Rifles for Turkey Hunting

[appalachianassassin]

Here, I'll say it...they should be outlawed...learn to call and scatter correctly and use a shotgun up close and personal...shooting a turkey at 100 yards or further while it's feeding along DOESN'T take any skill whatsoever, it's unethical, darn near imorral and certainly unsportsmanlike among dedicated real CALLING hunters, there I said what you all were thinking !!!

you sir are my friend

[hookedspur]

Here, I'll say it...they should be outlawed...learn to call and scatter correctly and use a shotgun up close and personal...shooting a turkey at 100 yards or further while it's feeding along DOESN'T take any skill whatsoever, it's unethical, darn near imorral and certainly unsportsmanlike among dedicated real CALLING hunters, there I said what you all were thinking !!!

I knew this was going to end up here . Where its legal and safe ? is it still unethical ?
Takes a fine rifle and a very good shot to shoot the head off one at 100 yards.
There are a lot of things in the hunting world I don't participate in , but I don't think they should outlaw it just because I don't do it.
If we take a stand like that where would it end ?

[GLS]

The classic The American Wild Turkey by Henry Davis has a full chapter devoted to turkey rifles. His preferred round was the .22 Hornet. Over the years, he experimented with many calibers and rifles some of which aren't common today. Ultimately, his preferred rifles were the Winchester Model 54 and then the Winchester Model 70. Written in 1949, a lot of water has gone under the dam and there have been considerable improvements in ammunition and development of a diversity of calibers in the past 68 years. For turkeys, nothing beats a .22 Hornet for lethality with a minimum of flesh destruction. It's not my cup of tea for hunting turkeys and I'd rather not be in the woods during gobbler season with other folks toting rifles, but it is legal in some states and up to them to change it if they want or leave it be.

[appalachianassassin]

not sure which would be worse. hunting turkeys with a rifle or over a bait pile. which is also legal in some states.

[Frankinthelaurels]

Both are disgusting, rifles and bait !! Immoral, unethical and unsportsmanlike, anyone can do it.... Same goes for these so-call turkey hunters who sit at the edge of a cut corn field and shoot one as it feeds by, no calling involved, does it work, heck yeah, most so called call hunters do it all the time when no ones looking...if you don't call why are you even bothering hunting turkey, that's the idea, all the fun of the sport ! Why go through all this buying, practice, reading/listening to thousands of types and manufacturers if YOU don't do it, Calling is all the fun and the challenge of the sport, try it you'll like it...there I said that also .?!!

[killerstump]

frank while i agree in the round about meaning of what your saying your forgetting some people do it strictly to eat they don't care about how big a beard or Spurs are or what he weighs or that they killed a hen and that's 10 baby turkeys gone in the spring.

Their stomach overrides there pride. Have you ever had to rely on Wild game just to survive and not go hungry? You throwing around some steep words and chest pounding at the end with "there I said it"

I have personally had to rely on Wild game for feeding myself and friends and I'll admit my hunger overrides my pride.



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[vaturkey]

frank while i agree in the round about meaning of what your saying your forgetting some people do it strictly to eat they don't care about how big a beard or Spurs are or what he weighs or that they killed a hen and that's 10 baby turkeys gone in the spring.

Their stomach overrides there pride. Have you ever had to rely on Wild game just to survive and not go hungry? You throwing around some steep words and chest pounding at the end with "there I said it"

I have personally had to rely on Wild game for feeding myself and friends and I'll admit my hunger overrides my pride.


THERE Derek ! You said it ! LOL




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[Stinky J Picklestein]

I call them in to show them where the bait pile is, and then I shoot them with a non-traditional weapon.

[hobbes]

I knew we'd get there eventually.

[soh cah toa]

Both are disgusting, rifles and bait !! Immoral, unethical and unsportsmanlike, anyone can do it.... Same goes for these so-call turkey hunters who sit at the edge of a cut corn field and shoot one as it feeds by, no calling involved, does it work, heck yeah, most so called call hunters do it all the time when no ones looking...if you don't call why are you even bothering hunting turkey, that's the idea, all the fun of the sport ! Why go through all this buying, practice, reading/listening to thousands of types and manufacturers if YOU don't do it, Calling is all the fun and the challenge of the sport, try it you'll like it...there I said that also .?!!

What about shooting a flying hen with a shotgun? I've done that before in the fall season. It was like taking down a giant pheasant.

[Hognutz]

Are you for real?

[soh cah toa]

Are you for real?

Yes, 100%, I don't happen to have any pictures(except of groups I shot with my Trail Boss loads).

[poorcountrypreacher]

When we first got enough turkeys to have a season in my area of AL back in the early 60s, rifles were legal to use. My dad had a group of 3 other guys that met at our house every morning during spring season at 4am to plan their hunting. They never actually hunted together, just planned the hunt and each went their separate ways.

Problem was, none of them knew anything about turkey hunting. They all tried to call, but all were pretty bad. Everyone carried a shotgun and a rifle. One of the guys handloaded a bunch of 30-06 rounds with round nose bullets that were slow. I don't know how fast, but they wouldn't reload in a semi-auto. My dad killed several with it, but also got several with a .22. One guy was a farmer and kept an M1 carbine in the truck. I remember him spooking a flock of turkeys and a gobbler lit in a tree, where he shot him out. The same guy walked under one before daylight one morning, saw his beard, and blasted him out. There was never anything but congrats for any of these kills. The idea that any of it was unsporting apparently never occurred to any of them.

Eventually, all of these men evolved as turkey hunters and AL made rifles illegal. They hunted the way the did in those early years because nobody ever told them there was anything wrong with it. But if anyone killed a hen, that person was condemned as pond scum; you simply did not kill a hen. That's one law AL has never wavered on and I hope it stays that way. I'm glad rifles are illegal here too, but there was a time when their use was common.

Good hunting to all!

[davisd9]

Flocks of decoys that are $100+ a piece, blinds, chufa plots, 60+ yard shooting with shotguns, fanning, full strut decoys and yet people jump on a guy for shooting a bird with a loaded down 30-06. Not my cup of tea but neither is much of the "accepted" ways of killing a turkey. If the law allows it and you do it safely then to each their own. Good luck soh cah toa.

[davisd9]

When we first got enough turkeys to have a season in my area of AL back in the early 60s, rifles were legal to use. My dad had a group of 3 other guys that met at our house every morning during spring season at 4am to plan their hunting. They never actually hunted together, just planned the hunt and each went their separate ways.

Problem was, none of them knew anything about turkey hunting. They all tried to call, but all were pretty bad. Everyone carried a shotgun and a rifle. One of the guys handloaded a bunch of 30-06 rounds with round nose bullets that were slow. I don't know how fast, but they wouldn't reload in a semi-auto. My dad killed several with it, but also got several with a .22. One guy was a farmer and kept an M1 carbine in the truck. I remember him spooking a flock of turkeys and a gobbler lit in a tree, where he shot him out. The same guy walked under one before daylight one morning, saw his beard, and blasted him out. There was never anything but congrats for any of these kills. The idea that any of it was unsporting apparently never occurred to any of them.

Eventually, all of these men evolved as turkey hunters and AL made rifles illegal. They hunted the way the did in those early years because nobody ever told them there was anything wrong with it. But if anyone killed a hen, that person was condemned as pond scum; you simply did not kill a hen. That's one law AL has never wavered on and I hope it stays that way. I'm glad rifles are illegal here too, but there was a time when their use was common.

Good hunting to all!

Good post! Always enjoy reading your opinions and thoughts poorcountrypreacher!

[davisd9]

Both are disgusting, rifles and bait !! Immoral, unethical and unsportsmanlike, anyone can do it.... Same goes for these so-call turkey hunters who sit at the edge of a cut corn field and shoot one as it feeds by, no calling involved, does it work, heck yeah, most so called call hunters do it all the time when no ones looking...if you don't call why are you even bothering hunting turkey, that's the idea, all the fun of the sport ! Why go through all this buying, practice, reading/listening to thousands of types and manufacturers if YOU don't do it, Calling is all the fun and the challenge of the sport, try it you'll like it...there I said that also .?!!

How important is calling when sitting over a flock of decoys, have out a full strut decoy, in a blind, or shoot a shotgun over 60 yards?