Want to get the crowd's thoughts on this. One member wrote about not moving the gun until the turkey is in range, and then do it quick, and the turkey will usually freeze like he's about to bolt—but that's enough time to get off a shot.
Is getting a gun shouldered and pointed at the bird slowly, before you can see it through cover, a mistake?
I shoot a 28" Winchester SXP with a 2" IC .665 choke. It's what I have—my "do it all" shotgun. Trying to figure what's the best way to maneuver "50 of gun.
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If I can tell the bird is getting closer then obviously I'm going to get my gun into position right then. If he's not answering and comes in silent I'm going to hope I can catch him behind something before I move. I'm not going to throw up quick until the last possible second, say when I know for sure he's about to walk out of range. If he begins to walk away but is still in range I'll move my gun up slowly.
Guess where he will walk and deal with where he actually walks.
Because of my hands free system ( Knight and Hale ) my gun is always at my shoulder and mounted in shooting position while I`m sitting. I just have to move my head slightly and I`m looking through my red dot.
There's no magic answer. I'd say most experienced guys prob wait til he walks behind a tree, struts away, etc but typically you get one smooth fluid motion. I'd say don't screw around than, swing up n shoot but one time my daughters n I were caught in a hayfield. No masks on. The birds entered the field, I called them to 25-30 yards. I told my daughter to shoot. It was her first day w a 12. I remember her raising her gun w nothing in between us but air, she put the bead on its neck, instead of squeezing she was figure eighting all over him. The bird quickly walked back n forth like it was in a Chinese fire drill. She finally shot and the bird dropped but I about had a heart attack watching her take so long w a bird looking at her like that.
I'd not recommend it but w turkey you just never know. Use an advantageous tree it goes behind if possible to move gun
As others have said, if the bird comes in gobbling then have your gun ready. If he comes in silent, wait until he gets behind a tree or struts and turns away from your position to raise your gun. If none of this is an option, let him walk by you and kill him as he leaves.
Any specific tips for when he comes in your weak side? Noise is another factor then.
Bowguy, that's a crazy story! Glad she was able to make such a tough shot.
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I've had a number of birds come in extremely slow over the years and one of those times I had held the gun up so long I couldn't hold it steady to save my life.
I do try to shift to the direction where they are coming and have the gun up on my knee so I don't have a great distance to get it mounted. Then I wait until they are close to being in range and either look for them to turn away when strutting or just pull it up very slowly.
Quote from: AppalachianHollers on April 19, 2020, 08:19:10 PM
Any specific tips for when he comes in your weak side? Noise is another factor then.
Bowguy, that's a crazy story! Glad she was able to make such a tough shot.
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She made it a tough shot. Shoulda been real easy. The came about 100 yards right at us gobbler yelping the whole way.
Quote from: AppalachianHollers on April 19, 2020, 08:19:10 PM
Any specific tips for when he comes in your weak side? Noise is another factor then.
Bowguy, that's a crazy story! Glad she was able to make such a tough shot.
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At seminars we always teach point your shoulder at the bird. I'd say if unsure cheat even further to your dominant eye side. You can swing easier away from that. The opposite opens you. Myself I'd had some surgery and my optic nerve was hit. It made me real rough in the dominant eye. It's gotten a little better but I've scoped a gun and can actually shoot both ways. I've even wingshot pheasant lefty, both eyes open and I'm righty. Least I was my whole life. Now I gotta consciously force dominance back but I'm able to do so. Set yourself up correctly and you shouldn't have too many issues. I didn't say none, just not too many
Gun ready if at all possible ..
If his approach is pretty much imminent I'll "squish" down such that the gun is shouldered and on my knee pointed to where he's coming from, and I can see my red dot. Little to no movement. If not imminent, I sit what I call "semi-ready", i.e. gun shouldered and on knee but I'm not "squished down". So some movement is required to raise gun/lower head and swing left/right. Most times a big enough tree helps you out. If not, as you swing on him yelp with your mouth call...it confuses them and most times they'll just sort of run around in place, all jittery. Make that swing crisp, but smooth...not extremely fast and herky jerky.
Most of the time I will setup with a tree and/or brush behind me to break up my outline. When I position my body, I always open up my left side (I'm a right hand shooter) so I have about 180 degrees of swing, to the area I believe the birds are most likely to work. If the birds come in silent from behind me then I hope the cover and staying motionless will allow the birds to work past my setup to my gun barrel. No setup is a Slam Dunk but opening my left side, as much as possible, has improved my odds.
As others have stated, there is no "one size fits all" answer to the question about whether to move slowly or quickly. There will be times that one is a better choice than the other. I often start moving my gun slowly into position for the shot, but the instant that gobbler acts like he is about to bolt, I am swinging on him as fast as I can.
Of course, experienced hunters know when and which to do, but inexperienced hunters get the "don't move a muscle or he will be gone" mantra drummed into their heads so much that, at the moment of truth, they get frozen. I have seen way too many newbies not kill gobblers that were easily killable just because they were afraid to make any movement, slow or fast, to get on the bird. Gobblers can be very wary,...but they are not magicians.
The point about angling your body to the bird in your set-up is also right on. It seems intuitively "right" to face straight towards a gobbler that is coming to you,....and if you watch hunting shows, so often even those guys will face straight at an approaching gobbler. It is best to angle your body to an approaching gobbler to maximize your ability to swing your gun if he decides to take a circuitous route to you rather than coming straight at you,...and they have this annoying habit of doing just that.
Finally, really really serious turkey hunters that want to cover all of the bases practice shooting off of both shoulders,...that is, both right and left handed,...so they will be ready for that circumstance where a gobbler just shows up on that side where you can't swing your gun far enough with your dominant shoulder. (One of these days, I plan on getting really really serious...but for now, I just hope they come in where I want them to... :) )
Yup, shoot em with your opposite side. it's not hard just make sure your head is down and close your dominant eye.
Quote from: Paulmyr on April 20, 2020, 10:13:35 PM
Yup, shoot em with your opposite side. it's not hard just make sure your head is down and close your dominant eye.
I always take a practice shot or two prior to season with my opposite hand, and have killed a few that way. Using a red dot I don't have to worry about dominant eye nor perfect head position.
I've been surprised over the years how much movement I get away with. Part of it is I set up so the bird has to be in range before I can see it. Anyhow, you want to keep the gun pointed where you think the bird is. It might be in sight, but you still slowly track it with the barrel. Like I said, I'm usually doing this with a bird that hasn't popped into view yet but I do it with birds I can see, too.
I think most experienced turkey hunters can tell when a bird is coming on in most of the time. It is funny to tell someone you're calling for "to relax its not time yet" or "get your gun up he's coming" and see whether or not they believe you. "How'd you know he was coming?" "Well, he said so."
Can't always do it, though. A bird coming in drumming over pine straw, for example, I have only a general idea where it is. If you have to make a big adjustment, do it when the bird is right behind cover or in one smooth motion and fire. I'll do that up from my lap. It happens really fast, but time slows down for you in your mind.
Being a wingshooter really helps here. If you've shot many dove or clays you know how important being able to smoothly mount your gun is. I practice mounting my guns a lot. You can trace many of your misses on ducks or doves, etc. to whether you mounted your gun properly. It helps with rifles, too. Mounting and dry firing are huge in shooting.
Quote from: howl on April 21, 2020, 02:53:53 PM
Being a wingshooter really helps here. If you've shot many dove or clays you know how important being able to smoothly mount your gun is. I practice mounting my guns a lot. You can trace many of your misses on ducks or doves, etc. to whether you mounted your gun properly. It helps with rifles, too. Mounting and dry firing are huge in shooting.
Sounds like I need to start practicing mounting and dry firing while sitting down—that's a new one for me.
All I've ever done is mount my gun a couple times when setting up to make sure I've got room for my barrel.
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Quote from: Timmer on April 19, 2020, 08:47:09 PM
I've had a number of birds come in extremely slow over the years and one of those times I had held the gun up so long I couldn't hold it steady to save my life.
I do try to shift to the direction where they are coming and have the gun up on my knee so I don't have a great distance to get it mounted. Then I wait until they are close to being in range and either look for them to turn away when strutting or just pull it up very slowly.
The holding the gun up was a real issue for me several times over the years. Like when they are just out of range, maybe strutting, but in clear view. Like you, I recall times when my entire body was exhausted from trying to hold the gun up and not move.
When I switched to the 20 gauge a couple of years ago...whew....what a difference that made.
I normally have mine ready when I can tell he's getting close unless he comes in by surprise then I slowly ease it up against my shoulder the best I can
A simple bipod makes life so much easier. Keep it positioned so it's leaning back towards you so that if you have to swing your gun left or right, just lift the gun so the bipod falls in your lap, and make the shot. It's just a perfect system for me..
I've fallen asleep with my gun shouldered and resting on my bipod. NO muscle exhaustion at all.
I sit with my knees up and use them to support my gun and cradle it with my arms while I call with my slate as he comes in. Being able to call hands free is why I sat down and taught myself haw to use a mouth call.
I also use a pocket in my turkey vest to hold my slate call stationary so I can call one handed very close to my trigger and can make the move to my gun with little if any chance the turkey will see the movement and if he does it's to late.
Also its a great idea while actually hunting once you are set up to practice holding your gun and calling with your slate and then trying to switch to your gun and bringing it up as if you were about to shoot so you can figure out how to do so the best way and avoid turkey spooking hunt ruining mistakes.
In my 30 years of turkey hunting experience I have learned when a turkey can see you any type of fast movement is a bad idea unless you have no other choice. I have had turkeys under 30 yards dozens of times and slow, smooth but deliberate moving my gun to shoulder and shoot was seen by the turkey but I always had enough time to kill him.
Lastly a decoy is great help getting the turkey to concentrate hid undivided attention watching it and not looking around for a hen allowing you to get away with more movement.
Guns up, safety off, and pointed to where I think he's coming. I try to setup so by the time I see him its time to shoot. I'm a bad shot so I need the gun up, ready to go, and well rested when possible.
I just keep it rested on my knee in the general direction of where I think he will appear. Then when about ready to shoot I just slide the stock up to my shoulder, make my final adjustment and shoot. It's not much movement and if done correctly gives plenty of time to kill him. As long as I remember to take off the safety anyways. From my experience it's the guys that don't track the gobbler well enough that find themselves in trouble. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you have the guys that stay frozen with their gun mounted and cheek down for 20 minutes because they are scared to move a muscle. It just takes tracking the turkey and slowly adjusting on his approach to get yourself in the ballpark. After that I just read the turkey and react. I just do it slowly, deliberately and with a minimum of motion.
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Using a shotgun (sighting on the bead only), I previously worried far too much about this, and scared far more birds off trying to get the gun up before they were in range. If they see that movement before they are in range, they very likely will not come in... If they see that movement when they are in range, they tend to put their head up for 1-2 seconds for an easy shot.
I can turn to shoot to the left (as a right-handed shooter) so I always try and set up so I can turn to the bird, and so that the bird will be somewhat to my left. If they get too far to the right, it makes for a difficult situation.
If I can hear a bird coming (generally over a ridge or knoll), I set up to shoot him (where I think he will be). Generally, I am far more concerned about simply facing the direction I think the bird will come.
If I see a bird coming and the gun is down, I just hold still till the bird is in good range, pull up and shoot him. Bird I shot this year came into about 20 yards. He gobbled right below me below a knoll, and I set up to shoot him. He popped up far to the left, I simply swung over and shot him.
Attempting to kill a bird with a scoped pellet rifle on shooting sticks, is far more difficult. I have tried to move on several birds that did not come in from where I thought they would (they never do). I have to move the whole gun (shooting sticks and all) get the scope on him, get a secure shooting platform, etc... What I have learned, is that when a bird sees this movement, you have from 1-2 seconds to set up and shoot... With a shotgun this is an easy task, with a pellet rifle it has proved nearly impossible (for me).
If he's gobbling, drumming, or I can hear him walking, prior to actually seeing him then I try to get my gun pointed in the direction he's most likely to come in from. Since turkey are turkey, that doesn't always work out and then I just wait for him to get behind a tree/brush/anything else that will obstruct his view before moving my gun...when that fails, I'll swing as long as I think I'll have a clear shot once he's seen me swing.
Pointing your shoulder at the birds incoming direction is a good plan, I cheat a bit to my weak side so I have more range of motion.
Other than that I do shoot off handed if I need to, have killed a few that way, get a box of dove loads and practice it.
To me that is the easy part, getting them there is the challenge!
Quote from: Gobble! on April 27, 2020, 10:46:24 PM
Guns up, safety off, and pointed to where I think he's coming. I try to setup so by the time I see him its time to shoot. I'm a bad shot so I need the gun up, ready to go, and well rested when possible.
I just saw this. Safety never come off until we are about to shoot. Not sometime in the future now. Now way a simple safety click makes us miss a bird. Not doing things safely leads to disastrous outcomes at times. Please consider that
Quote from: silvestris on April 19, 2020, 05:24:05 PM
Guess where he will walk and deal with where he actually walks.
To the point and spot on.
I am the opposite of Happy though. I have had more mishaps hanging the gun up as I shoulder it (vest, jacket, strap, etc). I tend to shoulder the gun first. Then if things go south about where he actually walks, for me, raising up to the ready or swinging is easier. I shoot a little 20 now and it is not as much of an issue, because I can hold it up longer - even one handed. Most of my screw ups have come because he did not come the way I thought he would (like circled me) and caused a no shot situation.
Lots of good tips and like many others, I always try to set up on a gobbling bird with my off shoulder pointed toward him and with my gun on my knee. But sometimes it just doesn't work out and I'll get caught with my gun pointed in the wrong direction. When that happens the key for me is don't panic and rely on my set up/camo to keep my from getting busted, while I wait for an opportunity to adjust my gun to get a shot.
Last spring I was hunting Osceolas with a buddy of mine at his place in Florida. The action was great the first couple days, but then we had one of those days where we couldn't buy a gobble. It was late morning and we hadn't heard a gobble since fly down. We knew that there were gobblers in the area, so we found a comfortable spot and were throwing out some calls every 15 minutes or so. We were set up and ready, but our guns were laying across our laps, when nice gobbler came walking out from behind some palmettos at about 50 yards coming right toward us. We were set up about 30-40 yards apart and the gobbler walked right between us and kept on going as we never moved. After about a minute I slowly turned to look behind us and I could see the gobbler now about 75 yards, still walking away. We both got turned around toward the gobbler with guns up and ready. I yelped twice on a mouth call and that gobbler stopped on a dime, double gobbled, then turned around and walked right back toward us. He stopped again to gobble at 20 yards and I shot him. So I say, just don't panic!
I try to get a comfortable set up tree, I always clear the leaves around it 360 degrees, (if I have time). I always have my knees up, only stretch legs out after long sits. The gun is always ready, and like Bowguy says, SAFETY ON. As he is coming, my gun is ready on my knee, pointed where I think he will appear. Most of the time, I am fairly close when he steps in range. Minor gun movement if necessary is only done when he steps behind something. I don't like any "flash moves" on a gobbler. Then just before the shot, safety click which on some occasions has actually had him stop, raise his head, BOOM. Works way better than a Yelp, he doesn't seem to panic on "click".
I line up my right shoulder to my left knee to the bird or where I think the bird will be when I see him. My gun is on against my shoulder or in arm pit and forearm is on my HS foam gun notch on my knee. I try to set up so the bird is in range when I see him so I can move quite a bit. I'm a slow and deliberate mover of the gun. I don't "herky jerky" it. My safety is ON until it's gonna happen. Then with a thumb and finger on ea side, the safety is disengaged silently and the "booger picker" remains off the "bang switch" until Im ready to end it.
I wish I could give you a method that works every time, but there are just so many variations. I've had great successes and miserable failures over the years.
Probably the greatest success I had was a few years ago. A gobbler hopped down from a roost 300 yards away and came silently to me through the back door on my left side. I only knew he was there when he spit and drummed about 10 yards away. All I could do was slide my shotgun from its resting place on the ground to my right and hope. I slid it along my lap. It came up just as he walked into the scope picture.
General rules:
1) I keep the shotgun low and pointed down. Never have the barrel up in the air.
2) I keep mine propped up slightly on a log or laying on something, but I keep it close to the ground.
3) I try and turn so I'm shooting at 2 O'Clock
4) When I know there is a shot opportunity coming, I try and get my shotgun partially mounted and resting on my knee and generally pointed where I expect to take the shot.
4) I keep a pushpin call between my right butt cheek and the tree, so I can reach down and use it if necessary. I also make sure I have a mouth call in.
5) I use a scope, and I've learned to lift my eye off and behold the turkey first before taking the shot. Once I'm down on the scope, I can no longer judge range.
Here ya go. I just had this installed on my vest. I have a friend that is a Upholster and I had this stitched to the back of my vest. It has a loop and runs up over my right shoulder. The loop allows the stock of my shotgun to rest very near my right shoulder. The barrel will rest on my left knee while seated and allows me to be handsfree to call or scratch in the leaves as needed. Should be part of every vest. Can be tucked away or thrown behind my back if I don't need it. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210316/098fd55e47d5266f0130816034dbb1e4.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210316/77377c47a10cda9bc72830a845389804.jpg)
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I always have my gun resting on a bipod and leaning back into my shoulder so it's hands free.
The bipod "V" must be very shallow so I can pop the gun out and swing if I need to.
With the bipod leaning towards me, I can lift the gun barrel and let the bipod silently fall into my lap if I need to reposition for a quick shot to either side.
I taught myself as a kid to be able to shoot ambidextrously. It comes so naturally now that I no longer have a "weak side" shot. I just get comfortable and shoot off whichever shoulder is most convenient.
I don't keep my gun raised up all yhe time.The easiest part of turkey hunting is the shot. Inside 50 yards, you should not miss.
Great topic. I do a lot of the same things that many of you have talked about. Angling away from the predicted line of travel for more range of swing, removing all leaves from the base of a tree before long sits, always having the gun at ready, practicing non dominant eye/hand shooting, etc...
I want to add some of my experiences on some things previously discussed that ended up NOT working...
I had a bird skirt me hard on my non dominant side, so I had to move a quarter of the way around the base of the tree. I waited until he got behind a large oak. He was close, and I didnt want the leaves to spook him, so I called lightly while I slowly moved. Huge mistake. He popped his head from behind the oak and busted me in an instant.
Also, I DO NOT under any circumstances, call when I can see the gobbler as he is on his final approach, lets say within 50 yards of unobstructed view. If I have no cover between he and I, I will not call. I had a bird closing the gap very quick once. I was at the base of a tree in an open hardwood bottom. He was coming fast, so at about 25 yards I yelped to get him to stop. He knew the deal. He heard me and didnt see me, and took off like a bolt of lightning. I prefer to use my safety click to get the bird to stop. They normally stop dead in their tracks and stretch their neck out to look.
I do not like the "stay still and then swing real fast" method. The fast movement typically causes them to dart, and even if they dont, it just makes for a harder shot getting on target.
I remember sitting on a hillside overlooking a shallow canyon when a flock of turkeys came drifting up the canyon. I was hunting with a 50 caliber hawken muzzleloader so when one jake stopped right below me I shot him where the neck joins the body. Then since there were lots of birds up at my level and still below me I slowly reloaded my rifle and headshot one about 20 yards away. If you move slow as molasses and wear good camo and a little face paint you would be surprised how much movement you can get away with.
When I sit and call I have my gun up and on my knee the entire time. I would say I am in tbe shooting position the whole hunt.
If nothing is happening I may take a quick break from that position but for the most part I am always ready to shoot. If a bird answers or circles I can just jockey to position in that direction.
Resting across my lap with safety on. :firefighter: