Rifle hunters and spring gobblers

[budtripp]

Wild and Wonderful WV is the only state I get to hunt, and I too deal with turkey killers and rifles.  I know its legal but to me, it just ain't right!!! Bushwackin a gobbler at 30 yds vs 100 yds is completely different, let alone calling one in tight!  I accept the fact that some of it is tradition.....was it tradition for dove or duck guns to only hold three rounds, Or shot to be steel?  If you want to shoot something at longer range....talk to a farmer they would love some help getting rid of groundhogs and if you want turkey that bad...walmart and kroger sell them every day!!!!   I'm not judging anyone...I have to convince dad to leave his .222 at home every spring, but thats my two cents!!  I however would rather see folks hunting turkeys with a rifle than a bow, again just my opinion....but you know what they say about opinions!!!

That statement makes about as much sense as tits on a boar hog...care to explain? If your all about getting them in close and all that jazz, why not a bow? I fail to see your "logic"

[DirtNap647]

doesnt seem like it would be as fun to shoot a turkey couple hundred yards

[budtripp]

Shooting a turkey with a rifle is a disgrace and it's saddening to me that the most regal of game birds could ever be shot by someone in such an undignified manner.

So, shooting them in the face with a bunch of little pellets is somehow more "dignified"  Really? Learn something new every day.  By the way I'm not advocating rifles for turkeys but this statement is hilarious to me

[wvcurlytop]

So, shooting them in the face with a bunch of little pellets is somehow more "dignified"  Really? Learn something new every day.  By the way I'm not advocating rifles for turkeys but this statement is hilarious to me

Hey is that a "Shotgun" in your profile picture?? 

[tomstopper]

I know!  Let's talk about shooting a gobbler with a rifle over a pile of corn! 

We need more turkey seasons to open! 

amen.........

[lumberjack]

Wild and Wonderful WV is the only state I get to hunt, and I too deal with turkey killers and rifles.  I know its legal but to me, it just ain't right!!! Bushwackin a gobbler at 30 yds vs 100 yds is completely different, let alone calling one in tight!  I accept the fact that some of it is tradition.....was it tradition for dove or duck guns to only hold three rounds, Or shot to be steel?  If you want to shoot something at longer range....talk to a farmer they would love some help getting rid of groundhogs and if you want turkey that bad...walmart and kroger sell them every day!!!!   I'm not judging anyone...I have to convince dad to leave his .222 at home every spring, but thats my two cents!!  I however would rather see folks hunting turkeys with a rifle than a bow, again just my opinion....but you know what they say about opinions!!!

That statement makes about as much sense as tits on a boar hog...care to explain? If your all about getting them in close and all that jazz, why not a bow? I fail to see your "logic"

Tits on a boar hog do make sense....he is passing genetic info on to the gilts in the next litter he sires and the conformation of his teats may influence the ability of his offspring to raise their next litter!!!!  I was only stating my opinion!!!! I was not raised with bow and arrow in hand so maybe its a trust / comfort thing...but its my opinion!!!!!  I just have more faith in a rifle. Additionally, I have seen the change in the flight of an arrow after hitting a small twig, and don't like the feathers and feather shafts and wingbones that an arrow has to pass through as well as a the small size of the vitals to hit for a quick kill.  The same of which could be said for some rifles! I did not say bows should not be used.....merely that I preferred rifles to them.  I will turkey hunt as much as I can this year and not take either one!  But again all my opinions!!!! I don't want to hijack this thread and argue about bows vs. guns....not my intent at all, so I apologize to wv curlytop

[R AJ]

Ok I've never knocked one over with a rifle, but in all reality how much more "unsafe" can it be than deer hunting.  I know there is the Blaze factor, but other than that I don't get that argument.  I personally have never felt the need to use a rifle but I'm not say'n I never will either. 

I guess it's kinda like sushi, calamari, or caviar,  don't knock it till you've tried it.

For one, the turkey hunters are on the ground and someone may just be right in the edge of a field or next to a road when someone decides to take a 150 yard shot and kill the hunter who is completely in cammo. A bullet passing through a turkey in the tree shot by a rifle will have a long way to go and could be dangerous a mile or more away. I have never shot a deer in the air and except for when Santa comes down for Christmas do not expect to see one. Ricochet can also happen when shooting over a relatively flat area . Rifles  were once legal in Alabama but have been outlawed since the late 60s I believe.

[30_06]

Does anyone have any documentation of any kind where a hunter was shot by someone shooting a rifle at a turkey in a state where it is legal?

[lumberjack]

I personally know of one young man in WV who lost his life from a rimfire rifle bullet while turkey hunting. He was hunting in the fall, with people he knew.  Freak accident, but tragic results none the less.

[Spring_Woods]

...

We need more turkey seasons to open! 

No kidding! I've noticed the tension around here is unusually high about this time of year! Can't wait to suit up and chase some birds!

[gjr902]

Here in Vermont, back in the olden days, a 20 caliber rifle was all you could use. Shooting a bird with a shotgun was an embaressment as I've been told. Kind of like shooting a turkey out a a tree. Legal, but frowned upon. An old guy I knew (he has passed) had a prized Win 43 in 25-20, and that was his turkey gun. When I started turkey hunting, he gave me all sorts of crap for the new 870 I bought, even though we can only use shotguns now.

Hunted Kadoka SD last May. Had a few oppertunities to take a bird with my .223. I refuse, because I wanted to call in my first SD bird, which I eventually did, to 35 yards, and then smoked him with my new 870.

[Old Gobbler]

   Ive seen up close a turkey hunter killed with a Shotgun Slug ... to the head..... we also 3 years ago had a turkey hunter shot with a rimfire rifle in South Florida and left ...abandoned .....and we had a Florida turkey hunter shot dead by another in Florida with buckshot ,,,again dead ....

  I am more than willing to  drive any non believers  personally to  a certain cemetery and I will show you some names carved in granite  --

[budtripp]

So, shooting them in the face with a bunch of little pellets is somehow more "dignified"  Really? Learn something new every day.  By the way I'm not advocating rifles for turkeys but this statement is hilarious to me

Hey is that a "Shotgun" in your profile picture??

Why it sure is, did I ever say I hunted turkeys with a rifle? Nope I didn't, because I don't. I just find it really funny that someone thinks its more "dignified" to die by shotgun blast than by bullet or arrow. Like the turkey really cares   

[30_06]

So, to date on this thread we have 2 people killed by a rifle, and two more killed by either slugs or buckshot from a shotgun...not sure about the legality of using buckshot or slugs, but either way that is a total of four people. I'm not trying to discount anyone's loss but the numbers are not supporting the theory that rifle hunting turkeys is anymore dangerous.
From the numbers presented it would mean that hunting turkeys with turkey loads is more dangerous than hunting turkeys with rifles or illegal shotgun loads.

[willy8457]

I know of two people shot with rifles in Pa, Turkey hunters use shotguns or bows and call them in close to an effective range for thier weapon. The thrill of the hunt is getting them close and having them gobble and do the dance.  Sometimes the reward of the hunt is not pulling the trigger,  Some people hunt for differant reasons, If getting one is the only reason you hunt, than shooting one at 150 yards that don't even know you are there is ok, The bottom line is I hunt turkeys because I truly love to do It, not just to tell people I got one. The calling, them gobbling and doing the dance is all part of it. Shooting one in a field at long range doesn't do it for me. You are right shootng a deer at long range is know differant,  but the reason I would do that is to put some vension in the freezer. not for the hunt.