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3 for 3 for me and my son after our Texas trip last weekend and youth weekend in South Carolina this weekend

Grilling a breast from yesterdays bird now. Found quite a few pellets while dressing the bird so will chew carefully. Pulled a small piece off the grill as a sample for me and my son and we each had a pellet in the 2-3 bites we each took

That's because you're using Pixie Dust instead of Fairy Dust! Lol!

Congrats on your hunts...

Congrats. We still have 2 weeks to go before our season starts.

I thought the idea was to shoot them in the head😜

Guns? Loads? Ranges?

My .410 patterns are dense but small. I expect very few will end up in the eating part, as I have no plans to take any but head shots. In my larger guns, I’ll load fairy dust for the first shot, then lead for follow- ups.

Nice work!

Congrats.

Don't swallow any....if you do it's so dense it will go right through the lining of your stomach and end up in your big toe.



Pappy "expects".....

i guess an Elite fOe tinner like Pappy doesn't realize shotguns shoot patterns a lot of the time there's not much way to just hit them in the head.

20ga Benelli M2s

One is 24” Compact with a Rhino 575, SureCycle, Briley trigger, Trijicon SRO on a Scalarworks mount. Dedicated turkey gun.
One is 26” with a Sumtoy 562. FF3. This one is only carried when my son and I are both carrying a gun
Boss Tom 2oz 9s

My son must have shot the bird on Saturday low.

We managed to eat our wild turkey fajitas without needing any dental work afterwards. I pulled one pellet out and know I swallowed 2 more

Just BE CAREFUL !!!!!

I'm in the process of getting an implant after completely destroying a molar on a Federal Heavy7 pellet. It CAN happen.

thought that duct shot was supposed to blow right thru them

That is odd. Been reloading and killing gobblers w tss for 9 years. Out of 30-40 birds we have killed, I have only ever found one or two pellets in the bird. Might need to up your velocity, or let them get closer for head shots only.

I've found a few pellets in breasts, mostly on turkeys that were out there at longer distances. I use plain old lead #5 shot, as I'm not going pay $10 a shell just to kill a turkey, when a $2 one does just as good a job.

Congrats on y'all birds.

This one was a longish shot

And at the shot he didn’t drop and flop. We weren’t sure what happened and I was afraid of a miss. We went to go look and found the bird stone dead about 30 yards from where he was standing when my son pulled the trigger

So I’m pretty sure my son being a little off on the shot combined with the distance means the breast absorbed more pellets than normal

2oz! Wow, 724 pellets.

I read that 2oz as well, DANG!

So say the guys that never bit down on one.

Just how fer was he....

Ten 4. That stuff Happens when things get exciting.

I don’t know how far the shot was. It was across a big ditch. The bird was standing on a log I told my son he could shoot to when we were working the birds. Bird had just hopped off and presented a clear shot when my son pulled the trigger. I couldn’t see the bird when he pulled the trigger. If I had to guess I’d say 45 but that’s just a guess

Yes those 2oz boss loads are awesome. Best this gun has done is 368 in the 10” with them. That’s insane out of a 20ga in my experience. Basically half the payload. I don’t count 20” but guessing the other half is there

That's the way I look at it too. Nothing against guys that use TSS but, for me I've killed several birds at 40 yards and over and never used it.

TSS is fine if you are shooting subgage stuff. If you are shooting 12 gauge, 1 3/4 oz longbeards will stone them at 60 yards if you have the correct choke in and pattern your gun.

Yep, that's what I use. I shoot a Hastings .640 choke in my Mossberg 500. So far it works great.

Testing TSS Turkey Loads at Long Range | Outdoor Life.


https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/tss-shot-long-range-turkeys/

why would you knowingly shoot at a turkey at 70 or 90 yards with a shotgun?
If I can't tell the difference between 40 and 70 let alone 90 yards, I need to invest in a range finder or something.

Try shooting them with a bow, no dental work needed.

There's always going to be people pushing the limits of the technology, that's how advancements are made. But just because something can go that far, or go that fast, doesn't mean it should be done in its practical application. But this, like all of this stuff, is my opinion and each user has to determine what's acceptable to them. Like everything in life, there's people that you're glad they do what they do and people that you wish they'd do something else.

Kinda like these guys on TV that are shooting deer and elk at 700.......800.......900 yards with their highly accurized rifles with $3K scopes. Just because you CAN doesn't always mean you SHOULD.

You see the 70.yard pattern shot with the fAiry dust ? (My bb gun will out shoot it).

TSS bouncing off sheet rock at 70 yards.....Say it ain't so.

Don't know as 1) never shot a 70 yard shot with any turkey gun for any reason in my life, 2) Never shot drywall with a shotgun of any type.
To quote you when I was talking about shooting roofing tin, (paraphrasing) " the turkeys I hunt don't wear tin (drywall) on their heads"

Dry wall is softer than tin

5 for 5 as of this afternoon

Learn to call 'em in close and a load of #8's will do the trick. Kills 'em just as dead as TSS!
If you can't get 'em close enough, let 'em walk.

I don’t have near the Turkey experience as you folks, after reading about the pixy dust I bought a couple box’s of 3” # 9 12 gauge. My shot was 20 yards or so, absolutely smashed him. Sure about anything would’ve worked at that range. 😅

After callin a big Tom in and watching him attack the dekes, I dunno why someone would wanna shoot one 60-90 yards, the fun of the hunt wouldn’t be there, that’s for sure.

6 for 6. Might be done for the year - we will see. Have a NC tag left and have property to hunt in Georgia but time is short and I’m backed up at work after putting things off for 6 weeks

What is your preferred shot size?

Thanks,
Chris

Been killing turkeys with 1250fps, 1 1/8oz of #8's for 20 years!
I agree....ain't spending $30 for 5 rounds when a 25 round box of ammo costs ten bucks or less! 😜
Dead is dead!

I had a shoulder replaced. I'm horribly right handed, so shooting left handed was a "no-go"!
A very good friend sent me a Mossberg bolt .410.

3" .410 #9's were/are impossible to locate

Out of desperation, I ordered two, 5 round boxes of 3", #9 TSS! SIXTY BUCKS! 🤯

In the meantime, I'm hunting with some 30+ year old, 16 gauge, Remington "Hi-Velocity" #7.5's I dug out of a trash can! 😉

Those that choose to shoot beyond 35/40 yards, are more interested in killing a bird than in the experience of getting a strutting, gobbling tom into halitosis range and making a single, absolute shot.....or not!

I love the heft of a bird across my shoulder on the walk back to the truck......but a camera with several shots of a strutting bird is pretty awesome too!

I can't remember how many turkeys I've cleaned that had #5's or #4's stuck in the back of their legs!
Some idiot's desperation attempt to kill a bird that was way out of range!
It only takes one pellet to the brain or CNS to anchor a turkey. I shoot #8's for a thicker pattern. Turkey bones ain't steel.

https://www.charlieelk.com/2017/06/16/beyond-the-patterning-board-x-rays-of-shot-turkey-headnecks/

Just because I shoot tss doesn’t mean I’m sniping them way out there. Of the birds this year our pixie dust has accounted for, 5 of the 6 were inside 35. Only one was over 40 and not by much. My last two were multi hour duels with a gobbling and strutting turkey in the timber. I didn’t put my eyes on either until right before the shot, but in both instances had them gobbling and strutting/drumming for about an hour in gun range before they presented a shot. Thats what it’s all about. No decoys, no blinds. Just good woodsmanship and gobblers that we’re willing to play the game that day. Would low brass 8s have worked? I have no idea. The cost of a couple boxes of tss shells per season pales in comparison to the cost of managing my land, leasing land and buying licenses in multiple states.

I use 16 gauge, "Hi-Velocity" lead #8's. Briley X-Full tube in a 1932 Remington "The Sportsman".
All the birds I've picked up after a load of #8's have all been the maximum amount of dead! 😉!

Shot in the back of legs??

That was a flying bird for sure.

If he was hit with #4 anywhere else within 60 yards you wouldn't have been the one tagging him.

10gaugemag


"... Shot in the back of legs??

That was a flying bird for sure.

If he was hit with #4 anywhere else within 60 yards you wouldn't have been the one tagging him. ..."

First off, I shoot #8's, so it wasn't my shot.

Shot in the back of the legs means he was probably in full retreat, shot from the back.

Since:
1) I wasn't the one doing the shooting
2) the bird was alive
3) the shot was just under the skin
4) the target area on a turkey is very small
....it is likely:
1) the shooter was a numbskull
2) the bird was, without out a doubt, out range
3) the bird was shot running or walking, not flying.
4) the shot was taken in desperation.

Leg shots don't count, brain and CNS shots do.

This is my misgivings with gun writers telling about TSS and Hevi-Shot and 3.5" ammo and #2 to #4 shot and making 60 and 70 yard shots.
With your 10 gauge magnum, prolly so!
I've never shot a 10 gauge, so who am I to say! LOL!

I hunt with a .410 and TSS shot, but I'm NOT going to shoot over about 20 yards max. (I also hunt with a 16 ga)
I find it inconceivable that a gunwriter would risk his/her reputation by publishing the .410 with TSS shot is a "forty yard turkey gun"! 🐴💩!
Too many dip wads are already thinking they can kill turkeys at 60/70 yards because they shoot 3.5" #4's and slinging shot at turkeys with no consideration for "range".

Ok. I'll get off my soapbox! 😜

If you don't shoot over 20 yards you're not going to shoot many turkeys....unless you're hunting out a blind with decoys or over a bait pile.

Two gobblers I killed this year appeared to have been shot with fAiry dust previously.....tiny gangrene holes in the breast and one had a tiny hole that was gangrene that had penetrated the breast bone.

Never shot it. No experience or no need for it. Winchester Longbeards #5 get the job done. 3 or 3.5"