Patterning at Realistic Hunting Temps

[BrowningGuy88]

I would just like to point out for those guys who may just be starting to work on their first turkey rig or who are converting over to chasing numbers a bit of information that would have helped me 3 years ago when I started chasing numbers.

Pattern your gun in the conditions (weather/temp/wind) you expect to be hunting in. Knowing what your combo will do at 75 degrees on a perfectly still day is great, but you also need to know what your pattern is doing at 40 degrees with a front moving through (if that is what you typically hunt in).

Here in South Alabama, I hunt from March 15 - April 30 and the weather will run from 35 degrees in the morning with no wind to 70 degrees in the middle of the day with a howling wind. As the season wears on, the temperatures naturally climb - so i will end the season in 60's in the morning and getting in the low 80's in the middle of the day.

I pattern my gun in 30 degree weather all the way up through 60 degree weather. I have found once you hit 60+ degrees your patterns are as good as they are going to get. I have also seen as much as a 15% drop in pattern at 40 degrees.

To make a long post short, it is great to turn huge numbers in 75 degree weather but make sure you understand what your combo does in the conditions you hunt in.

[allaboutshooting]

Amen!

Thanks,
Clark

[30_06]

I tend to agree. I do all of my hunting patterning just previous to the season so I know what my gun is doing in the less than ideal weather. Number patterning happens during the heat of the season.

[davisd9]

 

[hookedspur]

Yep

[darn2ten]

Yeah, I like to do my patterning around 60-65to degrees. I feel like that will represent the conditions I hunt in pretty well.

[Thegobblergetter]

Great post, Daman!  I, too, have patterned my loads in temperatures that I hunt, which is generally 35-55 degrees as that is what the temps are up here in the U.P. of Michigan in the spring.  I am glad that you pointed that out, especially to the newbies.  John

[chatterbox]

Excellent post!