Yes or No Question. . . . .

[Covehnter]

The shooting a roosted turkey question reminded me of something i wanted to ask. . . see if you would have made the same decision.

This happened to my dad this year. . . .
My dad sneaks up to a field in the latter part of this season, where there has been a bird gobbling his brains out all mornign. He peeks over a bank and sees the bird about 150 yards away. Again its late in the season so the grass is really high b/t him and the bird. He can see the gobbling bird and catches glimpses of another. He starts calling to the birds and the one that isnt gobbling begins coming his way. Due to the grass he couldnt tell if the bird was a hen or gobbler, but though he saw the bird break into a half strut through the tall grass on his way in. He's laying on his stomach just over what is actually a steep 5 foot bank at the field edge so his chin is actually rested on the ground. His gun is up and the bird is at 50 yards still headed in when it started putting sharply. The turkey flushes directly at him and lands in the top of an oak tree 20 yards away in plan view and a coyote follows apparently tryin to catch the gobbler. The coyote runs within feet of my dad and stops then walks back never knowing he was around. My dad was in a dilemma, shoot the bird or not. . . chip shot. He can already see that the bird has a paintbrush beard. . . hummmmm?!?!? He lowers his gun and pics up the binos he was using earlier and sees the bird definately has 2 beards, obvious he says. What would you guys have done? if it wasnt for the coyote it was pretty certain that things were about to come together, he'd called the bird for over 100 yards. Would it be just for him to knock him off the limb?

BTW, my dad chose not to shoot and the bird flew down about 10 minutes later about 200 yards out into the field and went the other way. He was kickin himself later, when he ask me what i would've done i shrugged my shoulders. . . think i would've just had to have been there. But we my have had turkey!

[buckifan21]

I would not have shot him. would have been tempted, but would have done what your dad did

[lil hunter]

BANG BANG BANG

nuff said

[Squirrelhunter91]

I would shot. I wouldn't shoot a bird off the roost, but if I was calling it in and it did that, yup. I would have shot.

[Strut10]

I would have shot the coyote and made an appointment with Mr. Paintbrush for next year.

[Nick]

It would be politically correct to say no. But if I hunted him, fooled him and got him within range.....I guess I would have probably put the exclamation point at the end of the hunt as hard as it is to kill one in the first place.

[huntn4bucks]

I probably would not have taken the shot either. I've had several opportunities to take gobblers from a tree and have chosen not to every time.

[redbeard]

Since he was workin' the bird and it was comin' to his callin', came from ground up, my answer is yes it would have been just, ie fair chase. This is a completely different scenerio from roost shooting. As far as me in his shoes, I'd probably done as Strut says, shot the yote and then seen if I could get a bead on the bird.

[snapper]

I had a situation that was close to that...at 40 yards (in the woods) the gobbler spooked and flew up in a tree only 25 yards from me. I don't know what spooked him....but I didn't shoot.

I also believe its different than shooting one outta the roost and wouldn't have faulted your dad if he would have shot!

[Rhino]

The part I can't figure out is why your dad didn't shoot the coyote. That's what I would have done. Sounds like he had a chip shot on that sucker too. I wouldn't have thought twice about blasting that coyote. I wouldn't have had a problem with your dad killing the bird because like redbeard said he was working the bird under fair chase conditions but I wouldn't have shot the bird out of the tree either. Sorta been there before and passed too. Like Strut said, there's always another day and the culmination of the excitement of the total turkey hunting experience leading up to the kill is an important part of the hunt to me. Also, I don't want to look at the beard and spurs hanging on my wall later and think about a hunt where I rolled a turkey off a limb even under those circumstances. The memory of the hunt last for life so my thoughts are to make that memory one you'd be proud of to share with anyone while wearing a big on your face.

[gfourhunter]

shoot the bird. it was the one he was working. plus it gets you out of the no kill club. cant eat it when it is in a tree. do you not shoot a squirrel on the ground. do you not shoot a deer running. do you not shoot a rabbit sitting. would you shoot a duck or a goose that you jump off a lake or a river, you didnt call it in? get over it and eat it. it tastes the same no matter what.

[Squirrelhunter91]

Post deleted by Strut10

That ain't funny.

[gitcha_some]

hahaah good one squirrelhunter but he is right i mean the guy worked hard for the bird

[Rhino]

gitcha_some the question was "What would you guys have done?" We each answered that question and explained our answer. Sounds like gfourhunter sort of missed that point too hence the response from Joe. There's no real right or wrong answer here, just what would you do.

The entire hunt and how it unfolds is more important to me than just killing a bird so that's why I wouldn't have shot the bird on the limb. I got over it a long time ago, "it" being the need to have to kill a turkey any legal way I can. That's sort of an evolution I've seen in a lot of turkey hunters over the years. Like I said before, I wouldn't have had a problem with Cov's dad killing the bird either and I explained why but I just wouldn't feel good about doing it myself for my own reasons. Now that turkey stalking coyote would have been toast and it wouldn't be the 1st time I smacked one of those suckers during turkey season either.

[Tominator]

Pretty much agree with Nick, and Rhino.

Technically that bird wasn't roosted. I would have blasted the yote also, jacked a round and maybe take a shot at "turkey on the wing"

Interesting scenario.