He will gobble another day :)

The good news is that it was a heck of an exciting hunt!

Shortly after fly-down my 15-year old son spotted the turkeys across the field, 500 yards away. It took 45 minutes to call the tom and hen over, with lots of drama and suspense as the birds kept changing direction, going away and coming back several times, never quite in range. Finally the tom drifted in just under 40 yards and I whispered to my son, "This is as good as it will get, take 'em!". BOOM! Not a feather came off the bird as ite took flight and disappeared over the tree tops. LOL!

Considering that would have been his first game ever taken, my son took the miss in stride. I told him I'm certain he shot over the tom, that I missed one the same way 3 years ago and that a clean miss is always better than a wounded bird.

A trip to the range right afterward confirmed it. This time I had my son to shoot free-hand (before the season we had patterned his gun from a bench) and sure enough, all his shots were way high.

Not wanting him to dwell on the miss, I took him mountain biking that afternoon and we had some good laughs and thrills as the old man tried his best on some young man trails! :D

One of the best ways to introduce new hunters into turkey hunting is to put a shotgun with a red dot in their hands. I switched over from open sights 4 or 5 years ago, and won't look back. I learned this lesson again this past Saturday when my fiance missed a big Tom at 20 yards with her open sighted gun. Took her back out on Monday, and she redeemed herself with my shotgun and the red dot, effectively tagging her out. She said she found it much easier, and felt much more confident.

Reason is it removes any and all variables dealing with shouldering the shotgun properly, and lining up the sights. Although good shouldering and shooting habits are important, we all know that turkey hunting has us sitting in some uncomfortable positions without the ability to move in fear of scaring the birds. I've even shot a couple left handed when needed! No matter how they shoulder that gun, whether their face is on the stock properly or not, if that dot is on that turkey's neck and he's within range, he's dead.

Great to hear the young lad handled it well! Get him back out there.

-Nick

If you don’t shoot you miss 100 percent of every shot .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sprite

One of the best ways to introduce new hunters into turkey hunting is to put a shotgun with a red dot in their hands. I switched over from open sights 4 or 5 years ago, and won't look back. I learned this lesson again this past Saturday when my fiance missed a big Tom at 20 yards with her open sighted gun. Took her back out on Monday, and she redeemed herself with my shotgun and the red dot, effectively tagging her out. She said she found it much easier, and felt much more confident.

Reason is it removes any and all variables dealing with shouldering the shotgun properly, and lining up the sights. Although good shouldering and shooting habits are important, we all know that turkey hunting has us sitting in some uncomfortable positions without the ability to move in fear of scaring the birds. I've even shot a couple left handed when needed! No matter how they shoulder that gun, whether their face is on the stock properly or not, if that dot is on that turkey's neck and he's within range, he's dead.

Great to hear the young lad handled it well! Get him back out there.

-Nick

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I don't use a red dot for turkeys but often consider it for that simple reason. I don't actually know my harvest count but I am somewhere between 25 and 30 turkeys and I'll bet 3 of them have been from a perfect position, with the rest being on some weird uncomfortable angle because they just don't ever follow the script! lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sprite

One of the best ways to introduce new hunters into turkey hunting is to put a shotgun with a red dot in their hands.

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I was thinking the same thing.

Sorry to hear about your son's miss,, I'm sure he'll have lots more chances and just think how pumped he is gonna be when he connects !
Season is not over yet, best of luck

Red dot works for me..

i clean missed an absolute stud at 20 yds.... it happens. best learning experiences come from failures. now he'll be sure to secure the shotgun and aim for the waddle.