Hindsight

Have you ever heard the expression: "hindsight is 20/20"?
I've been kicking myself over a decision I made last week. Long story short I was turkey hunting and a turkey came in following a bearded hen. If the Tom had followed the exact path the hen took there would've been a pic of a happy hunter last week. So as you may have guessed something didn't happen the way it should have. Well, the Tom hung up short of a slam dunk shot and in fact started back the same way he came in. Instead of calling to either him or the hen to get the Tom to come closer, I waited until I had a headshot and took it. Well, that bird didn't drop, I did go and look for the bird... blood... feathers... I found none of the above.
Here's where we are today, I have hunted the magic 5 a couple times since that day and have yet to hear or see the Tom I missed. So he either packed his bags and headed to a clump of woods that no one shoots at you, or climbed under a deadfall or clump of grass and died. I can only hope it isn't the latter, no hunter wants to kill and not recover his quarry. We all dream of the perfect shot on the desired game animal and have that animal drop in his tracks. The fact is we make mistakes, take shots we shouldn't have, and have decisions haunt us for weeks. Which is what this has done, and hopefully, I will remember this lesson and never let it happen again.
 On a less crappy note, next week starts the fishing season for me, since I haven't gone once yet. I'm watching the weather and it looks like I should be able to get up to LM next week. I need to get some pics on here for this year, nobody likes to read and not see a pic. 😢