As I read all the posts about how far guys shoot their turkeys and how they sometimes misjudge the distance and get lucky or wound one that gets away I wonder if anyone ever paces off their effective distance when they set up to call. It's easy and eliminates all the guess work. We all know the effective distance of our gun and ammo. All you have to do is pace off the farthest effective shot. If you know it's 40 yards, great! Jam a stick in the ground or lay a branch there. Do another one at 30 yards on the way back and try to wait for that shot. Do it in a couple directions if you want. If you're in a rush just jam the stick in 25 yards out. Then back up your first shot with the heaviest size shot and load that's legal in case you have to shoot at one that's wounded and getting away. Might not lose any more birds. Even do it with your range finder from your stand. Does anyone else do it or have a better method?
I started doing this 2 seasons ago when I made a fatal error and misjudged the yardage and lost the bird. I invested in a range finder and was much more cognizant of my setups and the distances I would allow myself to shoot at. It should definitely be something to make yourself aware of when you select a setup. Take the time to walk the yardage to your tree or blind and make sure you know what the rough yardage is to the extents of your setup. I've heard sound advice from others who say to setup so that the bird is within shooting range when he makes his appearance and you can see him or he can see your decoys. Preparation is 9/10ths of the game I say...
My style of hunting that's not always an option. I do carry a range finder.
Turkeys tend to see me were I to go pacing off distances.
Pretty hard to pace off distances when a hot bird cuts you off at 80 yards. Much easier to use a range finder but even then there is going to be times that there is not time.
I will say from my experience that this is not a option most of the time. Take a range finder and range things before he shows up. The way I set up on birds , I just about guarantee when he is visible, he is plenty close. I use the terrain to force him to peep if he wants to know for sure if it's a hen there. This is not always the case but it is 90 percent of the time.
This tactic is definitely not feasible for the run and gun method...
Not usually practical for me. If I am where I want to be 40 yards closer to the bird means a busted bird. 40 yards or closer is my goal before the shot happens. Now I patterned my gun this spring and it puts 200 #5 pellets in a 10" circle. I also shot at 50 yards and it cut the number of pellets in the ten in half. Not promoting 50 yard shots but we all need to know how are guns perform. I know I have a 10 yards of "forgiveness" in my gun which is plenty. Now if I stick to my 40 yard limit there should be no problems. The key is sticking to the 40 yard limit. We all may not agree on what is the ethical distance to shot a turkey but we had better all agree that throwing a "maybe" shot is a crime. If we think it's pushing our guns limits it is.
I always pace off the distance to 80 yards,...my personal shooting limit. If I happen to scare one or more of the gobblers that have heard me calling and have already shown up, I just go back to where I am going to set up and call them back again. What's the big deal?.... :angel9: :angel9: :newmascot:
I just use my foot to push them past the end of the barrel so I can shoot :TooFunny:
It's built into my scope, I call it the Circle of Death
MK M GOBL
A couple of the places I hunt have downed trees that I use for ready-made blinds. I have measured by pacing off distances to rocks, logs, and trees in the vicinity. If the turkeys are close or inside of those landmarks, they're dead.
On the other horse farm at one of my brush blinds, I found an old SPAM can that the wrapper had deteriorated off of at least ten years before. I hung the can upside down on a small stump exactly 35 yards from the tree I sit against. It gives good perspective and eliminates a lot of guess work, especially since the woods are kind of thick and the trees aren't very big around, which makes it tricky to judge distance.
Twelve years ago at my old lease, there was a big sweetgum off the end of an old decomposed sawdust pile in the woods left over from logging 45 years before. I built a natural blind at the base of that tree out of dead cedar limbs. I stepped off 38-40 yards to a few trees in front and to the sides of that blind and tied black cord around those trees about a foot off the ground to help range distance. Turkeys naturally liked to come scratch the the rich soil and it was easier to call them to a place they already wanted to be. It just took a glance to confirm if they were inside of range before I shot.
Jim
Pratice stepping off distance while on scouting runs or in the yard or woods right before season will sharpen your judgement up on how far something is I do this often. No time for me to pull this off during a setup if I can walk 40 steps forward towards the turkey that's where I need to be sitting not gain ground then give it up for me. Rangefinder is probably the best technique for the distance game especially in open or field country. Good setups as others have mentioned sure do help to make him be in range when he shows up!!
Quote from: Boilermaker on March 29, 2018, 09:30:29 PM
This tactic is definitely not feasible for the run and gun method...
I've been using it for 50 years when running and gunning. Don't always have time to do it but most of the time can at least pace off 20 yards. I wouldn't do it if the gobbler answered me from 100 yards or less but if he is further away or I just hear him gobble or he answers a locator or even if I've called him and can tell he's hanging up sometimes I can do it. If he is staying 150 yds. away and gobbles I know I have time to pace off 30 yds. and get back to where I was calling from. All depends on the situation. Suppose I'm walking along and hear him gobble 100 yards away. I might look behind me and if I see a good set up 30 or 50 yds back I'll mark the spot and pace it off back to where I'm going to sit, making a couple marks sometimes. Now I'm set up and know one mark is at 41 yds and the closer one is 28 yds. My favorite set up is a place where I can see him coming 50-100 yds away and then he is out of sight for a while and appears again 30-40 yds away. When he's outta sight I might give him a cluck just to encourage him along but if he's heading right toward me I'll usually be quiet.
I did some mid day scouting yesterday and have a spot picked out that ill be in at daylight. When sitting to asses the view i spotted a tree that would be the farther est i could shoot . because of the terrain thats it . I paced it off and its 43 yards.
So If i see a turk it will be in range. By the way In an open field 40 doesn't seem that far but in the timbers its a bunch.
Better to have the ability to judge distance. I don't know...maybe some can't do it??
I am pretty good at judging distance out to about 60 or 70 yards. Never been off more than a yard or 2.
I practice judging distance all the time. Its easy and costs nothing. I don't need a range finder...I have legs. I hunt a lot of different states and the terrain varies quite a bit. Judging distance in different terrains can make it hard to be accurate. So whenever I get to an area I practice by taking a second as I walk along and judge the distance to some object. Then I pace it off to see how accurate I was. After a few times I get the hang of it for the type of terrain I am in. Even if I was hunting the same area all the time I would practice ranging objects now and then to keep sharp at it.
The closer one is to the ground the harder it is to judge distance. If possible I take a second to judge distance to a few objects before I sit down when setting up on a gobbler. I will reaffirm that distance when I sit down. If I haven't been able to do that, I judge distance from a sitting position in increments. "OK That's 10 yds...20...30...and 40 yds." Judging in increments helps me a lot.
I have been caught off guard a time or 2 and had to drop to a prone position when gobbler sounded off very close. If that happens and I am not real confident in estimating range from such a low position, then I just have to bring my max range in a bit for that particular situation. Better to be sure he is in range and I will kill the gobbler rather than wound him.
Like was said, I want my gun to have a killing pattern a bit further than I intend to shoot. For me that's 40 yards and a 5 yard cushion is plenty good for me.
As a side note...I am amazed out how many posts there are about setting up a gun and how few there are about judging range. Some will spend many hours or even days setting up a gun and dialing in the pattern and have no idea how to judge range. I always thought range estimation was a shooting skill.
From years of shooting 3D archery and years of bowhunting, I just simply pick out a landmark or two and say, "Yep, that's 40 yards." In the 3D game you need to be within 2 yards out to 50 to be competitive. In the turkey game, 10 yards is a safe buffer zone.
If I can pace off 40 yards towards a bird without getting busted I'm certainly not backing up and loosing ground on him.
I'm an archery guy so I just judge distance, only cost me twice and I have shot a pile of birds...I do not carry my range finder unless guiding a kid where distance is more critical and we are hunting fields.
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This isn't practical for most of my hunts. I'v been pretty good at estimating yardage typically I try to get bird at least 10 yards closer than my guns effective range so if I do misjudge I still kill the bird.
As stated by others, that works great for some cases, but I rarely hunt in such a way that I can wander around pacing off distances. I hunt big country and cover large amounts of ground trying to strike up a tom. Once I hear a bird, its game on and rarely time to wander around. I dont even want to hunt in a manner that gives me that option.
As far as misjudging distance goes. If you're so danged excited that you cant tell 60 yards from 40 yards, get a grip on yourself. Actually, carry a rangefinder, it takes little effort to shoot a couple ranges before the tom shows up. If your gun is such that misjudging 45 for 40 results in a wounded bird and you cant tell the difference, let him come on in to 35, or better yet 30.
In most cases the misjudged yardage excuse is just that, an excuse. In most cases guys just decide to take a chance and shoot farther than they know that they should and hope to get lucky. Stop convincing yourself that its do or die and you have to kill that bird right then and there.
When I'm moving on a gobbler I often can't afford to walk another 30 or 40 yards just to put a stick in the ground. I try to set up close and call less and let him come in looking for me. Usually in the woods. When he's close enough you will know. If you're not sure, let him get closer or let him walk if you don't want to take a chance. I'm sure a rangefinder would help a lot but I've never used one. 40 yards and under isn't too hard to guess, at least in the woods it's not
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I use a rangefinder, compact, doesn't take much room, light. It always tells the truth. I never not know distance to my bird. Usually under 25yds or less. Like I say we wait all year, let em in close hunting for the hen, enjoy the hunt! PS When they hunt for the hen they are hunting you. :z-twocents:
If I was going to walk 40 more steps toward a gobbling turkey I would sit down there. Work on your distance estimates on your scouting trips. Sit down and look at a tree and try to guess how far then get up and step it off and learn that way.
I should have explained I range trees, rocks, etc to get distances and when the bird comes inside tree #1 I know he's inside 30yds. I hunt inside the woodline from fields at least 60 yds. I make the tom come in the woodline to hunt me. And a lot of my hunts are in the woods. I try to stay away from fields if I can. I range when I hunt, when I set up and at times other than when I hunt. As I said I usually am sure on range. Let's me concentrate on the calling and the hunt.
Quote from: silvestris on March 29, 2018, 09:17:40 PM
Turkeys tend to see me were I to go pacing off distances.
For some of us, pacing off distance is practical... I know it is not for myself. I want to create as little disturbance as possible when setting up. Marching around the woods and counting off seems a bit counter-intuitive to being a "sneaky" turkey hunter.
Most of the areas I hunt, if I can see the bird, it is likely in range... When hunting open areas, I look for landmarks that I can judge distance on, and make sure the bird is past those marks...
In my case, I am more likely to misjudge a turkey due to my own selfish bias... I want the bird to be in range, and might range it closer than it really is... I am far less likely to make this sort of misjudgment with landmarks (especially prior to shooting)...
My worst mistake was when I first started using the old Remington Hevi-Shot. Longbeard came in and peaked around a tree. Had the bead on his head and neck and he just turned around and walked away. Not scared, but knew something was up. I think my nephew moved. I paced it after and it was 38 steps. I could have killed him. Like someone said above, I knew my new load and range, but had never even considered shooting birds at that distance and did not have a feel for shots over 30. My few birds I had killed at that point had all been up close and personal. Live and learn. I think I killed him the next year, as he was in about the same tree and came in the same way. Killed his running buddy the next day, but no way to know if the were the same two.
I let one pass at 40 yards one morning, never felt like I had a clear shot. My brother was behind me and wondering why I did not shoot. He rolled him up when he circled us. Oooooops. He had roosted the bird, so it felt fair anyways.
I use a compact range finder. Doesn't take up much space, easy and fast to use. I can range a few landmarks in less than a minute and be sure of the yardage. Peace of mind.
Range finder. Why not.
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I keep a string that is 30 yards long in my backpack. It has a rock tied to one end that I place in front of my blind and then I walk out with it until I feel my fingers go over the tape at 25 yards. There I will place my first decoy and then I walk to the end of the rope and place my next decoy and that way I know that if the are between the decoys then it is inside my effective range. I had numerous surgeries on my eyes growing up for a few things including being cross eyed and I have never been good at judging distance. I don't use my eyes together (No I don't mean eye dominance, this is different) When I dive I stay as far away from the vehicle in front of me for safeties sake.
Easy easy simple little trick they teach you in the military for shooting and distances , you will be amazed
Look at the spot you want to know the distance , split it in half , your eyes will do that very fast if it's under 100 yards ,
Then add by 2
Example , your sitting down , longest I'll shoot is 50 yards , I look out at a tree , then just look at half that distance to you , it's way easy for the eyes to do , split it , if that distance is roughly 16 yards then I know that tree is 32
How good is this method, try it at home or outside in your yard , you will easily be within a couple yards of your target ,
I use it all the time
I usually warm up with my distance estimates when looking for sheds in early spring. I take a range finder with me and continually judge my estimates versus the actual range. By the time the season opener hit, I'm pretty spot on. Bow hunting for deer has got me into this practice and it works well for me. The trick is do do it in the woods, not your driveway or backyard.
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Thought about this thread. We called in a hen today, the gobbler wandered off, probably with another hen. She came in near us and I told my nephew if that had been the gobbler, I would have shot. She was at 37 steps. He disagreed, thought she was closer. I said, pace it off, two yard past the stump. She was 37 yards on the dot. I had marked the stump as the go distance, but the gobbler stayed well outside, probably 60 yards away from us.
Quote from: Gobble! on March 29, 2018, 09:14:04 PM
I do carry a range finder.
Same here.
As soon as I set up, I'll hit several trees or stumps or whatever. Gives me reference points to keep my shot distances in perspective if I have to shoot to my outer limits.
Wow! What a lot of good advice! I hope it results in a few less birds wounded and getting away.
I have bowhunted for a long time when I set up I find a tree or some kind of land mark at 30 yds so I know when the bird is to that point or close I should be able to kill it. You can pick several markers or use a radius off your original land mark to get you close.If I have a bird coming in I don't want to mess with a range finder . It's ok to use at your set up before you start calling but it's just not something I want to carry around