Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting Need Help Organizing a Turkey Shoot

Gentlemen,

My church is toying with the idea of having a Turkey Shoot. As one of the more consistent hunters in the congregation, I was asked to conduct the feasibility study. I've never shot in a civilian target competition.

The event would be held at an indoor 50 foot range that has 20+ lanes for .22 lr shooting. I fully expect to have less than 20 shooters. I am looking for any and all input with regard to planning considerations. Here are a few issues:

1. Perhaps the biggest consideration is that most guys will NOT have a .22lr of their own. I expect there will be about 15 guys, 5 of whom will have rifles (this is a complete guess). If that is the case, what would be the most "fair"? Do we let people shoot their own guns for fun but have everybody shoot their "official" target with the same gun? Or do we let everybody shoot their official target with their own gun if they happened to bring one?

2. What kind of a format would be fun for both regular shooters and infrequent shooters? The range has plenty of printed targets, but I was just trying to think about what would work best. Keep it simple? Like 5 shots from the bench? Or maybe have some variety--5 shots prone, 5 from the bench, and 5 standing unsupported. What do you think?

3. I can get a couple guys from the range to work the event, so what do I need? A rangemaster, a judge, and a few target runners?

4. What else do I need to plan for?


Thanks!

It'd be an 80 mile drive one way but a church that has a turkey shoot sounds like my kind of church. Ward

Ward, you should come down for the Turkey Shoot! You might win a bird! Your wife will let you come because 1) it's saving $ not having to buy a bird, and 2) she doesn't have to shop for one so you're saving her time too!

Waders
Never shot a turkey shoot with rifles, jsut shotguns. The way it works at most I have been to is each person pays his money and gets a ticket #1-#20. When all the tickets are sold or enough to make some money then the shooting starts. The man with #1 steps up and you give him one shell, he shoots, the #2 steps up you give him one shell, ect. After all the targets are shot and the range is clear, then everyone can go down and look at the targets. There is usually a rope to keep people back from the targets maybe 4 or 5 feet, but close enough to see how they did. Then 2 or 3 guys running the shoot check the targets and decide a winner. Once in awhile you will have a tie, and those guys shoot it off.

That is how we do it down here. Hope this helps
John

Thanks John!

We are having a 600yd 60rd Prone match (three 20rd relays per shooter) the weekend after next, and I'm running it as sort of a 'turkey shoot'. Non-NRA approved, so the $4.50 per shooter that they demand stays here for the charity. Class winners get a nice frozen turkey, probably a decent return on their $20 entry fee; the rest gets donated to a local charity that raises money for food/gifts for low-income families in the area for the holidays. This is my first time around trying to run this like this, so we'll see how it works out.

We have a turkey shoot twice a year at our consevation club. We sell raffle tickets and give away a Rem. 1187 for 1st place, Ruger 10/22 for second, or cash instead of the guns. $100 for 3rd, and $50 for 4th. We sell tip board tickets too. We shoot trap. For $3.50 you shoot 10 birds, 2 from each station. Shooter with most out of 1o wins. We have shoot-off for ties. The winner wins a turkey. We also have a still shoot too. For $2.00 es., we have 12 shooters shoot at a paper target about 40 yards away. The paper has an X on it, (luckey X), and the shooter with their pellet closest to the X, wins. We supply the shells for the still shoot. This keeps folks from using 3 1/2" loads with 9 shot. Would be unfair having some guy with 4000 pellets in a load. We also give bacon away to the winners too. We have a local 4-H group run a food stand. We do it on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Did one this spring too, but wasn't to successful. We sell shells there for the trap shoot too. Hope this helps give you some ideas. Any other questions , just ask.
Hunter01

We have ours outside at the Delano Sportsman Club. Everybody brings their own gun. I shot a revolver and won the first turkey this year. We shot at 25 yards and most people used 22 rimfire rifles. We shot three shots at a paper target and whoever got the highest score won the turkey.
Give away a lot of prizes the first year and they will come back next year.
You can shot animal crackers on a string or golf balls on a tee or pop cans filled with water if outdoors.
Use your imagination. Remington has free targets on their website.
whelennut

The way I ended up doing ours, since it was a fund-raiser event, was I bought five turkeys. Two 'big uns' and three little ones. Match Winner in the two main classes got the big uns, then took those names out of the hat and drew for the other three. I think the guy who finished last got one; had quite a smile on his face. Hopefully he'll be back next year!