I use multiple chuck guns. .223, .22-250, .308 and the newest is 6.5 Creedmore. That one is scary accurate. All of them are dialed in at 200 yards. Shot 70 here 2 years ago. That never gets old. :)

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we have very few whistle pigs here in Northern Missouri, but the squirrel season opens at the end of the month. It's a good time to break out the vintage .22s. I also like to shoot them with light loads out of an old hammer gun or two. I wish we had woodchucks here.

Got one at 0900 today, a gobbler and a jake with a hen came in ,had to take the jake as the gobbled stayed 70 yards out. Now to try for # 2 ,in N.Y. you can only shoot one a day.

Get your Missouri game department to bring some of the pests in just as we believe ours did with coyotes, which have taken over. Deer, turkey, rabbit, small dog, and cat populations are way down.

You'll like the holes under every building and extra holes in fields to break a leg in.

The Parker 20 gauge got the job done.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1525487432

Beautiful gobbler Phil, how big?

Awesome picture Phil that picture rivals your southern bird this year.
Congratulations

what a nice birdand with a 20 ga...them barrels on that 20 ga look to be a mile long in that picture...how far did you take this bird and what size shot and load....charlie

I called this bird out of a deep bottom in a burn area. I was traveling to my camp site and stopped for a break. Decided to use my box call to yelp a few times and got a response back straight down about 500 yards. Called again and had two gobblers go off, one a little further down the road.
I was parked in the middle of the winding dirt road so I relocated the truck about 100 yards down the road where I could pull off. When I called again the bird that called the first time was clearly making his way up out of the valley. I had brought my VH 20 with 32” barrels along so I grabbed two shells, a few calls and headed back up the road where I had called the first time.
The burn area had very little cover but there was a small current bush on the side of the road. I hid behind it and Yelped a few more times. This time 2 gobblers answered back at about 250 yards. I kept calling every few minutes to encourage them to make the steep climb. By now I had 5 birds going off.
Unfortunatley I had very limited visibility. Five minutes later birds gobbled at about 40 yards and I got a glimps of a bird. Shortly a hen appeared in front of me at about 8 yards, putting and looking around. Suddenly off to my left a gobbler stuck his head up from behind a rock. I quickly shot and he bounced high mutiple times down the hill finally coming to rest against a downd pine. With that two other gobblers took to the air. At about 15 yards. The bird I estimate is a 3 year old and is an average size bird. I think the picture makes the bird look much larger.
My 20 gauge is choked Full and Full and has factory 2 7/8” chambers. I was shooting 3” shells with 1 7/8 oz of a 5,6,7 blend.

Picture of area.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1525526843

Mills and I had one get close but still could not see him due to all the shrubbery. Mills sat pretty still the whole time. Tomorrow is probably going to be my last day. They are pretty wise by the end of the season

Nice bird Phil!! Beautiful 20 bore too!! BTW, nothing like a live decoy to help bring 'em in.

Thats capitalizing on an opportunity Phil.

mills this is some of the million dollar moments in your life....charlie

It sure is Charlie. Going for probably the last time of the season tomorrow. Habitat is beautiful. Now to decide which gun to take

I used the wing bone call today and they really responded.

Jerry,

Trust me, I had my share of whistle pigs when I lived in Ohio (and had a farmer who raised horses pay me to kill them and keep holes out of his pastures), but the few we have are pretty discrete and seldom seen (we do have occasional badgers also). As for coyotes: I think we bred them here and sent them east. We've lived with them for quite some time (forever?) and our game populations are OK. What is hurting us now is the fenced deer operations that brought CWD to us. That and the terrible nesting seasons we've had for too many years in a row. It's been really hard on our quail, pheasant and turkey populations.

I also see that West Nile Virus is hitting your grouse hard. We lost our grouse to not cutting trees.

Oh, well, enjoy what you have while you have it.

The morning before leaving for my cousin's farm in Northeast Ohio this guy came cobbling down my street. His beard was about 10" long and he was pretty bold about proclaiming his masculinity for any hen turkey within earshot. These pictures were taken from my deck and he was less than thirty yards away.

But "Cousin Tim" promised me a turkey so I decided to make the 10-hour drive and give it a go.

It was still a bit early in that pert of Ohio, the Lake Eire winter had been gone only a couple of weeks and the turkeys had not spread back into his area. Nevertheless, we were able to call in three longbeards on three consecutive mornings but they all hung up at 50-60 yards and wouldn't come any closer, even with the hen decoys we had out. It was very frustrating...

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On our last morning at Cousin Tim's, just minutes prior to our departure, Tim, true to his word of a promised turkey, came through and produced the bird..... :biglaugh:


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Frustrating is a good word to describe turkey hunting. We keep going back though

dean you needed some of them new tungston sst shells from what i can read and the info from the other fellows on hear say and from the pattern i seen on paper they will get a turkey at 70 yardsand 80 yards ...fellow have to watch close up shots a fellow could miss his bird...good hunting....charlie

I'll be bringing my grandson Cam to Vermont for a weekend of turkey hunting next weekend. I have high hopes it will be as much fun for him as it was last season when I killed a big jake. Cam didn't have his hunters safety course yet or his hunting license but he has both this time.

Cam watched me shoot this one last year - I hope I am able to watch him do it this year.


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Charlie, I wonder if at those kinds of yardages if a fellow would need some kind of scope...?

Cousin Tim uses a red dot scope on his 3.5" Mossberg pump...(:vconfused:)

He tells me he can't wait til all those 3.5" turkey loads are all used up - then he's going to switch to 2 3/4". Me, I'd get rid of them now! They beat him up so bad it's a wonder he hasn't developed a severe flinch (like dropping his gun just before he pulls the trigger!)





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Just a neat discovery on the Parker 20 . I looked up my letter today. It was ordered on May 2 1917. Exactly 101 years to the day I shot my turkey.

Thought I better reposition the picture before my Scotch spilled.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1525579880

my turn for NH turkey report' shot one this am at 5;40 W[th my Ithaca NID 10 GA. came in strutting and gobbling all the way to 20 yds. with a roll your own 1 1/2 half oz of 6's did him in. 10 1/4 inch beard 3/4 inch spurs, 22 lbs

Phil well you know what that means?Now have to hunt every year on May 2nd from now on.That would be a shame to break that string of luck.

I thought there was no hunting on Sunday in NH - guess I was wrong.





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I know this may come across as fightin words, but I just don't think sxs's in general are designed nor meant for long distance shots on stationary targets. Things just get to wonky when trying to account for that horizontal element, especially for such a small target as turkey head and neck. I think 40 yards using lead loads is just fine for several reasons.

I am also not so sure about using tungsten in these old guns. I understand it is as hard or harder than steel. Don't think it a good combination of 50% more density than lead and harder than steel to force through these old guns. History is fraught with good thoughts, bad ideas and tungsten in old sxs's maybe one of them. Maybe you can use #9 tungsten to get really good patterns in the old sxs at 40 if the wad is designed to compress some on the sides since the pellets won't.

Now if your in a killing mood for turkey at distance and not to worried about being caught unfashionable in the woods without your old Parker, then get out that pump or autoloader with recoil reduction and load a 3.5 inch tungsten round in it. You won't feel a thing when that turkey drops dead as a hammer, at least not until the next day.

As it was explained, these TSS loads have two protective shot cups so I wouldn't worry about scoring the bores. My only concern is that there would be enough thickness in the walls of the double shot cups to cushion the the effects of the non-compressible tungsten as it passes through the chokes.

Nevertheless, I might not hunt at all if I couldn't use a Parker - with apologies to all makers of modern shotguns...:corn:





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[As it was explained, these TSS loads have two protective shot cups so I wouldn't worry about scoring the bores. My only concern is that there would be enough thickness in the walls of the double shot cups to cushion the the effects of the non-compressible tungsten as it passes through the chokes.

Nevertheless, I might not hunt at all if I couldn't use a Parker - with apologies to all makers of modern shotguns...:corn:
.[/QUOTE]

That's cool and to each there own. Its fun to get those birds in close if you can. Old SXS work well for up close and up to 40 yards depending on how gun is choked and which barrel you choose. These guns were obviously designed to shoot to a particular distance with a tried and true lead shot. No need to ask the gun and load to do more than what it can. Steel shot or anything harder was never imagined to be run these old SxS bores, then really no need to try, I know I won't under current circumstances. That's really my point. Actually our Mad Scientist Jerry demonstrated that when he was testing tungsten in patterns and also the carrying power of lead vs tungsten. Lead starts losing it penetration energy at 40 to 50 yards anyway, but its still lethal to small game.

I think the tungsten stuff will be great though and someone clever will find an application that can safely work through an old sxs if there is determined a need for it. I mean seriously if employed correctly it could be incredible. Think about it. You could really lighten up the load and charge possibly and shell size and get better performance and patterns with more shot or about same shot in the pattern as lead. I just think you need a different wad and shot cup or some type of buffer that won't harm the guns barrel and chokes.

Maybe a half ounce of #9 tungsten and high pellet count in say a 20 gauge load could be incredible in a 2.5 inch shell and might even eliminate a good bit of shot stringing. If there is a will and need, there is a way. How great it could be to get a true left barrel load for a grouse in cover or pheasant that gets out to 40 yards and you have a load that has more pellets and penetration to get to them. Interesting possibility.

I dropped Mills off at school and, as I was walking away, he was telling his teacher he went turkey hunting this weekend.

It's one of the most optimistic things I can imagine to hear of a young person who recounts a hunting trip as one of the most meaningful things in his life. I sure hope his teacher understood this and responded well.

Mills, I don't know you, but I hope you and your grandson have many wonderful hunts together in the future. Thanks for taking him, even if it is among (what I am sure is) the easiest and most natural things for you to do. I know it must be a blessing for you to pass on the tradition of hunting and guns to him, but it's still something the rest of us appreciate.

Good hunting!!

Thanks Gary! Fortunately both of my sons enjoy hunting with me.

Oops! I said grandson, thinking you were as old as most of the rest of us -- my apologies. I guess, then, I'm even more optimistic as there are parts of two more generations after mine that will value hunting with fine double guns. Thanks for your tolerance of an "older" hunter.

No problem.

I went Saturday and was headed to another destination but decided to stop at my grandpa's farm which I own now. I said I'd listen for a minute and go on. As soon as I opened the door a gobbler was red hot. Sounded like he was behind my home place so I moved the truck and got out as soon as I could. He was right where I left. Got as close as I could and scared the hen out of the tree. He gobbled still for thirty minutes, and I knew I had him. But he flew down and gobbled going away, apparently to the hen. He finally shut up when he found her. I guessed he was going to a hay field. Went there but no luck. So I decided I would come back late morning after the hen(s) left him.

About 11 my phone rang with a number I did not know. A notorious turkey hunter told me the gobbler was in the bigger hay field with a hen, and wanted to know if he and his grandson, a distant relative could try to kill him. What bad luck. If I had not answered that call. If I had not left there. Anyway how do you turn down a fifteen year old turkey hunter. I made sure he was going to let his grandson shoot and gave permission. It was an easy sneak since the gobbler was next to the interstate highway and noise sneaking up close would not be a factor. Just what I had planned to do.

The phone rang after hunting time ended and the grandpa said the young hunter wanted to talk to me. He thanked me for letting him kill my ace in the hole gobbler I had been saving all spring season. The bird weighed twenty-one pounds! He'll never forget that one as it only took a few calls and the bird came right into him. That could have been me but better for a fifteen year old. I'm at the end of my hunting but he is just beginning and is a good kid and a die-hard hunter already. He said it was forty yards with his Benelli Black Eagle. His second bird for the year and his first one was reported to me to be a twenty-six pounder! :)

Mills sons love to follow him around. The one made every step Mills made at The Southern and as far as I know never said anything negative, he shook every bodies hand that stuck theirs out. I’m a big fan!

Jerry thats one heck of a sacrifice and kind thing to do. You helped to make a wonderful impression and memory for that young man not to mention Grandpa. Thank you.

Jerry you got it right. To you it may be just another turkey. Albeit though taking that bird on the old home place would be something special for you as well. Either way I think you made a wise personal sacrifice that will hopefully pay forward with interest.

I hope you still get your bird but even if you don't this season that alone I would say still qualifies as having a successful season. If you weren't already I'd say you are now a favored nation status to a couple of fellow turkey hunters.

Btw next time you see that young man, tell him he has to take his next bird on the old home place with a SXS. That will make his head spin. You can call it the SXS hunt club.

Jerry,

Seems to me there was a great deal of good "luck" involved here. That young man and his father were lucky to know you(!)

You are laying treasures away...