Quote:
Originally Posted by David Gehman
I have been following the praises of this shot and it is remarkable. However, and keep this in mind I have not hunted turkey for more than a few years. I thought the point was to call them in. How many turkeys have been killed with lead shot and old guns? Yes at more than 40 yards with tight chokes a scope is in order, maybe an account for the drop in elevation beyond much more distance?
I guess man will always push the limits.
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The point of my thread was that it would be no longer necessary to carry and hold up that 10 gauge Parker or even an 8 gauge for turkeys. There is nothing worse than crippling a magnificent turkey. Yes, the idea is to get them in less than 40 yards. But sometimes they don't and sometimes we screw up and shoot at over 40; and lose a turkey to the vermin of the woods.
Small bore to me means and is usually accepted to be 16 gauge and smaller. With the TSS, I feel confident that a tightly choked 20 gauge with just one ounce will kill every time out to 40 yards.
On the last turkey I killed on a wet morning before daylight with the trees full of leaves I got within thirty yards of a roosted bird. For nearly an hour I held up a 12 gauge 1910 Fox A grade choked modified and full; I could not have held up a heavy 10. I had my finger over the front trigger thinking he is flying down right in front of me. He flew away and hit the ground at over fifty yards and my brain did not react and I pulled the trigger when he hit the ground. Lead, no bird and a big mistake. With TSS, my light load of 1 1/4 ounces of 9s killed him as dead as a stone. Wrong barrel, wrong choke, too far, but it is a forgiving shot. Next year, I will move down to a 16 or a 20 since I know what it will do. For a stubborn bird, I will take the modern 10 and throw 2 1/4 ounces at him if I get the chance!
My eastern turkeys never react as the ones I watch on TV, coming in in a flock to attack a decoy, and then standing around so a second one gets shot by the cameraman. You'll see my videos are usually in open oak woods and it is one bird at a time. My birds are not TV actors. I'm always baffled by the advertisement for tight choke tubes and special shells, and every video shows a turkey killed at ten yard blowing its head off, where any gun even the lowly .410 would have killed it. When I get them to thirty yards, I let the pattern do the work; I don't wait for the five yard shot.