Went to Bass Pro yesterday..... 5 of them new "hopped up" mixed shot turkey loads.....29 dollars. Are they worth it?
I don't mind paying for quality, but dang, that's crazy.

Depends on how DEAD you want them. Copper plated lead shot makes em plenty dead for me. I've even killed them with plain ole hvy field loads not labeled as "turkey loads".Just read the ingredients, ounces of shot/velocity. Not any difference. Of course I use a plain full choke too so what do I know.

heavy 13 triplex with 5,6,7 shot. Similar to Nitros. I'v shot them both.

Yeah, I was thinking about how many I have killed with a Remington 1100 with a 30 inch barrel.
When I got a 3 inch magnum I thought I was something...
When Remington came out with the 870 turkey special with the short barrel and full choke several of us loaded up and went to the Minnow Bucket. He had them for 200 bucks. I should have bought a truckload of them, back then I could barely afford the 200

To me ammo cost is very cheap considering what I spend to kill a turkey. I pay 8-10 dollars a shell and don't think twice. I understand the how dead do you want them train of thought, and it may be hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but the technology of HTL loads is unquestionable. In my opinion, when I get myself in position to take a shot on a bird, I want the shell that gives me the best chance of making a clean kill

x2

x 3

I was anti hevi for a long time and my brother talked me into buying some, im hooked now im paying $9.32 each for a tss #8 shell that i am positive will devastate. I am buying up htl for my 3" 12 and 3-1/2" 10. I wont shoot lead for a long time.

if you go with Hevi's mag blend go to their website and print off a rebate for $10. You can print one per box up to 2 boxes per house hold.

Everybody wants the most effective round they can use. But most would scoff at the thought of using a scoped rifle, even where legal.

Scoped rifles are better off left in the truck anyway. Turkeys in need of roadside assistance is where those things really shine

What does that have to do with the question here? We can't use a rifle in AL and I dont know why anybody would want to use a rifle to turkey hunt anyway. Save the rifle for deer hunting

putting the legality aside.....someone tell me the difference in killing a gobbler at 50 yards with a shotgun and the same bird with a rifle......

make it 30 yards and tell me the difference...

or tell me the difference in killing one at 50 with a shotgun and at 100 yards with a rifle.....you ain't called up either one....

So a turkey that comes 1/3 of a mile across a river swamp or a big hardwood bench that stops and hangs up at 50 because he can't see a hen in wide open woods wasn't called up?

Or maybe you're just talking about ambushing them and sniping them out of fields and such at 50. If so I agree.

+1 poor argument bhamfred

See what I'm talkin. Everybody gets their panties in a wad when talking rifles and turkey hunting but all of those same people would pay $10.00 for a shotgun shell that will kill one at 75 yards. So, like Bham Fred said, tell me the difference.

Ive never killed but one over 40 yds.

It doesn't matter if they are called or not if i can ambush them i will.

I have to agree. I guess it was how I was raised. If a gobbler hung up at 40 or 50 yards, you just tried again the next morning. Back then it seemed there were more "character" turkeys. What I mean is, there were fewer turkeys, and we actually had the gobblers named at the different places we could hunt. I'd call up my Dad and say "I'm going after the one on the apple orchard hill, ect, ect.
I guess the sport is changing, but I still can't bring myself to use a blind and sit at a food plot and wait. To each his own, I just came up differently..

jmj, I agree with the last two sentences. I hate a blind, and won't just deer hunt one. I will sit down and try to kill a silent one if I'm sure there is one in the area, but if I sit longer than a hour at a time, its because I've heard one or fell asleep due to to many early mornings.
I gotta go with BrentM on this one though. If I call a bird 2, 3, 400 yards and he hangs up at 50, to me I have called him up. And if he stands there for a second or two I'll bust his arse and move on to the next one. When I retire and get to hunt every day, I'll call to them every day until I get them close enough to sling a piece of rock tied to a stick at them like Troy does. Until then, 50 yards and he's a dead ass. And how I feel about ambushing just depends on the day.

Super duper mega magnum quadruple platinum plated titanium shot is not for adrenalin junkies! The idea is to get them close enough that when they gobble thier breath knocks you hat off! Copper plated #5s are all you really need, unless of course you like to pay for some companies fancy marketing gimmick or it's kill'em at no matter the cost.

If he hangs up at 50 yards, PLAY THE GAME and try to outsmart him and his pea size brain!! It ain't about how easy you can make it, although that does seem to be the overriding sentiment in the hunting industry these days.

x4

Whats the difference in 50 yards and 30 yards?

60 feet, you still called him up either way.
If you or anyone else doesn't want to shoot one that far its fine, but don't act like its not hunting to do it.

I dont care if you want to kill them all with a .410 @ 20 yards but dont bash someone else for wanting there gun to shoot ethically a little farther.

Its just how I feel but a turkeys fair game anyway and anyhow within the laws. Im there to kill them, the end. I enjoy the hunt and the time in the woods, but feel I have won when hes flopping.

To any other beliefs, if it makes you satisfied then that's all that matters.

I was hunting a 160 acre tract in OK several years ago, and it had one tree on it. About 150 acres was a wheat field, and I set up in the only possible set-up on the whole tract, unless you were gonna use a blind. I cut some limbs off the cedar tree, and make a make-shift blind, and then get seated for an afternoon hunt. I wasn't pleased with being sent to that place, but it was all I had.

Hadn't been sitting long when I heard a faint gobble. He was all the way across the wheat field, which was almost a half mile, and way into the other property. I started calling and he responded and we had a great conversation for the next 30 minutes. I finally spotted him on the hill to the north, still on the other property, but only about 300 yds away. He could see there was no hen in the field, but I managed to coax him out there anyway. He came to 80 yds, but that was it. I can't remember exactly how I tried to call him closer, but whatever it was, it didn't work. He could see there was nothing there, and finally walked away.

If he had come to 60 yds, he would have made a trip to AL, and I would have for sure claimed to have called him up.

So I take it that you only hunt whitetails with a recurve bow then and pass on them unless you get them within 40 yards? Right? After all that's how a real he-man adrenalin junkie hunts deer. LOL!

Where does this notion come from that 40 yards is the magic number? Get him to 40 yards and you called him but at 50 you didn't? So a bird that started out 400 yards away and comes 360 yards to you was called in but if he only comes 350 yards he wasn't? Who decided that? I'm betting that number was based on the maximum range shotguns would consistently kill a bird back in the day. If those guns and shells would have killed consistently at 50 yards then that would have been the universally agreed on distance. Well now shotguns can be set up to kill farther than 40 yards. I see no problem with it. If you want to limit yourself to 40, 30, or even 20 yards then great. But that's your choice and doesn't make you better than anyone.

I primarily hunt deer with a bow and obviously have to pass on them unless I get them within that range. But I don't arrogantly assert that means I'm deer hunting the "right way" and that everyone shooting them hundreds of yards away with a rifle are a bunch of unethical slobs. The way I hunt is simply my choice.

As for rifle hunting turkeys? My opposition to that would be entirely along safety lines and not some pissing match over the ethical distance to shoot a turkey. No one wears hunters orange to hunt turkeys and the sound of one gobbling bird can draw several hunters into close proximity on public land. Three guys with high powered rifles creeping in from 3 different directions and setting up within 100 yards on the same bird, each totally unaware of the other would be dangerous as hell. Maybe by the time they were in shotgun range of each other they would see each other even dressed in full camo. But how far out through the woods will a 30-06 bullet kill your @$$? A lot further than you can see.

Obviously, for some it is more about just bending the meatpole than others, for me it is about the game. I don't feel like I am there to prove myself to anybody on Monday morning around the coffee pot. If you want to outsmart a deer or turkey on their terms great. If you want to outsmart a deer or turkey over a feeder, then knock yourself out. Hunting and fishing used to be a sport, now it's all about the bragging rights. College sports have evolved with the same mindset. Just not my cup of tea. Here is a thought "just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should".

This book is a great read. It's pretty much my philosophy on turkey hunting:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/940285.The_Old_Pro_Turkey_Hunter

If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and try to get a copy. It might change the way you feel about things.

And then there is this quote from Tom Kelly's A Fork in the Road, "And finally, finally, any pity you have to spare does not need to be wasted on turkeys. They are able to make out quite comfortably with the bag of tricks they are born with."

Somewhat of a paradox since Mr. Kelly does seem to frown on "turkey murderers" with rifles and those that ambush turkeys on chufa patches.

And to the original poster - that same box of 5 shells on Sportsman's Guide are $38 + shipping. BP's price doesn't sound too bad now.

I would be hard convinced that my 870 with an Indian creek black diamond would pattern anything as good as it does with mag blends. They are worth every penny IMO. Having said that I was at Simmons the other day and they had no turkey ammo or guns and said they have no idea when their orders would come in. I have 5 mag blends but need more. Anyone seen them at any of the other stores around Birmingham?

So....what blend is recommended? What seems to work?
I saw some of them were 5-6-7 ??
If they'll pattern better than what I'm using, I'll spend the money. I'm really not interested in shooting further. I think my mind is so pre-programmed as to a distance I can kill at, that it would take years to adapt. I'm too old I guess.

I came up hunting the hard way,2 3/4 inch shells and nothing but a full choke shotgun,and back then if you could put 5 or 6 shot in a coke can at 40 yards you had a turkey killer. Now we have much better gun/shell combos that will perform way above that of the older setups,and I gladly pay for the better components,I love my hevi 13 3 1/2 #6s and Browning invector+ and I promise you my setup will kill a bird at 50 yards,but that is not the reason I have it,I have it because it's available. I took 5 birds last year 2 of them I could have killed with a slingshot,1 was about 25 yards,1 about 36 yards and my farthest was 43 which I called out of an 80 acre cut corn field,so I really didn't need the combination I have,but I am gonna have it. So here is a thought" just because you don't have to have it don't mean you shouldn't have it"

The 5,6,7 hevis are what I shoot. 2yrs ago I caught them at Simmons for $18 for a box of 5. I bought 3 boxes and have 5 left. Of the 4 birds I have killed with them, 2 of them didn't even flop. The other 2 were within 40yds and I forgot to put the dot on his neck where it is sighted in. carelessly in the heat of the moment I guess, I put the dot on their heads which put half the pattern over there head. These 2 required multiple shots. But when I've done my part the hevi 5,6,7 would be hard to beat.

Obviously, it sounds some just wants to think their way is more "traditional" or "superior" no matter what they use. Most of us all take a pictures or two and share the story including yourself. Not really about bragging rights but to share the experience with other people that enjoy the same things we do.

Ultimately in the end it doesn't matter if you shoot him from 30 or 60, its still the same hunt and the same outcome. Just because you choose not to do something doesn't mean that its not alright to do it.

Preach it. Right on!

bunch of nancys getting their panties in a wad over a question....

gotta look out for them, they seem to be everywhere these days.

My panties aint in no wad, they are on my wife. This is a discussion board. I been loading some shells, just checking in here and there.

You old codger.

What's the difference between shooting one with the rifle at 100 yds, and shooting one at 20 yds after decoying him in?

Just like deer hunting, penis measuring posts....this one is stupid too.

Best post on this thread

watch out Hal, no questions allowed amongst nancys....

I don't expect all to understand. Turkeys are just different with me. I won't shoot one I don't call up. Many times I have been walking out of the woods and come upon a gobbler strutting in a roadbed or just standing there. I've never shot one like this and never will. I'm not much into decoying either. Back in the day, if you didn't call them up and kill them, you were known as a bushwacker. Nobody wanted to be called that. Things change, and that's fine. I'm not going to question or be critical of someone who does it differently, just not my cup of tea.

I'll take em by any means legal. Playing the game is fun, and I'd rather every hunt go that way. With that said, I EAT turkey and like putting them in the freezer too.

Seems like a thread like this comes up every year, and I normally stay out of the argument but I am going to chime in. Turkey hunting has a great and rich history that i consider part of what makes this sport what it is. Legends like Tom Kelly have managed to put into words what separates a turkey hunter from other hunters. I read The Tenth Legion every year before the season to prepare myself and get fired up for opening day.

With all that being said, you stubborn traditionalists make ZERO sense. The old days of give me an 870 and full choke with some number 4s is gone. Technology has lead us to this great thing called heavier than lead loads. It allows us to much more efficiently and effectively harvest turkeys. I know it is hard to fathom but 9 shot TSS will kill turkeys just as dead as 4s.

As far as shooting range goes, it's none of your business how far I shoot my turkeys. As long as I am following state laws who cares. If you prefer to shoot your birds at 20 yards then good for you. I've shot birds at 7 steps and I've shot them at 57 steps. Guess what, I got the same satisfaction and happiness out of each one.

So, with all that being said, if you old timers are so hard and think htl shooters are outlaws then just keep on thinking that way. Time has probably passed you by anyway

Don't make turkey hunting as complicated as deer hunting.

Good thing I don't shoot those evil Nitros or TSS. I might be tempted to shoot one over 40.

I thought you got some.

I'll bushwhack the hell out of one,If they won't come to the call,I'll crawl,it's a challenge to crawl into shooting distance on one.I prefer to call them in but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do with an ole stubborn or crazy bird

jmj120 the patterns the denser than lead stuff will give you are the reason I and most people shoot them. Back when I was using lead I cannot tell you how many different chokes and shells I tried in 4 different guns attempting to get what most consider a good pattern at 40 yards. Maybe I was just unlucky but I never found a number 4 or 5 shell that threw a good pattern to that distance. I found one lead shell (Win Supreme 6's) that would consistent put around 100 pellets inside 10 inches at 40 yards but lead 6's are really running out of steam at 40 yards.

Now compare that to the Hevi-13 6's I use now. They consistently put at or above 200 pellets inside ten inches at 40 yards. That's twice the pattern density of the lead shell. And they are definitely not on the fading edge of their killing power at that distance either. Worth the extra money to me for that much difference in performance. You betcha. It's not like I'm going on a dove shoot with them. If I limit out in a turkey season that's 5 shells.

Thanks.. I may have to give them a try. Give me a little credit, I did buy one of them fancy Rhino chokes...
I'm going to pattern it next week if the weather holds.
I'll say again, if any of ya'll get the chance read: "The Old Pro Turkey Hunter" by Gene Nunnery. I read it before every season. It explains best what I'm trying to say.

would you shoot one off the roost limb if he didn't fly down and you were close enough.....?

Sounds like he would. The only thing worse than a bushwacker is a roost shooter.

Not going to say I wouldn't. Would depend.

I have had several birds fly from roost tree to other limbs and trees in search of the "hen" on the ground. THAT bird I'm killing every day. I still called him up, be it from the ground or tree tops.

Having this discussion is pointless. It is almost like saying that unless you kill a 140" buck from the ground in carhartt coveralls with a recurve bow then you are a scumbag hunter that never deserved to kill the buck anyway. If it is LEGAL who cares?

Some people get satisfaction from legally killing anything. It doesn't have to be done your way to bring satisfaction. If only hunting a certain way brings you enjoyment, then only hunt that way.

I think it's ok to bust one off a limb as long as you don't go over and step on his neck afterwards. That would be disrespectful.

LOL

Im with Matt on this one! Ive been turkey hunting now about 40 years..Ive got tons of respect for gobblers. I outfiited for Osceolas for a decade, as well as easterns for 15 years...and we killed them anyway you could!
Ill ambush em, stalk em , low crawl hundreds of yards to them...and shoot them at 60 yards if I cant get em closer!

Believe me..nothing better then calling them in and having them strutting and gobbling at 15 yards...but Im there to HUNT a TURKEY..and I will HUNT them using every legal method I can...however I do frown on shooting them with rifles...even where its legal.

I honestly don't care how anyone else wants to kill one. It's supposed to be fun for you, so do what you want as long as its legal. But, I have no desire to shoot one that I haven't called in. I enjoy the challenge of the hunt. I figure if I don't shoot him today I just get another chance at him another day. Kind of like catch and release, haha. It is a challenge though to hunt those gobblers that have been crawled to, missed, and otherwise spooked
etc.

I have read on several different post about calling being such a small part of killing turkeys,then get on this post and see nothing but contradiction,I will tell you I have called in hundreds upon hundreds of gobblers,so calling is the easiest part of killing birds,I will still say good woodsman ship is the key,A man that can stalk up on a mature gobbler,and kill him has done way more than the man who called one in,and don't think for a minute I wont put a stalk on a bird if I get the rite ground.


I have been at this for a long time and enjoy sitting down and working a bird,and don't care to sit with him all day if need be,I love it.So I can see these guys point,but that is not all there is to turkey HUNTING,if you sit down and work that bird in and 50 yards is all he is gonna come,and you got the gun/ammo to get it done,then I say lay him out.Some people don't get to hunt everyday for what ever reason,and I am one of those guys,and I do want to fill my tags just as much as the every day hunter.....

To each his own. Sneaking up on a bird and shooting him, to me, just gives me a dead bird, no memory. I've taken into the 3 digits of gobblers, so just a dead bird means nothing to me. I've called and had them run dead to me from a couple hundred yards away and not shot them, just because there's no memory. Again, that's just me, to each his own.

I know last back in the year 1203 if you had walked up to a bunch of Indians that were fixing to go on a Turkey hunt and offered to trade them a 10 gauge that was 70 yard capable. They would not not have traded because thats not how hunting is supposed to be LOL

That was EXACTLY what I thought when I read the posts by a few on here. But, I try not to wade into too many stupid arguments these days so I just let it go.

Although my dad started taking me hunting when I was very small, he wasn't really one of my first hunting mentors. I already knew a lot before ever getting to go by watching Elmer J. Fudd and Yosemite Sam. Although I was only 5 or 6 years old, I soon figured out that Elmer was incompetent and I didn't wanta be like him.

But Yosemite Sam had a strategy that I always found appealing - any time he got the chance he was blasting something. "OK, Rabbit! If you ain't out of that hole by the count of 3, I'm a blasting you out!"

So any time I am faced with an ethical dilemma while turkey hunting, I revert back to my younger days - I'm a blasting him.



Just make sure you can kill him and not wound him.

Suffice to say you'll never understand. Turkeys were probably actually easier to kill back then because you didn't have a bunch of yahoos out there calling every two seconds because they've watched too many hunting shows on tv.
By the time an Indian boy was 8 or 9 years old he could make any sound the wild turkey made.
At any rate good luck to you in whatever method you use to harvest turkeys.

Ha I bet some of them Indians just drug their tee pee's out to the edge of a field and shot turkeys out of them over some homemade decoys. The other Indians probably looked down on them.

Real turkey Hunters should not even have to shoot them. If you can't get them close enough to knock them out with the butt of the gun then you didn't call him up. Of course, it should only be a wood stock gun as synthetic would be an unfair advantage. Kind of like the difference between aluminum and wood in baseball.

Brentm, you reckon any of those unethical, teepee hunting Indians ever used a squealing hen call to kill one? That would REALLY be gangsta.

I bet the first one of them Indians that saved a pair of turkey wings and started beating them together to sound like a fight instead of just yelping on a wingbone had to have a sit-down with the chief the next day.
One of them lobbed an arrow into a drove of gobblers and killed one at 46 steps and they made him stay at the camp with the women and clean fish for the rest of the season.

Damn, a Brave getting left at the camp with all them squaws? I bet they didn't let him go the next time they went buffalo hunting and drove them over the cliffs, either.

I heard the folks at Old Gobbler looked that indian up in a history book and posthumously banned him from their site.

Had to have been a HTW(heavier than wood) arra to kill one that far

this...I've killed plenty of birds with Federal 5's but I've also not killed a few as well at that 40-45 step mark...if you have well patterned gun with best shells you should not have to shoot more than 5-7 a season anyway. I'll gladly pay an extra $7 per shell per year...that totals $35-$40 more YEAR...if you can't afford that you can't afford to hunt...I will admit the patterning part gets pricey, but you should only have to go through that once and there is not much worse than a missed or injured turkey...

have to disagree with that...If a bird is at 200 and I call him in to with in 50 but he will not come further b/c of a ridge, bench, etc.. I've called him up. JMO

the difference is obvious. Turkey population would be decimated if you could kill with a rifle. I could easily kill 5 the first 2 days of the season most years....

the 75 yd. debate is different. Whether or not you call one up is relative to the situation but if one comes 400 yds to hang up at 75 the hunter's done a pretty good job...I personally would never shoot one at that distance but that's just me. Now if someone is ambushing on fields and shooting at any distance that's not turkey hunting.

I still ain't heard an answer to whats the difference in shooting a bird at 30 yards with a rifle or with a shotgun....besides the legality thingy here in Bama.....

We can agree to disagree, but if that happens to me, I ain't called him in. I've yelped a few times and had them fly across the river and land in a tree 50 yards from me and sit there until 10 Am, the fly the other way. My opinion: I didn't call him in.
To me there's a difference is scratching out a few yelps on a call and having a gobbler come a few yards in your direction. When you call them in, you know it.
Question.......Say there's a gobbler 200 yards across a cow pasture moving away from you. You yelp a few times, he turns around and runs 100 yards toward you then stops. After a few minutes he goes the other way.. Did you call him in? I say no.

I agree 100%, but there is no shame in killing one at 50 after calling them up. Also relative to where you hunt...I bet I've called in over 100 birds to with in 30 yds that I could never get a shot at because of a shelf, gully or large rock...that's a situation a lot of hunters in other areas of Alabama don't get to/ have to experience very often. Every where I've hunted south of Jackson Co. a turkey at 30 yds in front of your barrel is dead 9 out of 10 times.

Also, I've killed turkeys at 10 steps after 10 minutes of calling and I've killed turkeys at 50 steps after 4 hours...I can assure you the satisfaction of the killing one after 4 hours outdoes the satisfaction of the one killed after 10 minutes.

Chief meshootemlong says " give man turkey and he eat for day. Give man tss and he become Eddie Salter."

I don't think anybody cares to answer such a stupid question which is why you haven't gotten an answer. There's just something about taking a turkey hunting ethics lesson from a guy that whacked a bunch of big deer inside a high fence and brags about them accordingly that just doesn't sit well with me, but I'm kinda strange like that.

there is none "legally"...If the law read that you can hunt with a rifle, but you can not exceed a shot of over 75 yds.

I agree - I don't even keep the beards and spurs from those "flash" hunts/kills where I make a couple clucks or yelps and the turkey either flies down in my lap or comes running to the end of my gun barrel. Can't see how anybody could take any pride in those types of kills. Got to admit that the turkey nuggets taste the same though!

I found a few boxes of "Heavy Shot" in my ammo cabinet. I must have bought it a few years ago. Is this the TSS everyone is raving about?
I assume TSS is tungsten?

you might notice ass hat that I haven't made any judgements on rifles and such, just asked questions.

like I need advise from a newbie turkey hunter that thinks he has it figgered out after a couple of years. Laughable.

If I yelped a few times and a turkey flew up into a tree I'd throw away that call....

I'm not talkin about calling turkeys into trees, I'm talkin about calling a turkey from several hundred yds out and getting him to walk/ run/ strut to with in 50...My point is in some situations that is just as sporting as calling one in to 10 yds...terrain is huge when calling in birds.

I also would never shoot one at 100 yds, so while I would say you did call that field turkey in, you didn't call him in close enough...

and by your standards what is the correct distance? 30 yds? so you wouldn't shoot one at 33? what if you set up on a bird at 100 yds, started calling and there happened to be another bird at 50 that walked to with in 30...covering 20 yds, but I called the bird in from 100 yds to 45 yds. covering 55 yds...who "earned" their turkey the most????

Quote: If I yelped a few times and a turkey flew up into a tree I'd throw away that call....

Go back and read it. I've had them fly across the river when I yelped and lite in a tree. That's not calling up a turkey.
You can split hairs all you want. I've been doing this 40 years, when I call one up, I know it.
To each his own. I'm happy with my peni$ size so I don't have to get my self worth from a turkey hunt.

If I yelped a few times and he flew up in a tree looking for me he wouldn't be there very long.

I aint been doing this for 40 years, but I know when a turkey is looking for me. Nothing about self worth, more about killing the turkey im hunting.

Man yall make this seem complicated. Hunt turkey= Me shooting turkey if I can.

Besides the legality thing not a difference. Dead bird @ 30 yards

Was you going somewhere with this, this is fun.

I was kidding about calling turkeys in to trees so lighten up...but as for penis size I'm not the one telling someone what a "real" turkey hunter's range should be....

By they way, I've only been turkey hunting for 22 years but when I call one up, I know it, too. And I'll go ahead and raise you one and say that killing one turkey in the mnts. of Jackson Co. is as hard as killing two turkeys in most other areas of Alabama.

LMAO! Jughead (ass hat) you've done went and pissed Troy off!

Asshead, you must of grown a pussy, cause you argue just like a girl. Can't answer the question so you just change the subject and make accusations??? Pissant girl stuff.

Post pics of the "bunch of big deer (killed) inside a high fence and bragged on", I'll be waiting for you to PROVE that point. And don't say "everybody knows" because it won't wash....

just for the record I was just asking questions to get folks opinions, got some good ones till you got yer panties in a froth and made a fool of yourself. Girly boy.

Only answer I can come up with at thirty yards would be that it would be alot tougher to kill a turkey without tearing him all to pieces with a rifle than it would be a shotgun.
I'm still curious as to where this is going.

I would have to give 2 chits to dive into proving anything that would hold up in a court of law. Your reaction tells me all I need to know pal.

I got it totally dialed in pal. It's the most fun one can have with his clothes on in my humble opinion whether you kill one or not (most of the time not for me). I ain't got a thing to prove to anybody....just enjoying God's creation with no "legend in my own mind" image to try to uphold. You should try it friend....it's quite a blast.

Just shoot him in the head - no meat wasted and adds a little challenge, especially if you only use open sights. But really at 30 yards whether it is a rifle, shotgun, or bow you still end up with a dead turkey so it doesn't seem like it really makes that much of a difference.

You and I think alike,I'm not gonna sit there and question whether I called the bird up if he is standing within shooting range,he's fixin to get his head peppered and ride home with me,I get just as much satisfaction from a ten minute hunt as I do from hunting one for half the day,dead turkey is the end result,if I wanted to just go call one up and fool with him for a while I'd leave my gun at the house and take a camera

Troy, I'll give it a shot - its way harder to kill one with a rifle at 30 yards than with a shotgun.

I base that on experience; not mine, but one of the guys my dad hunted with back in the bad old days of the 60s when rifles were legal in AL. Everybody in his group carried a shotgun and a rifle, and if the turkey didn't get close enough for the shotgun, they used the rifle. Unethical? The thought never entered anyone's mind. Their goal was to kill turkeys, and they all did a pretty good job of it. The guy was walking to his listening spot before daylight one morning when a gobbler started putting at him. He spotted him in the tree against the open sky and shot him out with his shotgun. All he got was congrats from everyone. Some of you would know his name if I wrote it, so I won't.

Anyway, this same guy got the bright idea that he would just hunt with the rifle alone, and forget lugging 2 guns around. After having several come in behind him, see him, and then have him miss as they were running off, he quietly went back to lugging 2 guns around. You got a lot better chance at a moving turkey at 30 yards with a shotgun.

Since I didn't have a rifle, and didn't even have a decent shotgun, I was really glad when they outlawed the rifles; thought it gave me a better chance.

Season #49 coming up for me if I live that long, and if a longbeard were to fly the Cahaba River and light in a tree 50 yds away, I'm a blasting him out with tss. Course, if he flies the Cahaba that would mean I called him over 2 miles.

We need the season to hurry up and get here. Everybody's getting restless. This sounds like an OG thread.

Good hunting to all!

The last bird I called in he ran in like a banshee after my first two yelps. I was late getting to the woods that morning, sat down, yelped, he ran in from 200 yards stopped at 8 steps went into a full strut. When he came out of that strut I dang near took his head off. Total Hunt time, maybe 5 minutes.

My most memorable (and difficult) hunts are the ones that I put the slip on. Figure out which way they're going and set up an ambush. These hunts usually last much longer, are more physically demanding and the birds are much more alert.

I take what I can get with whatever method works. Dead birds either way.

good post

Them gobblers are starting to get pissed at each other and should start bustin up.I think we're all keyed up and ready to put some eyes out ourselves.Lol

Ammo price question got 10 pages... That has to be some sort of record.

What was we talking about?

How some Indians baited up, decoyed and killed Turkeys with souped up bow and arrows from their teepee blinds and were cast out of the tribe and not allowed to share in any casino profits.

Wow, great point. I have yelped one time and had gobblers fly down and land nearly on top of me. Can't imagine how that was more of an accomplishment than getting one to cross a 400 yard field and shooting him at 50 yards.

One of the birds I am most proud of I killed in what we call the middle field on our land. The first time that bird gobbled at me working a box call he was so far away I had to convince myself he was gobbling at me. It didn't seem possible. I eventually set up in a field corner on that bird and worked him for 3 hours before he walked into the range of the custom Nitros I was using that year. He must have gobbled 120 times but it was hell getting him to leave the little strut zone he was in. I have shot birds that were bigger and many way closer to me than that bird but none were more satisfying.

Shot distence is far from the only factor that makes a turkey hunt meaningful and often it plays no part whatsoever.

Hevishot and TSS are not the same thing. Both are denser than lead but it's a matter of how much denser. Hevi Shot is 12g/cc and TSS is 18g/cc. TSS can only be purchased as loose shot for reloading purposes.

I killed my first bird on my 15th birthday, after hunting him for four days in a row. I finally killed him at 11:30 am on the fifth day after deciding to put my woodsmanship and stealth to good use. You folks can argue that isn't a meaningful hunt , but I can promise you it is my most memorable. AND, since that was my intro to turkey killing I have put many a great stalk on one, and that is much more difficult than calling one in.

Funny thing how people enjoy different things.

The bird I enjoyed most was one I eventually just belly crawled up to a tree and stood up and pointed the gun around it and waited. A few minutes and that joker was dead.

I worked him for about 6 hours that day, and he wouldn't leave where he wanted to go. Set up on him around 5 times. Gobbled like crazy. Was one of them Bankhead turkeys that took me 2 hours to walk out after it was over.

>>>Funny thing how people enjoy different things.<<<

And its also funny how the ones we remember the most are the ones that get away.

One I will never forget was when I was 15 yrs old. It was late in the season, and my dad had his limit and I hadn't killed a one. I'd had a problem with my gun, a very poorly made Spanish SXS that got to where one barrel wouldn't shoot. The gunsmith kept it all season, and I'd been using a borrowed gun, and finally got my gun back one night. My dad said I could hunt before school by myself the next morning, and its the only time I can remember that he let me borrow his rifle to take with me too. I guess he really wanted me to get one. He knew where a turkey was gobbling, so I got in the 51 Chev pickup and took off early. No drivers license, of course, but didn't have far to go.

The turkey gobbled where I expected, and I took off down the road with a gun in each hand. He never gobbled again, but I was pretty sure of where he was and set up just right, along an old road. I took out my homemade box, scratched out a yelp, and immediately heard wings beating the air. The gobbler flew straight to me and lit in the road about 20 yds away. I had killed a couple of jakes before, but this was gonna be my first longbeard, and it was gonna be an easy shot.

As I was shouldering the SXS, I flipped off the safety, and when I did both barrels went off. The gun jumped out of my hand and smacked me in the mouth, busting my lip pretty bad. The turkey flew off. I had to play in a baseball game that afternoon and everyone on both teams kept asking me what happened to my lip.

I been trying to get even with them for that incident ever since.

How did I miss this aldeer gold?

TTT

Preacher how do you keep ending up with these malfunctioning side by sides from across the water?

I think that gun did great damage to my psyche. I spent years trying to get it fixed and never could. I think buying the Yildiz was some kind of psychological attempt to make up for the failures of the Spanish gun.

LOL, I see the trend now.

Keep trying Preach.

Preacher, as a newbie, I really enjoy your stories but i've read this whole thread and have come to the conclusion your not a REAL turkey hunter. Your just a turkey killer. How do you deal with the shame?

Its just the way I was raised. I have no problem with being a turkey killer. Let some other poor schmuck be the "sportsman" who lets the turkey live so he can play the game another day. I'm a blasting him, taking him home, and frying him for supper. I can live with that just fine.

I carried that gun to 3 or 4 different gunsmiths, and none of them could ever fix it. I finally carried it to a friend who was a machinist, not a gunsmith, and he was gonna make some parts for it. I don't know what he did to it, but he completely ruined it somehow. He never would tell me what happened to it and to this day I don't even know where it is. The pieces are probably in his shed somewhere. If I outlive him, I'm gonna scrounge thru all his stuff and find it.

I still have dreams about that gun. I'm still thinking that someday I'm gonna get my gun fixed and kill a turkey with it. It was so pretty; just wouldn't shoot.

There might be some funny team names this year because of this thread

I'm with you a 100% Preacher.