REASONS WHY I MISS TURKEYS

The Hale Fail Gobbler

EDITOR'S NOTE: The one thing I know for certain is that the only people who don't miss turkeys are the people who don't hunt them. Regardless of how well you shoot, how close you let the turkeys get, what type of gun and ammunition you use and how many years you've been hunting, you're still going to miss turkeys. Turkeys have an uncanny ability to dodge shots. I don't know how they do it; they just do. This week we're looking at reasons why I've missed turkeys. Most hunters probably won't tell on themselves. However, I know that the turkey hunters who read this article will appreciate my honesty and perhaps learn from my mistakes.

I never will forget my first hunt with David Hale, co-founder of the Knight & Hale Game Call Company in Cadiz, Kentucky. We were hunting in some cutover land near his home, and Hale had found a gobbler on the edge of a clearcut. As he seduced the gobbler with his calling, the bird began to walk straight to us. The turkey was in the open, and I could see him coming from a long way.

When the bird was less than 30 yards away, Hale whispered, "Take the shot, Bubba." As I raised my gun, the gobbler spotted me and danced to his left and to his right. When I fired, the bird took to the air. "I can't believe you missed that turkey," Hale told me. "Well, he was moving," I explained. I kept groping for excuses, but none would come to me. When a turkey decides to leave because it sees you, the chances of making a successful shot are extremely low.

The Woods Wise Gobbler:

David Hale once said, "Every time I go hunting I wonder how long my train is going to be." Hale's "train" is the number of people who go with him on a turkey hunt.

On one particular hunt, I was part of a train five cars long: the guide, who was going to take us to a gobbler, Jerry Peterson, the president of Woods Wise Calls, who was going to call the gobbler, the cameraman, his wife and me. Five people hunting one turkey is a real challenge. But I didn't think we'd have any problems. These hunters were all veterans, and we had a bird already. Too, I'd been hunting with a HOLOsight all season long and had taken several turkeys with it, so I felt confident in my ability to bag a bird. When I sat down, Peterson began to call. The turkey was soon screaming. All the bird had to do was walk around a brush pile, and I could take him at 30 yards. When the turkey came around the brush pile, I looked through my sight, but either the battery had died or enough time had elapsed that it had turned-off by itself. For whatever reason, the sighting device wasn't working when the gobbler was in range. The bird was closing distance. The camera was rolling.

Peterson was whispering, "Take him, John." I looked for some frame of reference that I could use to accurately aim at the turkey but found none. I kept hearing behind me, "Take him, John. Take him now." When the bird was between 15 and 18 yards from me in the wide open, I made my best guess and squeezed the trigger. The turkey took four steps back and began to look hard at what had caused the commotion. "Shoot again," Peterson instructed. But when I went to squeeze the trigger, I found that the receiver was open and wouldn't close. I jumped up, pushed the receiver closed on the bottom of the gun and watched another shell go into the chamber as the turkey went into the air. I saw the turkey through my sight and fired - and missed. Of course, the video camera captured both misses and all my frustration.

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TOMORROW: MISS OF THE MAN-EATER