Flying Fall Turkeys

[JK Spurs]

I spend the entire fall season in a tree  hunting bucks with a bow.
When I was in high school my uncles would take me fall hunting. We killed them mostly by scattering and calling them back.

That's a lot fun in the fall....busting up a flock and calling them in. Lots of action. In my experience in doing so, I've ran after flocks trying to scatter them and often there's a few you almost run over. I've killed them when they're just getting up in the air and have a clean shot.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

I have no desire to kill a turkey I walk up on or incidentally flush.

For me, if I'm going to kill a turkey, it's been called in or I crawled him to get within range using topography.

[Uncle Nicky]

I've taken a few shots at flying turkeys, have yet to knock one out of the air, even though they are as big as a B52. Unless I'm right on top of one and 100% sure of the shot, I'll let them go.

[TerryLNanny]

I killed the biggest Gobbler I have ever killed off a narrow food plot. Peeked down plot and seen 2 feeding, they see me and ease into the woods. I take off running down plot, they fly and I shoot 1 down. Not very sportsman like, but I was having a rough season and probably wouldn't have killed this old boy any other way.

[quavers59]

Very interesting replys here! My fav pic of a hunter shooting at flying turkeys is the late Dwain Bland in his book-- Turkey Hunters Digest. He simply stepped out from a run down shed and flushed a drove. The pic showed him shooting a black-powder shotgun with the words---easy pickins in regard to hitting one of those flying turkeys. Some members here must have that book.

[turkeyfoot]

To each their own for me in spring never would consider it but in fall if it was easy ethical shot I take it and to me that would be a shot where I firmly believed I would not wound the bird but kill it

[Marc]

I've taken a few shots at flying turkeys, have yet to knock one out of the air, even though they are as big as a B52. Unless I'm right on top of one and 100% sure of the shot, I'll let them go.

Same target in the air as on the ground...  The head.  Probably about the same target size as a dove.

[turkeyfoot]

Only problem is them moving if your not good shot on moving bird will end up putting pellets in body and crippling a bird wouldn't be hard to break a leg or wing and loose the bird. Just gotta take good comfortable shot

[Happy]

I don't fall hunt but if I did I would move up to hevi shot #5. I shot a bird quartering towards me at about thirty yards and the pellets that hit the breast exited the thigh area. I would want plenty of penetration on a flying bird and would keep the shots close.

[Farmboy27]

I think a number of factors come into play when deciding to shoot a flying turkey.. in the fall.

Size of the bird, hen poult or mature gobbler.

Range and type of shell you have in the gun. 2 3/4 inch pheasant load is different than a 3 or 3 1/2 inch turkey load.

Angle of the bird. A straight away shot is not as good as a crossing shot. Bird has less vitals exposed.

Wing shooting ability and whether or not you have a dog with you that can help locate a cripple.


I prefer to take my fall turkeys on the ground and after I have called them in. Ground shot makes for a very dead turkey with little if any shot in the  body, which makes for better eating. Calling them up makes better memories for me.

Good point. A straight away shot ain't good unless it's dang close. The shot has to punch through a lot to reach anything that's gonna be quickly fatal. Straight on shots are great because the entire head and breast are exposed. But you're gonna get some shot in the breast. Crossing shots are great if you get the lead right. I grew up where shooting flying and running turkeys in the fall was much more common than calling one in and shooting it standing. A lot of guys around here still love to hunt fall birds, but don't hunt spring turkey. They have no interest in trying to call one in. It's all personal preference. Heck, a lot of them were wing shooting birds long before calling became popular around here so who am I to judge! 

[trkehunr93]

I've killed several on the wing, not my preference to do but took what was given me.  If you read some of Roger Lathams writings that was how he would do it, bust up a flock, call the bird back in and then try to get it to flush for a wing shot. 


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[dejake]

No.  Very difficult to judge the quality of the bird if jumped and it flies.  At that point it's just any old turkey.  Not my cup of tea.  I often have this discussion with a friend.  He's all about filling his tag, whereas I enjoy the experience of interacting with the bird much more than the actual kill.  Don't get me wrong, I still like to squeeze the trigger.

[ferocious calls]

Yes. We never know just how the senerio will play out. Even when the birds have been called in. I have had situations when I have taken both toms and hens from the air. Also have made the final shot when bird has become airborne after beating the ground with its beak and wings.

Really prefer to shoot them on the ground but, don't limit myself if a situation calls for a flying shot on a bird that has been identified as my target.

[TauntoHawk]

I don't fall hunt them, everything I love about the spring isn't really present in the fall and there are more meaty game animals to purse like deer, elk, bear in the fall. Some of the places I fall deer hunt are where the birds winter so its not uncommon to see large flocks of bearded birds daily. I went out a few years ago bow hunting and spotted a large group of birds across some fields, got a shotgun at the truck loaded up around lunch and went around the hill to locate them wasn't 15min before I found them scratching along a bench above a creek got into a blow down and I counted 57 bearded birds mostly in that jake going on 2yr old age class came right past me just pecking around. I had no thrill, no rush so I didnt shoot and went back and decided that fall hunting wasn't my thing. I did have some birds one fall gobble and strut off the roost near my treestand while out with a bow but I could never get a good shot with a bow on them that was fun to watch so I would have enjoyed that and they were some nice gobs.

Im not the greatest wing shooter so I probably wouldnt risk flying shots if i hunted them in the fall, Im ok just not 100% confident Id nock him dead everytime on a shot that difficult and Id have no interest in a hen.

[greencop01]

                  The late, great Wayne Bailey, the man to make live trapping of wild turkeys, the key to getting the populations we have today, was a wing shooter of turkeys and almost never passed up a shot at flying turkeys. He wrote about it in his books. My first turkey was in upstate New York, a jenny in the fall, on the wing while grouse hunting. This event started me on this road of turkey hunting. It was surreal to see this eight lb bird fold up in mid air and fall with a thud. I was shocked at the size of her. It's the only one I took on the wing, but if in the future a tom flies by me in the spring with a clear shot at his head I won't hesitate to fold him in mid air. It is just a thrilling shot to take but in range and his head a clear target. To each his own and I respect one's ethics. Don't get me wrong nothing compares to calling in a tom to you from a long ways off to a point 15 yds to your gun, which I've done a few times over the years but wing shooting them comes in a close second !