8 Gauge Osceola Turkey

[Phillip Carr]

I purchased the Osceola Turkey hunt that Bob Hayes kindly donated to PGCA. THis was offered up at the annual meeting last year in Vegas at the silent auction.
I hope to do an article for the Parker Pages shortly but wanted to share a few pictures for now. Took this turkey on the 2nd day of the hunt. I had made up my mind to use my Parker 8 gauge a decision I’m glad I made. 1 3/4 oz of number 4’s did I he trick.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=61042&stc=1&d=1520650129

[Phillip Carr]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=61043&stc=1&d=1520650486

[Jim DiSpagno]

Way to go Phil. Nice bird and nicer gun and Florida hunting is pretty decent

[Dean Romig]

Wow what a load! I'll bet he went down llke he was pole-axed!

Nice gun - nice long-beard - can't wait for the story!





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[CraigThompson]

Nice bird ! I'd be intrested to hear about the gun ��

[charlie cleveland]

way to go....nice long beard for sure...what was your recipe in that 1 3/4 ounce load...how far was the turkey taken...thats a nice 8 ga looks to be quite a bit of case colors left on it...charlie

[Phillip Carr]

Here is some more information. I hunted with Bob Hayes a member of PGCA that owns Little Lake Lodge. Bob was able to film much of the hunt. The Parker is my a Quality R that was shipped to Philadelphia in 1903. It has 36” Twist barrels. LOP of 14” and a drop at heel of 2 3/4”. A special request to pattern using Goose shot. The gun weighs 13 lb. 2 oz. This gun was case colored before I purchased it over 5 years ago. The wood had been poorly refinished so off it came and it was sent to Chris to be rechecked and refinished. The barrel was sent to Buck Hamlin for refinish. Yep its a restored gun, but ended up being better than I found it and shoots great.
The shells were loaded by Tom Armbrust and the loads are as follows.
Winchester clear Industrial hull with the plastic base. Win. 209 primer, 31.5 gr of Hodgdon International clays, Remington Sp-8, 1 3/4 oz of #4 shot. 6 fold crimp 1223 FPS and 8880 PSI.
The Gobbler shot at 35 yards went down like he was hit with a bat. The other Gobblers that came in with him went to gobbling and Spurring him as he flopped around from the pellets to the head.
That sure gets the old heart jump started. Not sure of the weight but he had a nice thick beard of a lenght of 9”.
To add a little extra spice I was able to shoot some Bobwhites over a Great Llewellin English Setter.
I also went along as an observer on a Swamp buggy while a 2 of Bob’s guides took out 3 hunters hunting hogs. Chasing them with them with dogs. Pretty cool. 3 hogs were taken.

[Bob Hayes]

What a great time we had and hunt.Pleasure hunting with you Phil and good conversations.
That gun is awesome after a few hours around a gun like that one will start thinking crazy thoughts.Like I can use a gun like that here.Asking questions about possibly selling the gun.Even getting as far as a possible cost.
Thank God it was only a 3 day hunt.
Pleasure Phil thanks for coming.

[Mills Morrison]

That is awesome

[Shawn Wayment]

Awesome!!!

[Randy G Roberts]

Congrats Phil. I have hunted turkeys almost exclusively with archery equipment the last 10 or so years having never tried to harvest one with a SxS. After seeing some of the pics and posts on this site, yours included, I have vowed to pursue one this spring with a particular VHE 12 bore I have in mind. We'll see what happens....

[todd allen]

You can own a lot of real estate with an ounce and three quarters of 4s.

[Jeff Kuss]

Randy,
Would that vhe have 34" barrels?

[Phillip Carr]

Thanks for the nice comments. If you have never been on a spring turkey hunt you are really missing out. The 8 gauge made the Osciola turkey hunt even more special.
I did not get drawn for turkey hunting in AZ again this year so will be going to New Mexico to try and fill a couple of tags.
I think for weight reasons I will try shooting my next bird with my Parker 32” VH 20 gauge. The 8 is a flat ground or young mans turkey gun.
The only thing that can get my heart to jump as much as an old spring gobbler going off while on a cold morning is the sound of a Bull elk screaming on opening day of archery season during the rut.

[Randy G Roberts]

Randy,
Would that vhe have 34" barrels?

Yes it would have.