Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Fall Turkey, and rifles- your choice?

Once again drew my fall turkey permit here in Colorado. The past two years, have scored using my .22 Hornet and 45 gr. softpoints.
What is everyone else using, for calibers and bullets?

I use a Remington 5mm Magnum the most, then my Ruger 22 Hornet, using 45gr Barnes XLC (I have a lot of them), and, once in a while, a Sako in 222RemMag with reduced loads.

I'm thinking of using my Ruger Security Six in 357mag this fall.

My notion, as yet unfulfilled, is to use 46gr Speer HPs designed for the .218 in my Hornet at about 2000-2200. Have the bullets, just need the load. Only get a short season in this county, so I may have to branch out a bit if I want to give it a serious go.

Here in TN we have not got a rifle season. Never used one on a turkey so I am not sure how I feel about using one,

Rifles were allowed in Mississippi years back....took them years before they figured out people were shooting turkeys off the roads and outlawed their use.

Turkeys shot at long distance with a rifle is not considered turkey hunting by most all turkey hunters.

221 fireball with 50 grain. But no more, rifles now illegal for next fall here due to lower populations. Shotgun only in spring and now fall. Thing is, I doubt rifle hunters take that many to make much difference one way or the other.

No rifles for turkey here in Illinois, deer either. But I can go coyote hunting with anything I want! Lol!

I like my .222 or .22-250.. As the great hunter Davis said, because I hunt for sport and not meat, I use a rifle... For years I used only a rifle, then tried a shotgun.. Wow that is pure murder.. About as difficult as hitting aBud can on a fence post.... TRY calling in a bird and shooting it with a rifle!!!

The Pa. decision is crap.. Bowhunters and the Wild Turkey Fed. is behind that move.. Pa. caters to what ever these two want.. Glad my days there are over...

Yes sir, you are right!. I got a nice gobbler a couple of years ago with my 17 hornet.

took first bird with 22 hornet at about 140 yards. everybody gave me a bunch of poop, so the next year same rifle but snuck up to about 10 yards. that stoped the poop flow really quick. pre war mod. 70 by the way. D O M I T !

Rifles are legal in Virginia and I hunted turkeys exclusively with a Ruger mod 77 Ultralight in .223 Rem for several years but I found that for the terrain I hunt a shotgun is a much better turkey slayer so I have not hunted turkeys with a rifle for a couple decades now. If I were to take up a rifle for turkeys again it would likely be chambered in 22 Hornet.....Good hunting...Hb

The old-timey rounds like .32/20, .25/20, and even the original .22 Hornet are classic turkey cartridges, used at woods ranges, not for sniping at long range. Another good choice is a .36-.45 caliber roundball, fired from a classy ML, or an equivalent fired from a centerfire. Back in the day, such loads were commonly put together by one-gun hunters, and there were even some factory small-game loads for classic deer cartridges. Now, everyone has a special rifle for every conceivable use.

Old gunwriter Jim Carmichael wrote of calling turkeys in close and shooting them in the head or neck with “a cleverly concocted rifle cartridge”, certainly at least as sporting as greasing them with a double handful of birdshot at the same ranges. No one is openly advocating treating turkeys like big, feathered woodchucks, but slobs are going to do what they do regardless of the law. Doesn’t make sense to penalize everyone for what a few do.

Yep and there are a lot of unhappy PA turkey hunters who had no input.

PA is famous for stupid game laws and not giving a rat's a-hole for hunter input. That's how we got antler restrictions.

But for decades............... it was legal for me to use a .220 Swift, 7-STW or .460 Weatherby for fall birds. But NOT #2 lead shot in a shotgun.

I, personally, am a shotgun guy for turkeys through and through. But the one time I carried a rifle in the fall, I took a 5mm Remington Magnum out for about an hour. It was just a nostalgic whim.

I wish we could hunt them with rifles here. If given the chance, I'd carry a Marlin .25/20 or Marlin 62 .30 Carbine. Actually, I'd love to shoot one at shotgun range with my Great Grandad's old Hopkins & Allen .32 RF falling block. The bore is rough but I think I could manage a body shot at 30 yards.

I think a cool turkey rifle would be a classic lever action chambered in .44 Magnum, maybe a Henry Big Boy 👍......Hb

Well, depends on where you shoot them……head is certainly more difficult, but I had no issues calling them into certain shotgun range and putting a 22 rimfire in their head…..mostly with open sights…..but I was far younger, too.

Rifles used to be legal in AL, with open sights only. Texas didn’t seem to care. Plenty of folks used more gun and shot the top of the back, and saved the breast.

Only Turkey stories I recall reading by Davis were about him shooting turkeys out of trees with rifles.

He has abook called The American Wild Turkey.. Very hard to find and very costly and full of information on turkeys.. Much of what the old timers did has been cast in a negative light by the Wild Turkey Fed.. The old timers felt only a dirt bag would kill a gobbler during mating season.. But they were hunters.. Hunting turkey like other game.. Not using its weakest time to kill them and think they have done something great...

I have read Henry Davis personal hunting diary...very little in there about turkeys he killed the ones I recall he shot out of trees. The stories were mostly about deer he shot with blue whistlers....not sure but I figure it was a local name for buck shot.

After reading his personal hunting diary I looked at Henry Davis as more of a rich kid, lawyer, writer that wrote a book on turkey hunting.

The better turkey book "The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting" by Edward Avery McIlhenny, Charles L. Jordan. It was written 30 or 40 years prior to the Davis book not much doubt Davis leaned heavily on the Mcllhenny/Charles Jordan book for his information..

Henry Davis authored another Samworth book better than his turkey book it's titled "Hunting with a .22" great book and talks about and pictures some of his custom .22s.

A story that comes to mind is a Sunday afternoon ride that yielded 60+ hawks he shot...I recall it was 67 or 69 hawks shot out of his vehicle.

Henry Davis killed more hawks than DTT.

I think you might have another author.. He did hunt deer but not seriously from what he said in the turkey book..

On second thought, he did a lot of varmint shooting with the .22 hornet.. No doubt he was a wealthy man.. His discussion of shotguns for turkey indicated that...

Like I said I read Henry Davis's personal hunting diary....not very many Turkey kills in his diary.

To qualify the witness...

l also called and killed a Turkey with Henry Davis's personal hunting call...the man that owned the call and the diary paid $55,000.00 dollars for them both. He handed me the call and said "take it out and kill a turkey with it".
He also sent me a copy of Henry Davis's hunting diary.

I've studied Davis for 30+ years and read his book many times....not much you're going to tell me about Davis.

Several years ago before Art Carter of Sporting Classics magazine died I had a talk with him about guys that write hunting articles....what I took away from our talk was you dont have to be able to walk the walk to write about the walk....to quote him when I mentioned one well known turkey author...."he's a good writer"

Kinda like finding out there is no Santa Claus.

Couple of fall hunts in Wyoming I used a Win 43 in the 22 hornet. Thought it was a perfect set-up.

.36cal flintlock longrifle is pretty sporty.Could probably use my .54 with a light load.

I can see no one is telling you much. Good day..

Thats right....lmao!....Hb

I do believe I've had occasion to talk to this gentleman. He is a TREASURE to students of the sport !!!!

Not sure what you mean ?

I believe I have spoken to the gentleman who owns/owned the Henry Davis call.

The man that owned it when I hunted with it was Bill Jones.

My bad, then. I was thinking it was another fellow from Charlotte. Mr. Bill Jones must be an outstanding individual as well. Ain't just everybody would let you hunt with a call that valuable.

The fellow fron Charlotte bought the call from Jones

I have killed more Turkeys with a Remington 722 in .244 Remington than any other rifle. It’s not that I set out to use it but it just seemed to be in my hands when I saw Turkeys

10-4

Awesome deal that you got to hunt with it !!!!

Turkey hunting is about calling them in, getting them close. Shotgun is the way to go.

HB, says who..??? I don't like someone telling me how to hunt or what to use.. Just because you like something doesn't mean I have to.. These pricks from the Wild Turkey
Fed// seem to think they are God and their way is the only way.. I can tell you something, call a gobbler in to say 50 yards and TRY and get it with a rifle.. Plus if it is legal , still hunting is far more difficult than calling.. I get sick and tired of hearing how difficult it is to kill a turkey with a shotgun.. It is far easier than with a rifle...

That's true

Your point is very valid and well-taken. However............

To a man, ALL the guys (except one) I know who use(d) rifles to hunt turkeys............ set up, overlooking a field or a big wooded hillside and just jacked them as they fed, ala shooting a groundhog. Only thing involved there is the same skill it takes to shoot the groundhog and it seems a bit disrespectful to the turkey. But if that's what gives those guys a sense of accomplishment, then whatever. The OTHER guy used a .22LR to roost shoot his birds.

I just ain't a fan.

Bet them fuggers taste the same whether shot with a shotgun or rifle!!

yoder, I have killed lots of turkey with a shotgun, but I prefer a rifle.. I have no problem with either.. Here we can use either spring or fall.. I do have a problem with the WTF telling me a shotgun is sporting and a rifle isn't.. When I was young rifles were the way to take turkey.. The bastards a the WTF have brainwashed everyone with their bullshit.. It seems like people look at their way as the only way.. This is not directed at you.. Not at all.. I just despise the WTF!!!

Yeah I know a few guys that use rifles to shoot long range turkeys in fields like ground hogs but that has never been my style, I enjoy calling in Spring Gobblers to close range in thick woods and it is very difficult indeed to kill a gobbler in this manner with a rifle, a shotgun is much easier in thick terrain. In fact hunting Spring gobblers with a rifle is so tough I quit hunting with one, now I only hunt Spring gobblers with a shotgun (good to 60yds 👍) For my very occasional Fall turkey hunts I do still prefer a rifle.....Good hunting (with whichever weapon you choose) If you really want a challenge try hunting turkeys with archery equipment 😂😂.....Hb

Unless you bite down on a piece of fAiry dust sized shot.

My late Uncle Doyle Whisenant of Rosedale Mississippi killed a lot of turkeys with handguns with iron sights...his favorite gun was a first year production flat top Ruger .44 mag. converted to .22 Hornet...told me he had the barrel and cylinder made by a Texas gunsmith in 1959 for $35. The job looked factory to me I suspect the gunsmith bought another .44 cylinder and barrel then sleeved them to .22 Hornet.
He also killed turkeys with a S&W 6" 48 and also with a S&W 6" .22 jet. I never saw him shoot a handgun but one of his hunting companions told me he could shoot quail on the rise with his .22 Woodsman. I have a black and white picture of a turkey he killed with a Marlin lever action with what appears to be a Weaver 6x scope on top on the back of the picture it says .219 Zipper at one time it was a factory Marlin. He wasn't into hand loading and told me he sold the Zipper and the Jet because he couldn't find ammo for them.

Turkey hunting is more about how you do it than what you do it with.....

The guy killing a turkey walking around the woods with a just a bow is not the same as a bOzo sitting in a blind with a bow and a decOy spread.

If you can't see that then you been brain washed by the NWTF and the Industrialized turkey industry.

With turkey populations waning in a lot of states we need to address the use of game cameras/bait/feeders and equipment such as decoys and blinds rather than guns and limits.

LFC, well said..

THAT ain't no schidt, right there !!!

Just 2 days ago, I had a lower molar pulled because I totally destroyed it when I bit into one pellet of Federal Heavyweight #7 shot.

To answer your question, I have a Ruger Boat Paddle in 22-250 I use when toting a rifle while turkey hunting; can't remember what grain bullet I'm shooting.

No fairy dust here. #4 or #5 lead, a tight choke and aim at the eye.

I shot mine last fall with an 1873 Winchester chambered in 44-40. Most of the time the 22 hornet gets the nod.

It might help if more people would pattern their guns and learn what the limits of the gun and load are too, but that’s hard to legislate. The pattern board tells all, including maybe that Old Betsy doesn’t quite shoot where she looks. A lot of “misses” probably aren’t really. That’s another point for the use of rifles.

That is true with duck hunting as well. Around here, you shoot at a duck and it makes it past the trees and you think you missed. Hunting Arkansas in the open rice fields I have seen first hand ducks that were shot at and they would just fly like nothing happened for maybe a couple of hundred yards and just fall stone dead.
If the bird (duck or turkey) does not fall stone dead at the shot, we think we have missed but maybe we have not.

I've been duck hunting with people that shoot at ducks out of range...some ask "why didn't you shoot ?"....my reply is usually along the lines of they were out of range

Most times when you shoot at game with a shotgun there's a good chance it's not a clean miss....both parties leave with something.

A rifle carries no quarantee of a clean kill either.

Truth.

I love it when a guy says "I called in a big gobbler but I missed him". Face it.........a standing turkey is pretty hard to "miss".

Had a guy tell me and a buddy that very thing one day. The next day........on the same small ridgetop where the guy missed......I called a slob of a gobbler in for my buddy and he downed it. The bird's breast was riddled with #6 shot. My buddy uses #4's.

Ethical turkey hunting is not solely dependent on one's choice of firearm.

Well, since any (shotgun) non-CNS hits generally mean a turkey walks away, regardless…..seems more folks would embrace getting as few gaps in a pattern as possible, with shot of enough mass to cut the switches….whether it costs $1 a shell or $5 a shell.

No matter how tight or dense your pattern is you still have flyers....

Your whole pattern is just ‘flyers’, if you miss the CNS.

I have no problem with any legal method used and will never begrudge anyone from using their preferred legal method. However when the discussion comes down to which would be easier I can’t count the times I could have taken a turkey with a rifle but it was not possible with my shotgun. I’ve been hunting turkeys since late 70’s here in Missouri. Anyway my thoughts on the matter.

I have an idea, just buy a Savage 12/222 combo....best of both worlds

I have a 12 gauge 223 comb. both shoot great, but not together. The barrel isnt regulated to the barrel impact, but it was centered. Just aim 12 inch up!

I'm selling mine

223 is a killer aim where the wing bone meets the back bone tried that on a fall bird with a 308 got 2 drum sticks

Any of the so-called " varmint" rifles in .17, .204, or .224 calibers. Shoot them in the head, no meat loss and they have a head the size of a tennis ball for God's sake. Its not rocket surgery.

218Bee....

No one here wants hunt Turkeys, we are covered up with them, Rio7

Hell, I’ll come home to Texas to kill some, anytime. LOL

What a problem to have!

+1

These Rio Grande Turkey's are like chewing on a mouth full of rubber bands, they sure as hell ain't a Butter Ball Turkey. Rio7

You got that right. Never tasted a Butterball worth a schitt.

.17 Rem, for me.

Going to try my 32 cal flintlock this year in PA since the game commission made my favorite turkey rifle obsolete, kimber oregon in 223 with reduced loads.

My first year hunting was 1947 in the NC region of Pa.
Back in that era if you hunted for a week which we did, you wouldnt even see a turkey track or any signs of them.
Today there are turkey in every county of the state, and in some counties they are plentifull.
I can ride the back dirt roads and see them every day if i put enough time in.
At 86 i can no longer walk around much, especially on uneven terrain.
But with a rifle i can occaissionaly pop one on my own 17 acres in Cameron Co.
Ok for the ( AHEM ) elk hunters to pop one from the road on my land, but no turkey for me?
Wayne Hunt the Cameron Co warden, told me while investigating one of the 3 elk kills on my property, all shot from the road or my driveway, that the elk ( HUNT ) wouldnt be possible without landowner cooperation.
But an old property owner isnt permitted to shoot a turkey on his own land with a rifle?

Sure you are. Keep your lips sealed and hope nobody sees you.

I like rifle hunting them. Sadly due to low numbers we lost our rifle season this year, I bet we never get it back even if they rebound.

I always tried to head shoot them and in that case even 22 LR works fine in an accurate rifle. My best trick was when I Indianed up on a big gobbler and shot him in the neck with my S&W 32 Mag, fun hunt that took me years to pull off. I had planned on someday building a Martini in 32 Mag with a peep for the ultimate turkey rifle but I probably won’t now since we have few turkeys and no rifle season.

Turkey hunting in the fall with rifles is another opportunity to use a rifle and if you like rifles (which I do) it’s my preferred method. I also like hunting them in the spring with shotguns . That said I’ve hunted them in PA with a rifle since I was 12 in 1975 and have used .218, 221, 222, 223, 224 Weatherby, .225, 6x45, 240 Weatherby, .25-20, .256 Win. Mag., 25-35, 250 Savage, 260 Remington, .270 Win., 7.62X39, .32-20 and 32H&R. I’m pretty pissed that they took that season away but hey I can still carry these rifles for squirrels😉

PennDog

I kill them with my bow. We have so many on that place I hunt, it’s not hard to get one.

Good shooting Kid! And nice S&W Model 16 in 32 Mag.
Those bring big money nowadays from S&W collectors.
I’ve killed quit a few with a handgun and several with a Rifle.
Never like hunting them with shotguns, like most do during Spring Season. Here in TX, you can shoot them with anything.
I don’t shoot them anymore, unless a friend asks for one to deep fry Cajun Style, as I don’t like to eat them anymore.
They eat a lot of grasshoppers here, and taste nasty, IMO.
The only turkey I eat anymore, are the Butterball store bought ones at Thanksgiving. Or Swanson Hungry Man TV Dinners. 😬

I let one of my nephews shoot his first one at the Ranch with my T/C Contender with a Custom Shop barrel in .204 Ruger.
He was 8 or 9, and I drove up on a flock in the Ranger and he rested the rifle across the dash. About 80 yards so I figured it would be an easy shot for him. Told him to shoot it in the head of course. He did, and when I picked it up, the neck bone was the only thing sticking out of the body. The nephew asked me where the head went. I laughed and told him it “just disappeared”. He thought that was the coolest thing ever. 🤠

Agreed. I’ll take the store bought Butterball any day over a wild turkey.

If I had to eat a Butterball I would give up eating turkey. Haven't taken a bit of one of those nasty bastards in 15 years.

Chunk that wild turkey breast up into bite sized pieces. Soak in buttermilk and fry in flour or fish fry.

No better way to eat turkey!!

Thats how we do it too. Damn fine eating

Shotgun only on turkey here, unfortunately. If they did allow rifle, I'd use my Henry BBS carbine with 32 S&W Long loads.

That's been my go-to squirrel popper for the past couple seasons... DRT short range performance without obliterating the game. Subsonic, so it doesn't blow your eardrums out, either.

Have shot turkey with everything from a 50 cal muzzle loader to a 30-06 down to a 22lr a 223 is perfect harmony for drop on the spot little meat damage aim for the wing bone

No rifles here, unfortunately.

We had a fall season here in the late 80's. IIRC they allowed hens or gobblers during that two weeks before Thanksgiving. But it was shotgun or archery only.

That may have been the only fall season we've had, and they're thicker than pigeons here now. Even a .17 HMR would work I'd think. Never quite understood the rationale behind not allowing a limited rifle season in the fall on private land.

It is called the Wild Turkey Federation.. [bleep]..

Landis’ book “Hunting with the Twenty Two” has a chapter on turkey hunting with rifles by Davis. A really interesting read. He was a fan of the Hornet if I remember right. A lot of knowledge was lost when the old timers were gone.

Excellent!!

Fall turkeys get shot with whatever I happen to be deer hunting with when I hear a turkey and decide to change plans. So far .30-06 and .243.

lfc: "I" am a Turkey Hunter and "I" consider it "Hunting" when I harvest a Turkey with a RifleI
It's legal, ethical and efficient - and it saves meat. Plus I feel the Wild Turkeys are kill't quicker when properly shot/hit with a Rifles bullet than with shot.
In fact I much prefer to shoot them with a Rifle as to filling up the edible meat parts with shot and bloodshot channels!
I have neck shot Wild Turkeys with Rifles in 22 L.R., 22 Magnum, 17 HMR and 17 Fireball to date.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

nothing pisses off a WTF than using a rifle or a bow . to make them pull there hair out use a crossbow on a Oseola in FL

Killed a big gobbler this morning one shot 6mm!!

Killed a big gobbler this morning one shot 6mm!!

good deal , WyoCoyotehunter

Got my Dad his first turkey this morning! He used the .260 rem that I shot my first deer with. Also the first time one of my hand loads has drawn blood. great morning!

You do you, but I am NOT shooting a turkey with a rifle. PERIOD. The whole reason for me to turkey hunt is to be able to match him on his own terms and get him to within 40 yds. If he doesn't want to play the game he gets to live another day.

If you were a real hunter, you would match wits and shoot your turkey with a rifle.. Then you have done something. At 40 yards and with a shotgun it is pure murder.