Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Fall Turkey

Jim, shooting turkey with a rifle may seem easy but if you try and kill one even at 60 yards, while calling you will have your work cut out for you.. Hitting a turkey with a rifle may not be a problem, but killing one cleanly with minimum meat loss is not that easy.. While calling a love sick gobbler appeals to many, it just isn’t my thing.. I sometimes hunt them in the spring, but I hunt them as I have tremendous hearing loss. I haven’t heard a gobbler for 6 years.. My wife can hear them but not me.. Even when I had good hearing, I found my percent of kills went up markedly when I used a shotgun.. Little branches, movement on the turkeys part no longer matters.. That huge pattern of shot makes up for it.. I feel like the old turkey hunters of past years, I hunt for sport, not meat therefore I use a rifle..

I'm with Jim on this. I am not going to play the part of the "ethics police", if it's legal I could care less what you collect your Thanksgiving dinner with. However, I have a hard time believing that I couldn't kill more birds and much easier with a rifle than with a shotgun.

Try it.

The only ethics in this situation is the ethics pushed by the Wild Turkey Ass. Before these clowns, rifles were the accepted method of turkey hunt in much of the country.. Az. Required turkey be hunted with rifles and were classed as big game.. Now though the propaganda of the Association shotguns are seen as the only acceptable method.. Brainwashing pure and simple!

I can't try it, illegal here. But in both spring and fall I've seen plenty of turkeys beyond shotgun range that I could easily kill with a rifle. Those pesky field birds that hang out in the middle of the field gobbling and strutting but savvy enough to wait for the hen they hear but not see to come out to them. The fall flock in that same field catching grasshoppers. Seems an accurate rifle would bring that hunt to a very quick end. And one more time, I don't care by what method you take your turkey. If its legal then no big deal. I think it'd be fun as heck to take a small bore rifle out turkey hunting. What works well for you?

If one was to limit the shot to head shot only with a rifle then I could see where the challenge could be there. But if shot to the vitals is good then I have a hard time thinking I couldn’t get my dinner in a hurry. For the record, I don’t care what method anyone uses to collect their bird as long it is legal where they do it. I may have to get out to some state that allows rifles some day and give it a whirl.

We have shot them with a Hornet, .222, 223, 22-250, 220 Swift, 243, and .270.. Also a .25-35.. The trick with shooting turkey with a rifle is not ruining the meat.. I suppose just hitting one would be different.. The heart lung area is very small, side ways the back makes a good target.. They can take a good hit and still go.. years ago, I shot one with a 63 gr. Sierra out of a .22-250.. It knocked the gobbler almost down, but he got his feet under him and ran 25 yards or so.. I like either my .223 because it has a smooth light trigger pull or my .22-250.. I live a long way from turkey hunting, so I have to make every chance count if I want to bag a bird... I used to take only my rifles, but about 15 years ago decided to try a shotgun.. Wow, what a surprise.. My success rate went up markedly.. It surprised me how deadly the shotgun is..
I have largely gone back to the rifle, except when I want to try out a new shotgun.. Got one last year with my model 97.. It has to be one of the tightest shooting shotguns ever made.. Will try my model 31 this fall, but will have my rifles also.. When I was a kid and young man, lots of guys shot gobbler s or hens with the .30-06.. Sometimes special loads some times deer loads.. In the 60’s and early 70’s the magazines were full of information on turkey hunting with a rifle.. The Wild Turkey Fed. Put an end to that ... I really resent their attitude that only shotguns are sporting.. They are fun to hunt no matter how you do it.. I really am going to try my model 28 ^” .357 when I get the chance.. Reminds me of an older man I knew as just a kid.. He told me of shooting lots of turkey with a good .38 spl.. But that is another story...

Going in the morning. Been in this county 27 years, and they've finally opened the Fall season. Using a shotgun, but if I'd found out sooner, I'd have sighted in my Hornet with some 46gr Speers at about 2000fps. Might have to get a .36 flintlock if the season continues, or one of those dandy Browning .32/20s.

Good luck!!!

I’ve been back out the last two weekends and all I have to show for it are a few naps I got in while nothing was going on. I did eat and drink well on the trip so not all is lost.

well my son went out this morning for a little woods time and text me with a picture of a nice hen that came within range to him. at least someone i know is doing something right.
i guess i am a better teacher than an actual hunter.

This fall's Wy.gobbler!!

Congrats to the successful turkey hunters!

My Savage turkey gun - .22 Hornet over 3 inch 12 gauge topped with a scope with crosshairs and a circle that tells me if the bird is in range for the shotty or that I need to use the rifle. Yes, I live in Texas where wild turkey are so plentiful that they can be taken with rifle or shotgun.

Also flexible for shooting coyotes, small game, and prairie dogs with Hornet. It also has an 18 inch rifled .45-70 barrel insert that is accurate enough out to 100 yards for shooting anything a .45-70 will kill. A good answer to the question "what if you could have only one long gun?"

Well the fall season will be over in about 45 min in Missouri and my son just text me a photo of a nice Jake he popped about ten min ago, nice way to end the month of oct.[img]https://www.missouriwhitetails.com/...fdb-521cc0d24650.18601/full?d=1509490273[/img]

Ok why isn’t the picture showing up.