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.