Turkey shoot

[2] Shoots were common throughout the holiday season, providing birds to adorn dinner tables for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.

This "cruel amusement" was condemned by some Christian speakers as a vice on the same level as "horse-racing, cock-fighting, gouging of eyes, beastly intemperance, profanity, etc.

"[8] At the urging of Henry Bergh, founder of the ASPCA, some organizers attempted to reduce the birds' suffering by having them humanely slaughtered beforehand, then using their severed heads as the targets.

[4] However, as shoots were locally organized according to custom, and not subject to any central regulation, all three models (live, "dead head", and target) were widely practiced in parallel.

[13] In military situations, a turkey shoot occurs when a one side outguns the other to the point of the battle being extremely lopsided, as in the following famous examples: