I just returned from a Nebraska trip and was doing a little running and gunning. I had 4 tom's strutting and was the closest I could get. The toms on this trip didn't seem to want anything to do with calls, fans, or anything so I was pretty much out of options. It seemed like a borderline shot but I decided to take it. Luckily I got the tom and everything worked out.
I was using Federal Premium Magnum Turkey Loads and a 12 gauge with 3" mags, 2 oz of 4 shot,1150 FPS, Remington 870. I know I should take my shotgun out and see what patterns I get at different distances but thought I would ask: Generally what is the longest shot you are willing to take with a similar set up and it's a matter of taking a shot or go home empty?
I personally have never shot a bird outside 35 yards even though I have a set up that'll reach out farther than that. Figure I don't want to take a chance of a non lethal shot. I also won't shoot at a running deer. Standing broadside, one shot, one kill is my theory.
The good thing you had going for you was a hot load of 4's which will deliver some better energy at longer distance than say 6's.
How far was you shot? Did you pace it off?
Yes, pattern some different loads,tubes at different distances to see what your gun likes. Your identical set up may be different in results than someone with the same setup.
Congrats on your bird.
Quote from: jims on June 01, 2013, 11:35:34 AM
I know I should take my shotgun out and see what patterns I get at different distances but thought I would ask: Generally what is the longest shot you are willing to take with a similar set up and it's a matter of taking a shot or go home empty?
Should have done that before you took the shot you did. Better to know that your gun is capable of that shot instead of hoping it is. I'm glad it produced a dead turkey for yopu and not a crippled one.
My personal max range is what I "think" is 40 yards or less.
40 yds is it. this way when you miss judge a bit you still make an ethical shot. Going in thinking any other way makes you take stupid shots. if you asume your gun is good for 50 then a mis judge is 55, no good. Remember the end prize is about 6 lbs of meat so crippling a bird is not worth it .
I paced it off at 60 yards so it was in fact a super long shot. It sounds like I may have been lucky more than anything...and boy am I glad I didn't wound the tom! You are right that I should have practiced prior to my hunt....I definitely have a lot of respect for turkeys so don't want to wound any! The other 2 turkeys I shot this year were inside 30 yards. There was no doubt in my mind they were dead birds before I pulled the trigger! I wasn't sure if my 60 yarder was a fluke or doable...now that I know I will definitely confine shots to 40-45 yards max. I will also make a point of practicing on targets before next season!
Quote from: jims on June 01, 2013, 02:03:09 PM
I will definitely confine shots to 40-45 yards max. I will also make a point of practicing on targets before next season!
That's the safest approach. I don't think you will regret those restraints, even if you have to let a couple walk away. Good luck.
Yes I think you were lucky,I'm glad for that. That load with the Flight control wad doesn't pattern well in my 870 with .660 Carlson choke,over 35 yards the pattern is full of holes.
Always hit the patterning board pre season.. just like you'd practice with a bow before hunting you need to know whether POI = POA as well as pattern density.
I know on paper what my gun will do with both Hevi and lead from 15-60 but keep the shots well inside that.
I pattern my gun out to 45 yards only to have a 5 yard buffer on range estimation. Max shot is 40 yards. Pattern your gun and get the pattern centered where you are aiming. Shoot it at multiple ranges between 10 and 45 yards so you know exactly where it hits and what the pattern is at different distances. You got lucky getting the bird without doing this stuff before the hunt. If I had a choice between a marginal shot and going home empty handed I would have been eating tag soup.
I would never go into the woods without first patterning my turkey gun to know exactly where it is shooting. I am using Beretta Xtrema 3.5" with Hevi Shot magnum blend shells and a Hevi Shot choke. I personally trust this set up out to 60yds+. Two years ago I killed a bird @ 63yds with this set up and last year my buddy who is using the same set up in a Benelli SBE killed one @68yds. The bird I killed this year was 46yds and I did not hesistate pulling the trigger at all. Like I said though, the best thing to do is pattern your gun before you head into the woods so you know exactly what it's capable of. Confidence is a killer!
Just a heads up, the mods don't want any talk of shooting birds past 40 yards. We don't need new hunters thinking it is ok to shoot birds at 60 yards.
The point of my post wasn't to encourage new hunters to shoot at turkeys over 60yds. The point was to always test your setup before you go into the woods. If you don't know where your gun is shooting on paper, you shouldn't be hunting with it or shooting at turkeys no matter what the range is. Every person has their own opinion on what the max distance should be and this should be based on the performance of their individual setups. I was just speaking from my experience.
Completely agree with you but a new hunter that doesn't know better may try it. I was just giving you a heads up on the rules of the forum.
Quote from: coyote1 on June 11, 2013, 08:13:13 PM
Just a heads up, the mods don't want any talk of shooting birds past 40 yards. We don't need new hunters thinking it is ok to shoot birds at 60 yards.
I'd love the mods to make the ethical distinction between the guy who doesn't pattern his gun and shoots turkeys at 40 with marginal patterns or a guy who shoots h13 or TSS with devastating patterns at birds at 60 yards.
There are some serious inconsistencies in this position. I shoot em as far as my gun is lethal and could careless what anyone on this board thinks. Some die at 5 yards, some die at 60 yards. I know my gun/load/choke combo and its capabilities.
To the OP, you should learn your gun intimately and then decide what shots you execute and which ones you should disregard. Goodluck!
65 yards. I shoot nitro and I know every single time I pull the trigger I will takem cleanly at that range. I patterned my gun in all weather conditions and I was still over the 100/10in circle all the way out to 65. But 95% of the birds I shoot will generally be 40 yards and under.
I'm not knockin guys that take the long shots, but its much more challenging to let that bird walk away. Reposition on him, get him close and "beat" him. The 60-70 yard game ain't turkey huntin, that's simply killin a turkey. Now I'm not sayin I've never took a 50 yard shot cuz I have but I try not to make a habit of it. Every once in a while when you can't seem to get him in you just say to hell with it and kill him, but that ain't beatin him. Tell ya a quick story I still kick myself in the butt over. I was setup on public land between 2 gobblers one mornin. Ill spare ya all the details of the hunt, long story short had one come in and had the shot but wanted him to come just a little closer. I watched this bird for about 5 minutes strutting in the same spot but thought he was just a little too far. I watched the bird walk off, and about 10 minutes later somebody shot right where that bird went. I stepped it off from where I was sittin to where he was at 46 yards. I've let em walk at that range list of times, big deal. But this bird ended up havin 1.75" spurs. I could've killed that bird, and I'd love to have his spurs on my necklace, but I wouldn't have beat him. I limit my shots to 45, but in all reality if you ain't got him into 40 you ain't called him in.
Quote from: VaTuRkStOmPeR on June 12, 2013, 11:23:48 PM
Quote from: coyote1 on June 11, 2013, 08:13:13 PM
Just a heads up, the mods don't want any talk of shooting birds past 40 yards. We don't need new hunters thinking it is ok to shoot birds at 60 yards.
I'd love the mods to make the ethical distinction between the guy who doesn't pattern his gun and shoots turkeys at 40 with marginal patterns or a guy who shoots h13 or TSS with devastating patterns at birds at 60 yards.
There are some serious inconsistencies in this position. I shoot em as far as my gun is lethal and could careless what anyone on this board thinks. Some die at 5 yards, some die at 60 yards. I know my gun/load/choke combo and its capabilities.
To the OP, you should learn your gun intimately and then decide what shots you execute and which ones you should disregard. Goodluck!
I don't think anyone on this board would recommend shooting a bird at any distance be it 40 or 60 without patterning your gun and adjusting poi. If folks want to shoot that far with a combination that is capable and they know this fine. Personally I don't shoot past 40 because getting them close is what it is about, if I wanted to take shots at 60 or 65 yards, may as well use a rifle.
Where I hunt in Pennsylvania, where we have more hunters per square mile than any other state in the country and the birds start being pressured in Februrary and our season doesn't open until the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May; 45yds is "beating" them and you take whatever advantage you can get on killing these heavily pressured birds. Like I said before, no one should hunt turkeys without knowing the capabilities of their weapon and I would love to kill all my birds at 15 steps, but don't tell me that killing one at 45yds isn't "beating" them. Hunt public land in Pennsylvania for one season and I guarantee you will change your opinion on that.
Quote from: WW on June 13, 2013, 01:31:07 PM
The object is to kill the turkey...not write poetry about them. If he's inside 60 yards with me, he's dead. I'll be hunting the next bird, while yours hangs up at 50 and you're hunting him the next day.
Just curious. What makes you think mine is going to hang up at 50? Is that based on your personal past experience? I won't purposely shoot one at 50 plus. But don't assume because of that, you will be the only one hunting the next one ???
Quote from: seb5315 on June 13, 2013, 08:56:09 AM
Where I hunt in Pennsylvania, where we have more hunters per square mile than any other state in the country and the birds start being pressured in Februrary and our season doesn't open until the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May; 45yds is "beating" them and you take whatever advantage you can get on killing these heavily pressured birds. Like I said before, no one should hunt turkeys without knowing the capabilities of their weapon and I would love to kill all my birds at 15 steps, but don't tell me that killing one at 45yds isn't "beating" them. Hunt public land in Pennsylvania for one season and I guarantee you will change your opinion on that.
I've never hunted Pennsylvania public land but I do hunt Tennessee public land and I'm here to tell ya them LBL birds ain't easy. I always get 1 or 2 there and I've only shot one past 40. Last one I killed there was 8 yards. If you setup to where When you can see the bird he's within "ethical" range you don't have to take the long shots. I understand you can't always do that but in most cases you can.
Quote from: WW on June 13, 2013, 02:19:05 PM
At some point in time, one will hang up if you turkey hunt enough...with tss you don't have to worry about a 75 yarder. I hunt to kill, not observe.
The other side of that coin is if you turkey hunt enough you don't worry about the one that hangs up at 75. You worry about the shooters who say their turkey hunting that will sling tss or rifle bullets at those distances.
I also hunt to kill, but one can learn a lot from observing.
@warrent423 - Before you make a statement like that I feel that you should understand each situation. I work 5 days a week so that only allows for hunting on Saturdays (can't hunt on Sunday's in PA) plus a couple of vacation days that I save each year for turkey hunting. Like I said earlier, I would love to kill every turkey I shoot at 15 steps, but that doesn't always happen. When a bird is in my kill range I take him. You're entitled to your opinion, but to say you have no respect for someone who shoots a bird past 40yds is just a little ignorant in my opinion. As I said before, I believe Pennsylvania has the most challenging turkeys in the country to hunt so before you make a comment like that you should really consider the situation.
I'll just agree to disagree with ya on this one Warrent.
Let me politely reaffirm the site stance on these types of threads ---
What people do in their own free time is their own business , but when it ( publicly) gravitates around the long , long shots it will without a doubt cause a ( very predictable) disturbance between normally mild mannered and polite members -then I have to deal with the mess --I know every turkey hunter has intrest in a good shooting turkey gun , but in the past it sometimes opened the door to some bizarre postings revolving around 80 , and 110 yard turkey shooting .... for that reason ..... we ask that if it has anything to do with that subject keep it on the down low - at no point did I come down hard and proclaim any yardage BS on the masses , I politely ask as I have done in the past , keep on the down low etc.... Personally I know how to call turkeys very well and have no need to resort to ranges where it would be nearly impossible to tell what I am even shooting at
Forums are strange creature ,opinions repeated enough , over and over tend to be transformed into online fact , or so it may seem.... I have seen groups of people engage in exaggeration of product performance on many things , sometimes it is for a number of reasons ....
thanks --Shannon
40 yds or <. I like it up close and personal.
I don't think it has anything to do with calling turkeys. I'm a very skilled caller and have no trouble calling to turkeys at all. I was just posting my opinion on how to figure out the max distance at which you can effectivelly kill turkeys to which I stated several times it is strictly based on the individual setup, practice and preperation. Of course I am going to take offense when someone says "I have no respect for somone who shoots a turkey over 40yds". I think that is a very ignorant comment and has no place on a forum where most of the time contains nothing but friendly, polite and dedicated turkey hunting enthusiasts. Everyone hunter dreams of the "made for tv" hunts, but if you feel that you are taking a safe and ethical shot on a turkey based on what you know your setup can do, you should not be comdemned by someone who thinks you're shooting to far based strictly on their armchair commentary. To me, if you are consistenly killing turkeys in a safe and ethical manner you are all right in my book and I have the utmost respect for you, regardless of the range you are killing them at.
Quote from: seb5315 on June 14, 2013, 09:56:00 AM
I don't think it has anything to do with calling turkeys. I'm a very skilled caller and have no trouble calling to turkeys at all. I was just posting my opinion on how to figure out the max distance at which you can effectivelly kill turkeys to which I stated several times it is strictly based on the individual setup, practice and preperation. Of course I am going to take offense when someone says "I have no respect for somone who shoots a turkey over 40yds". I think that is a very ignorant comment and has no place on a forum where most of the time contains nothing but friendly, polite and dedicated turkey hunting enthusiasts. Everyone hunter dreams of the "made for tv" hunts, but if you feel that you are taking a safe and ethical shot on a turkey based on what you know your setup can do, you should not be comdemned by someone who thinks you're shooting to far based strictly on their armchair commentary. To me, if you are consistenly killing turkeys in a safe and ethical manner you are all right in my book and I have the utmost respect for you, regardless of the range you are killing them at.
Now this man gets it! This is a true post that everyone needs to read and hunt by! :agreed:
It's unfortunate,but based on what I read on these forums it's apparent that there are fewer and fewer people who get it with each passing season.
Quote from: guesswho on June 14, 2013, 04:58:59 PM
It's unfortunate,but based on what I read on these forums it's apparent that there are fewer and fewer people who get it with each passing season.
Exactly right.
It is very true that some of the stuff posted up on forums borders upon fiction , same goes for these hunting shows , some one mentioned every hunter dreams of being in a situation TV.... etc... in my opinion the garbage on TV is destroying hunting by inundating it with a barrage of brainwash bs - I am not aware of a quality turkey hunting show , its more of different flavors of infomercials these days
Again , the long shot thing is a beating a dead horse issue here , we ask that folks kindly refrain from the issue for its nothing but trouble - SK
I try to keep all my shots within 40 yards,due to my gun and ammo combination.I mostly hunt leases and private land so I can give them another try the next morning.
Just because someone shoots TSS or h13 (I do exclusively) doesn't mean that they are shooting them at extreme ranges. Personally this year I called around 25 birds into setups 8 died and one was missed by a youngster. I had several within 60 yards that I know I could have killed just as easy I did the 4 I killed (19 yds, 32 yds, 40 yds, 42 yds) now if one comes in that I think I have done my part on I will take him or I may not.
If he's not within 40 yards I haven't called him in yet.
There are turkey hunters, and there are turkey shooters.
We all know what we are. Our actions define us.
No real need to discuss.
If you want some sort of answer, put a poll up. I bet I can predict the results...
Respect should be shown to the wishes of the owner of any website.
This is a pretty neat place. I'm glad it is available to us!
mudhen
Quote from: mudhen on June 16, 2013, 01:06:08 AM
Respect should be shown to the wishes of the owner of any website.
This is a pretty neat place. I'm glad it is available to us!
mudhen
Agreed!
As a "greenhorn" turkey hunter I'm glad I created this post. It educated me to the importance of only taking close shots and getting out prior to the season to practice on paper. Just getting started this year I had no idea about turkey loads and lethal shot distances! I have great respect for all the different game species I hunt and it is my responsibility and quest never to wound an animal!
I'm glad the answers in this thread helped you (all the bickering aside). The folks on here don't mind helping, I have asked several questions myself. :icon_thumright:
I'll chime in on this one.
I'm probably not the best turkey hunter or caller for that matter. However, I have learned a tremendous amout of information from many good hunters on this website.
I hae been on a 4 year dry spell. I have had my oppurtnities to kill birds in each of the prior 4 seasons, but misses and hung up birds were the norm.
This year it all came together for me. I called in a bird from over 200 yards away to within 25. The woods were dry, and I could hear this suicidal boy running in!
I took him at right around 20-25 yards. Nothing, and I mean nothing in all my prior years of hunting was as exciting as this one! I felt like I finally beat one at his own game. That's turkey hunting to me.
Last year I had three in a field come in. They spooked, and 2 bugged out. I had one in my scope, but he looked a ways off, so I didn't shoot. When the birds left the field, I walked out to the spot where he was. I estimated it to be 60-65 yards off. Glad I held off!
My point I'm trying to make in this diatribe is that my personal preference is to have them well under 40 yards. To me, turkey hunting is a close in sport. Nothing better than knowing you beat him at his own game!
Consistently taking long shots ="must have something dead in bed of truck to prove i'm a great hunter"Don't want to offend anyone,it's a free country and anyone can hunt anyway they want as long as its legal.The problem I see is a downhill slide on the slippery slope of ethical conduct.Look at the tv shows,nothing counts except the almighty kill shot and obligatory high fives on camera.Look at jeff foiles convicted of shooting geese in a public park with a pellet gun for their bands to put on his call lanyard,the list goes on and on.The question is when does it stop being hunting and start becoming all about the shooting?like I stated before,anyone can hunt the way they want as long as it's legal.I hunt both ohio and pa,public and private lands.Never felt I had to shoot over 40 for any reason.We all hunt in order to take game,but it's how we take the game that makes us hunters.
This is actually an interesting post. Glad it hasn't ended in the proverbial "train wreck"
Yes I have a gun that will take a bird at long ranges. That being said I can't remember the last bird that I shot at that was over 30 yards and I primarily hunt fields. I've even started taking my crossbow on occasion and have taken 3 birds with it, all within 15 yards.
Different strokes for different folks! Let's just enjoy the fact that we get to chase this magnificent bird in whatever manner we choose. Me, I HAVE to do it from a wheelchair, so if you want a real challenge try that one time!
40 yards plus or minus a couple.