OldGobbler

OG Gear Store
Sum Toy
Dave Smith
Wood Haven
North Mountain Gear
Gooserbat Game Calls
North Mountain Gear
turkeys for tomorrow

News:

only use regular PayPal to provide purchase protection

Main Menu

Shot size and brush

Started by Penguin907, October 21, 2025, 01:59:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Penguin907

I know the general rule is shoot whatever patterns best, but does the level of brush impact your decision on shot size? It makes sense to me that #4 lead would be less disrupted traveling through thin weeds and other crud than #6 or #7s, but then you get a lot less pellets. I know this doesn't really matter with TSS, but I'm not interested in messing with non-lead shot.

Yoder409

No bearing on my decision.

I shoot a load that patterns quite well to 40 yards.  And I won't shoot through brush, so....

Easy peasy !!!   :icon_thumright:
PA elitist since 1979

The good Lord ain't made a gobbler I can't kill.  I just gotta be there at the right time.....  on the day he wants to die.

Dtrkyman

Have never considered it, a more dense pattern is always better, with the shot string you could technically plow a path to the target.

I have never took a marginal shot through brush, have shot a few through some light brush/weeds but I could still see plenty of the head and neck!

Greg Massey

Agree with others, I don't worry about it ...

Ihuntoldschool

Wait for a good shot instead of thinking you're going to plow a path through brush to a turkey.

Penguin907

Yeah I'm not planning on taking bad shots where I can't see much bird, just been noticing some of the area I hunt has lots of scrub brush, vines, and other undergrowth. Like I could see a whole bird, but between me and him there's rarely a perfectly clean shot. So it just got my noggin joggin.

YoungGobbler

You can't really put that as a criteria because shooting through brush is always risky, you never really know how much brush will impact the pellets or not. It's always better to have a good clear shot, regardless of what your shooting. I think that is you have enough branches to impact your pellets, regardless of the size of them, your at risk of missing the shot... It mostly depends on what kind of 'brush' we're talking about. Sometimes, a few branches of 3/8eights and under will not botter and sometimes just ONE tree of 3-4 inches will make you miss it all... Even a shot where you are absolutely clear but where your shots must pass between two trees in mid distance will make you miss...

Choose your places to sit carefully, make sure you have clear lanes for the turkey to come... That's your best bet... After that,
it's very situational  ;)

silvestris

Shoot or don't shoot.  You just size up the situation and make the decision. 
"[T]he changing environment will someday be totally and irrevocably unsuitable for the wild turkey.  Unless mankind precedes the birds in extinction, we probably will not be hunting turkeys for too much longer."  Ken Morgan, "Turkey Hunting, A One Man Game