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

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