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Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 6:06 pm
by SwampDrummin
Sounds pretty simple, any idiot would know that right? Yup, not this guy.

I shot a gobbler this last week out in a corn field after putting a helluva stalk on it through canyon country. Boom. He went down, no flopping. Dead bird.

Well, not so much it turns out. After I shot the bird I went to go under the tall barbwire fence that surrounded the field which is essentially a peninsula jutting out over the canyon. Big mistake. Got absolutely covered with sand spurs. Real nasty buggers. Think those Japanese throwing stars. I put my gun down and started picking them off as I walked towards the bird.

About 10 yards away the dead bird becomes a live bird. He pops up running. Not just running, RUNNING. The gun is 20-30 yards behind me at this point so I had no choice but to tear off after him. I'm losing ground from step one but after a short distance he tried to fly. Luckily I had broken a wing and he piled up on some broken stalks. Well, the pile up gave him another jolt of adrenaline. He popped up and really started to put distance on me. At this point I'm 75 yards into the 100 dash and I am failing fast. I hit the reserves and give it all I have hoping he'll try to fly again. He eventually does just that and trips on some broken stalks, not once but twice. I manage to close to about 4-5 yards. Now--que the point in the cheetah chase where both parties hit the after burners. Here I am in the middle of nowhere and I'm running faster than I have in the last 10 years. Corn stalks crunching. Boots pounding on the ground. I'd like to believe I looked like a lightning bolt. A speeding bullet perhaps.

Well whatever I looked like didn't matter because this was the Usain Bolt of turkeys. Ten more seconds and I'm gassed. It's done. You can't outrun a gobbler with working legs. Not his legs anyways. It's all but over but at 15 yards away, as we near the barb wire fence at the lip of the canyon, he tries to fly again and barrel rolls. He gets up and does it again. I do get to him this time - just as he's regaining his feet - and slide tackle him in a rolling mass of man, dust and turkey.

After wringing his neck with my bare hands all I could do was lay there and try not to die. Still tasting blood when I cough. Yup. Next time I'll carry my gun.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 6:21 pm
by OLE RASPY
๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚
RIGHTTTTT

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 6:23 pm
by GLS
Kemo Sabe, been there, too. Except I shot out of shells trying to finish one off with my old 835. Never shoot getting up or try to shoot running. Sit or stand and deliver, but not in between. Well, anyway, the bird was doing a slow trot as I hauled ass after him. It was soft ground and I was swinging rotten sticks trying to conk his ass flat. I finally had to dive on top and break his neck barehanded. Not easy to do. I got spurred pretty good in the hand and bore the scar for years. As you, I thought I was going to die and he did. I made a short brain shiv out of an ice pick cut off and sheathed in a wine cork if that ever happens again. It's not something you'd want to see on video.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 6:47 pm
by HunterGKS
Been there, done that, ONCE. That's the kind of mistake you only make once. Several years ago, here in Ohio, I was using a ground blind. I called in a really good gobbler & dropped him where he stood, not even a twitch let alone a flop. I got up, leaned my gun against the tree, & walked to within 10 yards when up he jumped running. I gave chase for about 10 yards more & knew I didn't have a chance. So I walked backwards to my gun watching where he went. I eased along until I spotted him. He did manage to get up again but I put him down for good this time. What I do now is sit still, fill out the tag, & start putting gear away while watching the bird. After everything is ready to go, I walk up to the bird gun in hand. I've never had another 1 get up but I'll be ready if'n he does.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 7:29 pm
by DocHolliday
:lol:
BEEN THERE. Done that. Turned out to be my best bird ever. 1 3/4โ€ razors. Chased him through a swamp for about 300 yds. Finally caught up to him and he squatted down and I jumped on his back and wrung his neck. I too thought that was where I was going to be found.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 7:32 pm
by forkedlighting
Happens to everyone if you hunt long enough shot one one afternoon took him a hour an a half to come 200 yards.i shot him an never wlggled got up an leg had gone to sleep an I couldn't get going never jacked another shell in the gun when I started to him he picked his head up I knew it wasn't going to be a good finish. Took off running a shot behind him twice they are not easy to hit running. I chased him 200yds across the field but he won.i never did find him if he died looked for 2 days .Lesson learned

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Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 9:01 pm
by 10gaugemag
BTDT. Shot a tom one day at 45 yard with my 10 gauge and an HV load of Winchester #5s and a Comp-N-Choke.

Bird fell in a heap at the shot without so much as a wiggle. He had a couple of jakes with him when I shot and they ran off a little bit but I called them back and watched them flog him a dab. After about 5 minutes of this I slipped out of the back of the blind and started towards the downed tom. The jakes kind of had a WTF look on their face and as I was watching them Ol' Tom decided to have a second chance at life.

I look back over where he was supposed to be and thought for a second, there was no other Longbeard in the bunch so where did this one come from???? Then it hit me, that is the bird I shot so I dumped a load of HV #4s on him and knocked him down again. I thought man I got lucky there at which point he tried his 3rd chance at life, got up and took off running. I gave him the last shell in the gun and don't even know if a single pellet hit him but he flat kicked it in gear. Out of ammo at this point but still had a 10# gun in hand I threw the 10 down and started my run.

About 50 yards to his left was a hedge row and I thought if he got in there I would never find him. Well he beat me to the hedge and once I got there he was hung in the woven wire. Good deal I thought, catch him and ring his neck, WRONG. As I got to him he jumped up and started to spur at me. Luckily I gave him a fist and knocked him down.

I finally worked around and got ahold of his neck and killed him.

Once I caught my breath and got him gathered up I headed back to the blind. Part way there I found a few feathers where I first shot him and started to count steps back to the blind. Right about 75 steps I reached the blind.

Still don't know how I misjudged the range by a full 30 steps. But to this day I haven't taken a chance at a bird at anything over a sure 40 yards. I am thinking the lighting difference between me being in the blind and him in the light or the open ground between us had me fooled.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 9:01 pm
by southpaw
Happened to me too. Bird was a little further than I thought he was. He ran to my left and I put him down on the third shot. Got up and ran over to him. He was flopping all over. Put my boot on his neck. He managed to get free and then the chase was on. It was then that I realized that I had not put any more shells in the gun. I chased him about 100 yards or so. I was within about 5' of him during the whole chase. There was a moment that I considered using the gun as a club but decided against that. I finally got close enough to grab him by the neck. I hit the brakes and whipped him over my shoulder breaking his neck. It was over pretty quick once I got my hand on him. He did get one last lick in, notice my glove had a hole in it and I had a scratch on my hand. I scanned the area to see if anyone had the pleasure of seeing this take place but to my good fortune there was no one around.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 9:11 pm
by Grumpy
Happened to my old ass last spring, shot he went down then popped up again, I shot the second time and down without a flop. Walked back to the truck to bring it up to my corral corner I sit and so I could pick things up. Ate a sandwich and had a cup of coffee and decided to drive over where he fell, got right up to him and up he jumped and ran real fast jumped in the fast running creek, made it to the other side, scaled a 10 ft. tall embankment and ran out of sight up the side of a very steep mountain. Drove back a few yards and loaded stuff up and went home mad as hell that I left the gun in the corral corner. Bright side was I never hunted them in the fall so I got one last Nov. 12.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 9:32 pm
by Hoobilly
Im to old and to fat to chase a gobbler. I would've run back to the gun then charged on after him

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 10:12 pm
by pedro
And make sure you have extra shells.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 18th, 2018, 7:40 am
by Spuriosity
Happened to me this year in Ky. Was hunting right on the edge of a cut cornfield. Shot a bird that got suspicious and started fast walking at 45 yds with a 1.625 oz load of TSS 8.5s over 9s. Bird was coming on a string and set to pass by me at 25 yds when he saw something he didn't like (late afternoon hunt with no dekes out). Had to shoot through 45 yds of standing cornstalks. Bird went right down at the shot and didn't move. Laid gun down (duh!) to cross fence and walked out to get him. Got about 10 yds from him and the rodeo started. Knocked down quite a few stalks in the ensuing round up. Fortunately the stalks were tripping him up as bad as they were me. Jumped on his back pinning those 1.25" daggers in the dirt and twisted head one way and neck the other 'til he gave it up. Bird weighed 24 lbs, my heaviest to date.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 18th, 2018, 8:58 am
by poorcountrypreacher
Funny stories, guys.

I've done a lot of foolish things in my life, but leaving my gun behind and chasing a turkey is not one of them. I have often said I don't wanna do hand to hand combat with a turkey, and I never have. If it appears there is any chance he might recover, I just shoot him again. I carry a dove load to finish one if I have to, and I have used it a couple of times over the years.

When I first started hunting as a kid back in the 60s I heard a story of a guy who shot a big buck and was admiring his rack. He put his gun on the rack and was planning how he would saw the antlers off and use them for his new gun rack when the deer jumped up and ran off and carried his gun with him. I don't know if the story was even true, but at 9 years old I believed it and resolved that such a thing would not happen to me.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 18th, 2018, 9:28 am
by Shiloh
Been therr myself!! My chase was in a muddy cornfield sinking to my ankles with every step. I was like you and had to try not to die after I caught my prey!

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 18th, 2018, 12:53 pm
by bullethead
Great original post and great thread.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 19th, 2018, 12:58 am
by jhogue
Reading all of your stories, one thing rings clear, the bird that doesnโ€™t flop should be suspicious...

Never had this happen to me thus far, but note taken very well. Iโ€™ve been guilty of not pumping a fresh shell after the shot. That possibly could have saved me the most memorable lost bird of my career. I rolled him when I shot a little too far. I thought he was down and a second later he got up and was running. If I had cranked a shell and stayed on him I might have gotten the job done.

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 8:11 pm
by Turkeydog708
Killed DOZENS of turkeys and never walked to the first one, drives me crazy to see guys on tv stand around and high five and hug while the gobbler is flopping. Itโ€™s truly a sickening feeling to see a โ€œdeadโ€ turkey fly off

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 8:44 pm
by Hognutz
It happened to me 3 years ago and Iโ€™m still not over it!! AND... He did not flop.
Never again will that happen to me. This will get you crazy/crazier!!
Great thread!!

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 9:39 pm
by SwampDrummin
bullethead wrote: โ†‘May 18th, 2018, 12:53 pm Great original post and great thread.

:thumbup:

Re: Never walk to a dead gobbler without your gun

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 9:42 pm
by SwampDrummin
Told my wife about it tonight, sorta in the vein of how brutal nature is. Not sure I got the impact across. Not sure iโ€™m really getting it across here.