Setterman
Well-Known Member
I see a million threads with folks fretting over chokes and which loads to use. To be honest it really makes me scratch my head as to why people feel the need to spend so much $$$ and waste so much time over this stuff. Another poster in another got me thinking, and thought I would give my $.02 from a long time chasing and killing these crazy birds.
I grew up in the river bottoms of Mississippi, and hunted turkeys there and AL as a youngster and on through my college years before moving here almost 10 years ago. I had the luxury of getting to know some of the legendary turkey killers in that part of the world.
These folks kept things simple and straight forward when it came to guns, shells, and chokes. They weren't after rifle tight patterns, and weren't worried about the latest and greatest material to craft pellets out of either. Still aren't today.
With that said some of these same folks went on to start businesses which are market product to turkey hunters, therefore they do mfg chokes tubes to meet current market demands, and talk about different loads and so forth. This is nothing more then capitalism at work. Nothing wrong with it, and no ill intentions behind any of it.
But and this is the important stuff from my perspective. I hunt with these same folks every year, and every year they have the same guns, same chokes, and shoot the same loads they have for decades. They kill as many birds as they want, and rarely if ever miss or wound a bird.
I adopted this approach when I started and have not waivered over the years. It is simple, and works extremely well, and is far easier and less expensive then this new stuff.
Gun X + Modified Factory Choke Tube + Load of your choice = consistent success out to around 40 yards. That is it.
I have 2 turkey guns currently, a Browning Gold which I have had forever, and it sports a factory modified tube, and i shoot WInchester HV 3.5" 2 oz #5 loads out of it. It is a very bad decision for a longbeard to test it's lethality.
My new gun is a SBEII which I also shoot a modified factory choke out of, with the same load as above. Guess what, it will flat kill a longbeards butt out to 40 yards and probably further, I just haven't taken a shot longer then that.
I have been fortunate over my life to kill a lot of longbeards, getting up around 150+ now, and not once I have I shot one with anything other then the above choke/load combination. The other guys I mentioned have killed literally hundreds upon hundreds of birds, and make me or really anyone else look foolish when it comes to success, and they use the exact same philosophy.
My point is not how many birds I or others have killed, it is that consider saving $$$ and time, and keep it simple. It works, and the other info I provide just as a basis for my opinion.
To each their own, and do what makes you happy, but keep in mind that it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. I know with the economy sucking $$ is tight, and this might give a few hope that it won't cost a ton to be successful.
I grew up in the river bottoms of Mississippi, and hunted turkeys there and AL as a youngster and on through my college years before moving here almost 10 years ago. I had the luxury of getting to know some of the legendary turkey killers in that part of the world.
These folks kept things simple and straight forward when it came to guns, shells, and chokes. They weren't after rifle tight patterns, and weren't worried about the latest and greatest material to craft pellets out of either. Still aren't today.
With that said some of these same folks went on to start businesses which are market product to turkey hunters, therefore they do mfg chokes tubes to meet current market demands, and talk about different loads and so forth. This is nothing more then capitalism at work. Nothing wrong with it, and no ill intentions behind any of it.
But and this is the important stuff from my perspective. I hunt with these same folks every year, and every year they have the same guns, same chokes, and shoot the same loads they have for decades. They kill as many birds as they want, and rarely if ever miss or wound a bird.
I adopted this approach when I started and have not waivered over the years. It is simple, and works extremely well, and is far easier and less expensive then this new stuff.
Gun X + Modified Factory Choke Tube + Load of your choice = consistent success out to around 40 yards. That is it.
I have 2 turkey guns currently, a Browning Gold which I have had forever, and it sports a factory modified tube, and i shoot WInchester HV 3.5" 2 oz #5 loads out of it. It is a very bad decision for a longbeard to test it's lethality.
My new gun is a SBEII which I also shoot a modified factory choke out of, with the same load as above. Guess what, it will flat kill a longbeards butt out to 40 yards and probably further, I just haven't taken a shot longer then that.
I have been fortunate over my life to kill a lot of longbeards, getting up around 150+ now, and not once I have I shot one with anything other then the above choke/load combination. The other guys I mentioned have killed literally hundreds upon hundreds of birds, and make me or really anyone else look foolish when it comes to success, and they use the exact same philosophy.
My point is not how many birds I or others have killed, it is that consider saving $$$ and time, and keep it simple. It works, and the other info I provide just as a basis for my opinion.
To each their own, and do what makes you happy, but keep in mind that it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. I know with the economy sucking $$ is tight, and this might give a few hope that it won't cost a ton to be successful.
I see no reason not to take advantage of the heavier-than-lead shells. But the only reason I have a dedicated "turkey" gun now is because it wasn't practical to put an optical sight on the old side-by-side I'd been using for years as my "turkey" gun. But as long as most of the turkeys I want to shoot continue to be under 35 yards, it's really not going to matter much what kind of choke or shell is being used.
