How tough are these birds?

They amaze me every year. Shot one a couple of weeks ago that folded, and we went to the drop site to find him, he had run to the other side of the draw and flew away. The dogs trailed him to the spot where he flew off.
I shot a couple of birds last year that had large pockets of damaged tissue in their breast from previous shots.
 
I made a 70 yard passing shot yesterday with the full choker 16 sweet.This bird flew 300 yards up on top of a steep hill he just dropped,pretty cool, must have been a neck shot.We had to climb up there in deep snow,and that was a bitch!!😮
 
Quite a few years ago I dropped a rooster beyond cover over plowed ground. then watched as it picked itself up and ran back into the cover ahead. My springer was in deep stuff and didn't see the fall, so I brought her along upwind to hunt where the bird disappeared. As we got near, my eye caught movement to my left, and I saw this rooster "running" back downwind through snow-flattened grass, on one leg, using the opposite wing as a crutch. Later found the broken leg was shattered, and the wing opposite the broken leg was also broken.
 
Sunday my buddy and I hunted his property. This is great ground complete with food plots winter cover dirty ditches and willow patches. Large lowland basin of sedge, willows , and a little sweet clover in dryer years.

I knocked down a bird about 45 yards away and could see it's death flap in the sedge as my 2 dogs were going to retrieve it. I called the female off and before she took a step back another bird flushed by her. I dropped it about 65 yards from me ,a 100 yards from her.

She was off at the fall and bee lined to where I had it marked down at. I got the 1st bird and marched over to where she was searching and commanded fetch for both dogs. They were searching a few minutes and I see her another 100 yards away making loops on the hillside covered in brome. After another minute I called her off and we finished the 5 minutes we had left.

Going out we crossed the area where my female was searching and without any command she was in retriever mode. She covered about a 100 yards when my buddy says hey my dog is hot on 1 in the fence line another 100 yards ahead. His dog went on point and when we approached the wounded bird flopped up and he caught it.

Cleaning the birds later I discovered it wasn't the bird I shot as it was a old cripple with a old broken wing and trauma to its breast.
 
gunflint charlie said:
Quite a few years ago I dropped a rooster beyond cover over plowed ground. then watched as it picked itself up and ran back into the cover ahead. My springer was in deep stuff and didn't see the fall, so I brought her along upwind to hunt where the bird disappeared. As we got near, my eye caught movement to my left, and I saw this rooster "running" back downwind through snow-flattened grass, on one leg, using the opposite wing as a crutch. Later found the broken leg was shattered, and the wing opposite the broken leg was also broken.
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Tmi
 
gimruis said:
Turkeys are about as tough as a bird comes. They are a modern day velociraptor.

You need raw power to shoot one and you have to aim for the head/neck. If you shoot their body, the BBs bounce off like they're hitting armor lol
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Yep, head shot with lead BB'S.
 
Goosemaster said:
I made a 70 yard passing shot yesterday with the full choker 16 sweet.This bird flew 300 yards up on top of a steep hill he just dropped,pretty cool, must have been a neck shot.We had to climb up there in deep snow,and that was a bitch!!😮
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On my birds that have dropped suddenly, I've checked their vitals and found heart damage. I always assumed it was just the heart giving out or couldn't pump enough to keep them alive/conscious.

A few years ago, I had one go about 300-350 yards, in November or December, in Minnesota, and drop in snow, so required Honey to locate. Last year, in NE SD, in December, an old, wise rooster got up wild 30 or so yards away, as Honey was stalking his direction. I think I hit him 3 times as he made a semi circle from right to left. I watched him continue on the semi circle, hoping. Sure enough, he took a dive, from probably 20+ yards in the sky, smack dab on his head, on ice, on a frozen slough. If he wasn't dead before he hit the ice, he sure was afterward.

The ones I've never found an answer to are when you hit them and they go STRAIGHT up. I've only seen it a few times. The last one was 2 years ago in NE SD, on a frozen slough. I clocked it again, and it fluttered down into some cattails, where Honey located and got it. The birds colors were absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if that represents a spinal cord injury, head injury, or wing injury. It is almost like they don't know which way is up, but they head that way.
 
Limitless said:
On my birds that have dropped suddenly, I've checked their vitals and found heart damage. I always assumed it was just the heart giving out or couldn't pump enough to keep them alive/conscious.

A few years ago, I had one go about 300-350 yards, in November or December, in Minnesota, and drop in snow, so required Honey to locate. Last year, in NE SD, in December, an old, wise rooster got up wild 30 or so yards away, as Honey was stalking his direction. I think I hit him 3 times as he made a semi circle from right to left. I watched him continue on the semi circle, hoping. Sure enough, he took a dive, from probably 20+ yards in the sky, smack dab on his head, on ice, on a frozen slough. If he wasn't dead before he hit the ice, he sure was afterward.

The ones I've never found an answer to are when you hit them and they go STRAIGHT up. I've only seen it a few times. The last one was 2 years ago in NE SD, on a frozen slough. I clocked it again, and it fluttered down into some cattails, where Honey located and got it. The birds colors were absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if that represents a spinal cord injury, head injury, or wing injury. It is almost like they don't know which way is up, but they head that way.
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Nope.neck shot.
 
I have only witnessed the true straight up flight after being shot twice. The last time was a group hunt I had, a really strange foggy morning with a ton of frost on everything. The fog was just lifting, it was like a ceiling 100 feet high. The hit bird headed straight up and I yelled to my buddy to get after it as it disappeared through the fog hovering over us, we never saw it come back down. I said it went to heaven. Maybe it recovered and regained a normal flight, it could have fell and we just didn't see it, not sure, but it was a great memorable hunt.
 
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Saw that a few times when I was younger and hunted with my family in bigger groups. Always seem to happen on passing shots, Dad always said it was a heart shot.
 
Bigdave said:
Saw that a few times when I was younger and hunted with my family in bigger groups. Always seem to happen on passing shots, Dad always said it was a heart shot.
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He was wrong.Neck shot severs an artery.Ive seen it a dozen times.Tower of power.
 
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