Hunting turkeys with a .223 rifle.

[Chandler's Boy]

I'm new to forums in general, this one in particular. But for some time now, I have been hunting turkeys in season with a .223 rifle. Every forum I've searched and any other related links have proved fruitless in finding much discussion about it. I'm curious as to why that is the case. In my mind, there are several advantages over hunting them with shotguns or bows. For one thing, you don't have to get as close, they're not as apt to spook off by seeing you, and if you're rifle is on and your scope is right and your shooting ability is steady... dropping a turkey with a clean kill can be done and absolutely no meat is damaged or lost. None of my friends hunt them with shotguns, but that's mostly because turkey season and deer season overlap in my neck of the woods, and nobody cares to carry or deal with both weapons. I find the practice perfect when you can take anything you find in range between a turkey, a hog, or a deer... with the same weapon. And it's effective for all three situations. FYI, I use a CZ 527 .223 carbine with a Leupold 3x9 scope. If anyone cares to sound in on this, I'm all eyes.

 

[jamesinalaska]

If you are competent with your cz527 (great little rifle, by the way) and hunting birds with a rifle cartridge is legal in your area, I think you are doing the work just right. Some Alaskan tribal members here hunt swans and geese with .223 for the exact reasons you mentioned: those rifles are more effective at farther distances.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I'm curious as to why that is the case.

Many states don't allow hunting turkey with a rifle.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

If it’s legal in your state and it works for you, kudos for finding this.

So I’ll just add, stay safe and please be careful. Always follow the safety rules and make sure you know where you’re shots are going ( but you’re know this so I’m just reminding you as 223 can go a lot further than shotgun ammo)

 

[WestKentucky]

I would if it was legal. Actually I think I might would use my .45 muzzleloader, that seems like more fun.

 

[Bill_in_TR]

I think that as has already been pointed out the legality question is the only issue. I think there are a lot of states where it is against regulations.

 

[CDW4ME]

Not legal here.
I killed several turkeys with a bow, inside 20 yards, wasn't easy.
Sometimes after I got busted and the turkey ran away I could see merit in using a shotgun, but I never did.

 

[FL-NC]

I have killed several turkeys with 223, and I have found everything you stated to be 100% correct. When and where legal, 223 is very effective on turkeys.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

As a forester I come across hunters mostly using shotguns. I only know one guy who would shotgun it for the first few weeks, and if he didn't get a bird he wanted, would resort to 223 to make sure he got a bird. He always had a freezer full of meat he killed.

I've come across a few frozen deer that had been shot with what I believe was a 223. Possibly 243. Very small entry wound, no exit, poorly placed shot. Deer obviously ran off and was not found. It you've got a tack driver and a clear and relatively close shot, I think you're ok, but I've just seen too many deer out in the woods that were shot with small caliber rounds and ran off never to be tracked down. If you're using 223 for both, and use good judgement on whether or not to shoot at a deer, I think it can work on both. Personally though I'd go 270 as a minimum. That's just me though. I think the shot placement is a lot more important.

 

[Texas10mm]

As a forester I come across hunters mostly using shotguns. I only know one guy who would shotgun it for the first few weeks, and if he didn't get a bird he wanted, would resort to 223 to make sure he got a bird. He always had a freezer full of meat he killed.

I've come across a few frozen deer that had been shot with what I believe was a 223. Possibly 243. Very small entry wound, no exit, poorly placed shot. Deer obviously ran off and was not found. It you've got a tack driver and a clear and relatively close shot, I think you're ok, but I've just seen too many deer out in the woods that were shot with small caliber rounds and ran off never to be tracked down. If you're using 223 for both, and use good judgement on whether or not to shoot at a deer, I think it can work on both. Personally though I'd go 270 as a minimum. That's just me though. I think the shot placement is a lot more important.

It depends on the deer we're talking about. Here in N. Texas the deer are the size of large dogs. Where I grew up it was mainly Mule deer and they were 3X the size of the deer around here.

A bad shot is a bad shot, doesn't make a difference what cartridge you're using. I had an uncle in eastern Idaho that used a 22 mag to cull the deer herds. It worked just fine since his average shot was about 20 yards.

 

[Legionnaire]

Not legal in many states. Hunting turkey often entails dressing in full camo and making sounds like a turkey. Think I'd pass on turkey hunting if I knew other turkey hunters were using centerfire rifles while I'm out there trying to attract a bird.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

It depends on the deer we're talking about. Here in N. Texas the deer are the size of large dogs. Where I grew up it was mainly Mule deer and they were 3X the size of the deer around here.

A bad shot is a bad shot, doesn't make a difference what cartridge you're using. I had an uncle in eastern Idaho that used a 22 mag to cull the deer herds. It worked just fine since his average shot was about 20 yards.

Yeah, that's true. Whitetails are a bit larger here, but not a ton, but our mule deer push 200 lbs regularly. I grew up in the lake states, andn 200 whitetails aren't all that rare there. And I do agree, distance of the shot makes a difference too, but shot placement is most important.

My comment was in no way a condemnation of those that use 223 on deer. In some scenarios it perfectly fine.

 

[NorthBorder]

Fall turkey season allows rifles. I generally take my 22 mag but so far have not connected. The turkeys here are very intrepid when it comes to public vs private land. They even rear their clutches in my neighborhood.
BTW rifle shooters where do you aim?

 

[George P]

I would if it was legal. Actually I think I might would use my .45 muzzleloader, that seems like more fun.

Can you not load your ML with a shot load? That might be a neat way to go about it.

 

[WestKentucky]

Not a rifle. It’s a slow twist so it’s not that bad shooting shot, but I don’t want to shoot much shot through it until the rifling is in worse shape... but I have been hard on this barrel so it may honestly be there already. .45 would be a really light shotgun. Something around 28 gauge... actually a lot smaller than 28. 28 is .54 so halfway between .410 and 28 means not much power.

 

[Howland937]

It's illegal to use anything but shotgun or bow in Ohio. Last I turkey hunted, there was a split fall season where you could use both, then bow only. Not allowed to shoot them from a tree stand either.

 

[Chandler's Boy]

I'm new to forums in general, this one in particular. But for some time now, I have been hunting turkeys in season with a .223 rifle. Every forum I've searched and any other related links have proved fruitless in finding much discussion about it. I'm curious as to why that is the case. In my mind, there are several advantages over hunting them with shotguns or bows. For one thing, you don't have to get as close, they're not as apt to spook off by seeing you, and if you're rifle is on and your scope is right and your shooting ability is steady... dropping a turkey with a clean kill can be done and absolutely no meat is damaged or lost. None of my friends hunt them with shotguns, but that's mostly because turkey season and deer season overlap in my neck of the woods, and nobody cares to carry or deal with both weapons. I find the practice perfect when you can take anything you find in range between a turkey, a hog, or a deer... with the same weapon. And it's effective for all three situations. FYI, I use a CZ 527 .223 carbine with a Leupold 3x9 scope. If anyone cares to sound in on this, I'm all eyes.

I appreciate all the quick attention I received from my question. The best I can tell, it is legal to shoot turkeys with a rifle in Texas, but will check with a game warden to be sure. Thanks for the help. By the way, several of you mentioned "shot placement" as being key to any hunting success. I agree. My crosshairs on turkeys is placed in the thick part of their neck, just above the top of the breast. And my CZ delivers. A beautiful thing.

 

[BreechFace]

Looks like on Texas regulations, Shotguns are the only listed firearm to be used in the "Spring Eastern Turkey Season". Look under the "Firearms" section.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/general-regulations/means-and-methods

 

[mustanger98]

...several of you mentioned "shot placement" as being key to any hunting success. I agree. My crosshairs on turkeys is placed in the thick part of their neck, just above the top of the breast.

Assuming no loss of usable meat, this sounds about right to me. Y'all realize a turkey's head is nearly always moving?

 

[sage5907]

When I first started hunting turkeys in Oklahoma back in the 1960's and 1970's it was legal to use a rifle. I had a Sako 222 Remington. The first thing I learned was to shoot from the side and aim for the upper portion of the back so that the breast would not be damaged. I considered turkey season as a training session for deer hunting. The first two days of the primitive deer season overlapped the fall turkey season and I was able to use my 50 Hawken but it was hard on turkeys. Later the State stopped rifle hunting and I also learned to use a call which made it a lot more fun. Today I only hunt in the spring and I wouldn't think of using a rifle even if it was legal.

 

[jamesinalaska]

Ha. The only turkeys we have up here are the ones in the front office.

 

[buck460XVR]

Many states don't allow hunting turkey with a rifle.

^^^Best answer. Why that is, has multiple answers. In many states, turkey hunting is more dangerous than hunting any other game animal, including deer. Many states show numbers as high as 25-30% of hunting-related shooting accidents involving turkey hunters. This is, on top of not allowing rifles, why many states also limit shot size to #4s or smaller. Also comes down to quality of the hunt, population control and other hunter interference. Turkey hunting for most folks is for the thrill of the hunt. The little bit of meat is a tasty bonus, but none of us are depending on them for us to make thru the winter. Calling in birds, either spring or fall takes skill and patience and adds hours to our time in the woods. Used to be thought that turkeys were difficult at best to be called in the fall, when reductions of flocks for over-wintering is most important. While a hunter cannot hear the subtle calls of fall as compared to booming gobbles in the spring, the birds themselves are just as responsive to calling. Because calls are more subtle and carry much shorter distances, locating the birds is more difficult. Without the motivation of sex and reproduction, birds are a tad warier too. Because of the limited range of archery and shotguns, success rates are lower, allowing more hunters to hunt longer. It also means hunters won;t be infringing on others near as much. When one has to be within 40 yards to shoot, there won't be someone else sniping a bird from 300 yards away, that you spent two hours coming to you. Determination of sex is also less important as most states allow either sex to be taken during the fall, so one does not have to be close enough to determine sex of a 6-8 month old young of the year . As others have said, in some areas, where hunter density is low and terrain varied enough, turkeys can be safely taken with rifles. If it's legal and you practice safe hunting techniques, I say go for it. But the reasons you hear/read little or nuttin' about turkeys with a rifle or see so few hunting shows of turkeys being taken with a rifle, is telling.

 

[Picher]

Cartridge Rifles are not allowed for turkeys in Maine, but I don't know about muzzle loader rifles. I don't hunt turkeys.

 

[Chandler's Boy]

I appreciate what Buck360 had to offer about turkey hunting. Perhaps I should have said that I am fortunate in that I hunt ONLY on a private ranch and we have total control and knowledge on who is hunting and where they are located. We also enjoy the fact that there are usually only three to five of us on the ranch at any given time, and it is plenty large enough to give us lots of space. A lot of folks barked about not being legal to hunt Eastern turkeys with rifles, and I guess I failed to say we only hunt Rio Grande turkeys, and as far as I can tell online, it is legal to hunt them with rifles. I'm still trying to confirm that issue. Hunters rule. Thank you guys.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Colorado is shotgun only in the spring, rifles are allowed in the fall. Doesn't matter if you're hunting Rio Grandes or Merriams. Never hunted them in the fall, but I hear 22 mag is favored.