Turkey shoot
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A turkey shoot is a term for an extremely one-sided battle or contest.[1]
The term likely originates from a method of hunting wild turkeys in which the hunter, coming upon a flock, intentionally scatters them. Once the flock is scattered, the hunter sets up and waits, as the scattered flock will return to that point individually, making them easy targets.
Sport usage[edit]
The term has several usages in the context of shooting.
A "turkey shoot" sometimes refers to a turkey hunt where wild turkeys are shot.[2]
It may also refer to a shooting contest in which frozen turkeys are awarded as prizes, sometimes more generically known as a "meat shoot." The shoot is most commonly held using shotguns aimed at paper targets about 25–35 yards away. The winner is chosen according to which target has a shot closest to its center crossmark. Due to the random nature of the exact pattern of pellets that a shotgun shoots, that removes almost all skill from the contest and allows every shooter an equal chance. Turkey shoots are still popular in the rural United States [citation needed] today.
Original turkey shoots date back at least to the time of James Fenimore Cooper and were contests in which live turkeys were tied down in a pen and shot from 25–35 yards.[3] If a turkey was killed, the shooter received it as a prize.
Another contest provided a caged turkey with a protective wall. Above the cage was a slot in which the turkey could raise its head. Single-shot rifles were used, and if the shooter was skilled and fast enough, the turkey was shot in the head, rewarding it to the shooter as his prize. This contest was depicted in the 1941 Gary Cooper film Sergeant York.[citation needed]
Military usage[edit]
In military situations, a turkey shoot occurs when a group or team catch the enemy off-guard or outgunned to the point of the battle being extremely lopsided, as in the following famous examples:
- Battle of New Orleans – War of 1812
- Battle of San Jacinto – Texas Revolution
- Charge of the Light Brigade – Crimean War
- Battle of the Crater – American Civil War
- Battle of the Philippine Sea – World War II
- Battle of Longewala – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
- Operation Mole Cricket 19 – 1982 Lebanon War
- Highway of Death – Gulf War
- Battle of Fallujah (2016) – Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Turkey shoot". Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
- ^ Bottum, Faith (2022-11-22). "Opinion | My First Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot". WSJ. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
- ^ Permaul, Nadesan (2006). James Fenimore Cooper and the American National Myth. Conference of the American Literature Association. Retrieved May 24, 2020.