Time to Start Talking Turkey?

[Guyon]

Well, deer season ends here on Sunday. Freezer is full, and it's not likely I'll hunt any more this season, so it's time to pack up the deer stuff and get out the turkey stuff.

Between deer and turkey season, I find that I do quite a bit of call practice (much to my wife's chagrin) and shotgun patterning.

This year, I have some new stuff to play around with. I bought some Tru-Glo adjustable fiber optic sights for my 870. Both windage and elevation can be adjusted to put the tightest part of the pattern where you want it.

I also got some of that rather expensive Hevi-Shot and a new HS Strut Hevi-Shot choke. My uncle has tried this stuff and reports that it extends his effective range by about 10 yards.

I may first pattern and adjust sights with regular HV turkey loads (or even just regular 2 3/4" game loads) since that Hevi-Shot runs about $2 a shell. Don't know if the patterns will be at all similar, but if it works out, this strategy should save me a few $$$.

 

[ACP230]

I won't be patterning any shotguns till most of the snow melts in the spring. My sons and I plan to hunt turkeys this year on property a friend of ours owns.

I tried to buy a license as soon as they became available but the DNR computer was on the fritz. I'll try again after next payday.

 

[Mannlicher]

I guess I am in the minority when it comes to Turkey hunting. I hunt the same places every year. I use the same old calls, and I use the same old Browning A-5 12 Ga 3" Magnum, with the same old Hastings choke tube. I use the same Federal 3 inch # 4 premium Magnum Turkey load that I have used for years, and I kill my same 2 birds.

Maybe I need t do something different? nah.........

 

[Guyon]

Mannlicher, nothing wrong with not fixing what ain't broke.

Only my third year of turkey hunting. Killed two birds last year and two the year before. Still, there were at least three birds I could have gotten if I could have effectively made a 40 yard shot. I know some folks would have shot anyway with HV loads, but unless I'm sure of a clean kill, I'm not going to pull the trigger.

Thus, the Hevi-Shot. Thought I'd give it a try this year. I guess I just like to tinker with different tools and see what I can do.

 

[Michigun]

In this past thread I have details & pictures of my 2 Michigan gobblers taken with the Hevi-Shot loads… Hevi-Shot is defiantly my preferred turkey load!

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?threadid=51955

 

[Guyon]

Michigun, I see you're shooting Hevi-Shot #4's. What kind of lethal range can you get out of that load? Would you be comfortable taking a 40 yard shot?

 

[Michigun]

"Would you be comfortable taking a 40 yard shot?"

Yes.

That fall Turkey I shot was in flight, quartering away & around the 30-yard mark. I shot him pretty much under his right wing. (Not enough lead… I was trying an in flight head shot…) He dropped out of the air right quick! I found no pellet wounds in his head. Upon cleaning him out/de-feathering/skinning him, I found that the Hevi-Shot penetrated his vitals, heart, lungs, etc... some of the shot was found to have made almost a complete pass through stopping just on the other side under the skin. That is DANG good penetration! I know I’ve found several other #4 turkey shell brands where some of the pellets never made it past the 1st layer of skin on 20-yard shots in the body… I didn’t find even one Hevi-Shot like that.

There are 2 main reasons a head shot is preferred on a turkey… 1 is so you don’t have to find a pellet while eating your bird later & 2 is because body shots won’t normally kill a turkey well enough for recovery… them feathers are more like body armor!

I say, if you’re a ‘little off’ (it happens sometimes) with the Hevi-Shot your chances are a lot more likely of a dead bird then they would be with the other shell loads out there.