stir the pot on any over 40 rule Im just frustrated. I havent missed 3 birds total in turkey hunting before this year and now im batting 0-3. The problem this year is a problem I have never had before is being spotted. I dont know what it is I have the same gear as last year when I killed 2 birds but for some reason they're seeing something they dont like. I have a she-mobile hen I usually put in a breeding position and a 1/4 jake strutting I think its from flextone and I didnt have a problem decoying them in last year Im going to try a pop up blind and see if that helps although I think Ive given this bird a lot of education so Im not totally sure decoys are going to work now either.

[captin_hook]

No doubt about it.... Time to re-pattern.

[DirtNap647]

sometimes you just get those years just enjoy the close encounters with them turkeys

[redleg06]

Im revoking my own man card.... make that THREE MISSES!!! I called in a gobbler within 10 minutes of calling set up in the same place as my afternoon miss monday evening and he came in and hung up at 50 yards... I had every intention of letting him walk in my lap and he spotted something and started clucking... he took 4-5 steps away and I let some #4 fly his away and away he went... This is getting old Im not this bad of a turkey hunter.... .......

man in you're shooting lead #4's I'd be real surprised if you had a true "killing pattern" at 50+ yards.  That's not to say that you couldnt do it every once in a while but that's a LONG shot for any lead loads, no matter how good your choke and gun shoot, and you dont want to wound them.

The long shot aside, if you're missing 3 times then I'd be patterning NOW.  Hell, I missed one time the other day (from 5 yards) and I immediately went and shot a target right after, to check that my gun didnt get knocked off site since the last time I'd killed one, a few days prior. 

If nothing else, it'll give you piece of mind knowing your gun isnt the problem and that you need to fix something in your shooting.

[howl]

The thing people seem to misunderstand about patterning on out there is that you need to consider reliability. A pattern can fall apart in just five yards. The maximum distance varies with conditions. If your gun is good at forty one day, it might be good at only thirty-five on another. You need some cushion to ensure reliability.

Anyhow, a couple ounces of lead sixes should flat out deck one when shot at thirty to forty yards. If you're not choked too tight it should be an easy shot as long as your head is down on the stock. Perhaps you should go back to basics with a plain ol' bead and load of sixes. I'd get my eyes checked to see if I need new contacts, too. Your brain could've had you shooting at the wrong turkey.

[Gooserbat]

Dude in all do respect your bringing most of this on yourself.  First know your gun and how it patterns and it's POI.  Second patience kills turkeys and that includes the trigger finger.

[FL-Boss]

you should spend some time working with you gun... check the POA / sights....shoot some. And whatever you do... get rid of the #4 lead.  Get some HEVI #7 

[MouthCaller]

Im not easily offended so I can take whatever advice or berating anyone wants to give to me because I can always learn from someone and Im sorry for the type-o guys I didnt realie that I said #4 I meant #5 HEVI #5 but just for good measure I went out today to gander mountain in Knoxville and bought some of those god awful expensive 4, 5, 6 load HEVI and a box of 2 1/4 ounce #5 Nitro and I will test these two to see if they will do better. I bought another choke to try out too with my moss 535 but it didnt fit. (hard to find chokes for 500 models in store) maybe I need to upgrade to a 835 or 935 but I would really love to move up to a SBEII for duck too...

[MouthCaller]

And while we're on this re-patterening lesson what do you guys think is a good pattern vs a bad pattern? I assume just as I would do for a deer rifle shooting different loads will get a different result...