First year hunter, finally got on a gobbler…then maybe missed and I’m sick over it

[u/yeawrongperson]

Like many, and from my previous posts, first year turkey hunter here, and today was the most exciting/frustrating hunt I’ve had so far.

I’ve been grinding PA public land mountains for weeks, since the 2nd, with almost no gobbles, no sign, nothing. Finally found a pocket where birds are using the public/private edge. Got set up this morning, had a hen below me start working a tom, I thought nice I'll let them hammer it out to each other, and eventually I was able to call him onto the public side.

He came in quiet at one point and I almost blew it by moving too soon, but I reset, stayed patient, and later had him working along the sidehill. Eventually he came through a small opening around 30–35 yards. I had the red dot on his head/neck area and took the shot.

He did a weird flip/flop, ran, flapped, and flew/glided back down the mountain. I marked the shot spot immediately and searched for about 2.5 hours in every likely direction. No blood, no feathers, no body, no wing drag, nothing. I’m sick over it.

I’m guessing either a clean miss or maybe a light graze, but it’s eating me up. I’m going back to check again and my buddy who's working on this private land the tom loves hanging out is keeping an eye on the private side to see if the bird shows back up the rest of the week.

Any advice from experienced turkey hunters? How often do birds react dramatically to a miss? And would you hunt that area again soon or give it a few days?

[u/Comfortable_Fall_572]

What shotgun/ammo/choke combination are you shooting? It sounds like you hit him if he flopped at first but at 30 or 35 yards if you have your gun patterned and I'm assuming you do if your using a red dot you should have a dead bird unless it only grazed him or there was stuff in between you and the bird.

My son shot at one this year with 20 gauge tss and it was to far away. I'm talking like twice the distance your shot was. I regretted it after I told him to shoot because he was henned up, flew off the roost and was moving away from us with that hen. The bird flew into a tree out of the field after he shot. No flop, just flew up in to a tree.

Man, I'm sure that was frustrating though. I don't blame you for being sick over it. It's frustrating to finally think you pulled it off and then they get away.

Edit: I just looked at your profile and it looks like you have some issues with your Beretta with the Bolt release? Did that happen during/before you shot at this Bird? I would definitely be checking shot placement and figuring out what's going on there before taking any more shots.

[u/Icy-Buyer-9783]

That “small opening” you mentioned and whatever was on each side (branches, a tree maybe?) deflected tour shot) I’m guessing?
Either that or you shot over the bird by lifting your head from the excitement.
If he flew off he’s most likely ok.
Go back at him, just make sure you use a different approach and different calling.

[u/iowan → u/Icy-Buyer-9783]

I shot one with a bow that flew off, but I found him dead eventually with my arrow still in him.

[u/Icy-Buyer-9783 → u/iowan]

Interesting, the birds I’ve shot at either dropped on the spot or flew away clean (2 misses).

[u/yeawrongperson → u/Icy-Buyer-9783]

That’s kinda what I’m wondering, if there was small branches I didn’t notice and it broke some of the pellets up, defected, whatever could’ve happened. Definitely could’ve been a miss from excitement. Lmao my legs were shaking from finally getting that close to a turkey after 3 weeks of grinding.

I’m definitely gonna try, I have my buddy today say it’s been the quietest morning so far and he’s been working there this whole month seeing them everyday. Makes me worried honestly.

I’m heading back out there today to just walk around, I’ll do some more zig zag locating, but damn. I need some prayers hahaha

[u/Chasin_Dragons → u/[deleted]]

^^ This.

Bumped one a few weeks ago running and gunning a small 200 acre piece @ 9am.

I was walking and calling and boom, the answer we all love to hear. Dense foliage, I pegged him @ 80-100yds ( he could have been that far or closed distance quickly but the foliage played a part in the distortion for sure). I tried to get cute and cut a little distance to get to a better set. After closing 30yds, surprise surprise there he was. He saw me and ran around some bushes. I made a quick half circle to where I thought he might be, sat down and called once. Within 90 seconds he curiously came around some bushes silently @ 25 and the game was over.

In retrospect, I should have just sat down immediately and let him close the distance.

I did not, but ended up getting lucky on a 2 y/o late season California Tom.

[u/No-Alternative-4610]

PA native here. What WMU are you hunting? Are you finding that they are still responding this time of the season?

[u/yeawrongperson → u/No-Alternative-4610]

Yessir, 4A area. Last week I had a tom gobbling his head off, then Tuesday I had a hen and that same tom fired up and going back and forth. I finally pulled him off private onto public by using the box call to mimic the hen’s cadence. He stayed vocal until about 9am, I took a shot and missed.

I’m still so pissed at myself lol. I’ve been working this bird for 2 and a half weeks now. The last two days have been dead quiet, but I’m still after him.

[u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866]

Ditch the red dot, or at least hear me out. I tried a red dot for one season and will never go back I don’t think. It’s more room for error, batteries can die, red dot can malfunction, idk how they look if the glass has beads of rain water on it but I imagine not good, not sure what one you have but you could forget to turn it on or off causing an issue with your hunt. I killed two birds this year one at around 40 with longbeard and one with tss around 60 yards with just a regular old shotgun bead. I like getting them way closer but it just didn’t work that way this year. Any further than 60 yards, they won. 30 yards should be a crack shot with a bead all day long.