Turkey Hunting with your Parkers.
 

I have a 12ga Parker VH from 1927 that I'd like to turkey hunt with this year.

Choked M/F.

Just curious what you guys are using for turkeys out of your old Parkers.

I have some RST #5 shot 1.25 oz loads that I think will work well as long as I keep it to a sporting range..... :)

That combo should be perfect.

I use 1 1/8 oz. of #6 for all of my turkey hunting - except when I use my 10-gauge Grade 3 Lifter. Then I use 1 1/2 oz. of #6.





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Almost all of my Turkey's have been taken inside of 30 yds.... So, I agree that load should work. They are labled pheasant loads, but I don't think the turkeys will be offended that they are being shot at with something that doesn't have a turkey picture on the box.... :-)

Right, and I like the smaller #6 shot for the denser pattern it provides.

Use #4 and larger only if you're taking body shots. Head and neck shots are not protected by dense feathers and the bones are pretty dainty and are easily busted up with #6 or #7 and the more pellets you put on that small target the better your chances of success.





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I have taken 3 or 4 turkeys with that exact shell Joe. Personally I just try to keep the shots under 30 yards. I have always used #5's. Seems like over the years the argument has always been 4's vs 6's for the most part so I just split the difference and went with it, same for phez.

I use a 32" 20 gauge DHE with #6 shot. I use 20 gauges for most all of the hunting I do. I feel no need to use anything larger, although I do like my 30" 16 ga DHE as well.

When I first started turkey hunting, I always thought #4's.... I guess... because I grew up a duck hunter, and a turkey is bigger than a duck, and #4's is the largest legal shot size, that is what I used. Many years ago, I switched to using #6 or #5. I just happen to have 3 boxes of #5 RST's, so that is what I am likely to use. I wouldn't mind sticking a #6 in the mod barrel, and a #5 in the full..... :D

That would be a good split.





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I shoot 6 s in my 10,12 and 20 ga guns 1 1/2 oz in 10 ga, 1 1/4 oz in 12 ga and 1 oz in the 20.
Scott

I like a no 2 in the left barrel and a no 6 in the right barrel...a 2 ounce load in the 3 1/2 inch 12 ga and 2 1/4 ounce in the 10 ga and this year 2 1/2 ounce in the 8 ga. works for me

I find this shot size discussion interesting. Old man Lynch, of the "Lynch box call fame" said "there isn't a turkey alive that can withstand a load of 7 1/2's in the head at 30 yards or so" but he did not say out of what choke. I have killed several with 7 1/2's called in at under 30 yards and they died right there. I dont think I would go below 6's for a well called in tom what with decoys and all.

I'll be shooting 7 1/2's out of all my guns this year and likely will use either my Parker GH, Meriden or Lefever. The Meriden is the killer.

https://i.imgur.com/SY7fYvC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/tGOxjT8.jpg

JMHO

I have every intention of killing a turkey with a 16 SxS this year, something I've never done. Which gun?

VH 2 3/4" C/IC
Trojan 2 1/2" F/F
GH 2 1/2" M/F
aYa 2 1/2" M/XF

I'm just guessing you guys/gals won't be pulling for the aYa. It's an old coin finished rainy day gun. I have a hunch it's gonna be the GH I just got in. Just have to find a load in that length from RST now.

I would take the Trojan hands down!!





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I’m going to take one of these two . 2 ounces of #6’s in the right barrel and 2 ounces of #4’s in the left barrel .

I think either of those 8-bores will deliver the message you want to send.





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Biggest question in the equation is if I can get my butt out the bed and go ! For me it’s a lot harder to get up early in the spring than it is in the fall .:whistle:

Just as a question.... In Illinois we are allowed to use any shotgun from 20 ga up to 10 ga. What states are you hunting that allow 8 ga. guns ? And, do your regulations specifically say 8 ga. is legal ?

Oh, yea, #4 shot is the biggest shot allowed in IL

Thanks

That's the problem a couple of my hunting buddies experience. They watch, squinting in the early sunrise from the camp windows down across 450 yards of corn stubble to the edge of the woods as the longbeards topple and for a few seconds flap weakly on the ground and a second or two later they hear the "POW" of my gun.

I get out there when the stars are still out and they just roll over in their sleeping bags as I noisily stoke up the fire and curse their lazy carcasses just before I step outside. :biglaugh:





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Bruce, as your "neighbor," Missouri also prohibits using anything larger than a 10 gauge. It seems an antiquated prohibition with all of the changes to shotguns that have occurred. So, we can shoot a 2+ ounce loads through a 12 gauge, but not a smaller load through a 100 year old 8 gauge. Go figure.

Garry:

My question exactly. However, and dont shoot (the pun is intended) the messenger but.... I can see the wardens going nuts having to figure out the length and weight of a given 8 ga legal load just like when we changed to Non Tox for waterfowl. They would need a scale etc. and so many wardens now days dont come from hunting/shooting backgrounds that they dont even know about older shotguns and loads.

I suspect the various agency's would have to run workshops for their wardens/CPO's, and as you having been in the education business like I was for 37 years, I think that could be a cluster.

Let me state, I am all for it.

Andy I would use the trojan and stuff it with 2 3/4" 1 1/8 oz #6's, if the GH has steel barrels that will work also. Another load that works well is the 16 ga short magnum with 1 1/4 ounces of #6.

Bruce,

You are spot on that the devil is in the details, but we seem to have managed the non-toxic shot matter for waterfowl, even when guys are reloading shells from lead shot with something that meets the law.

I know that the move to ban lead in all hunting is percolating in the US. I've often thought that if we move that way we might consider "grandfathering" old guns (hmmm, maybe old shooters, too) so that their owners could use lead. We would reduce lead in the environment and keep those old guns alive. Yes, we can use non-toxic for all guns, but with the cost of those shells (even as reloads), you will very likely lose a number of hunters at a time when that's exactly what conservation does not need.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

When Mr. Watson, owner of the Watson Egg Farm on property adjoining Davies’ Blue Rock Kennels, asked Davies and Foster in the late teens - early twenties, to change their “Shooting Round the Clock” layout because the shot was landing in his chicken yard, I wonder if it was for safety reasons or because his chickens were dying from lead ingestion....?





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Sound advice in my opinion. I use #4's for fall birds and shoot for the body. But I just got an old bag of #3 from my friend Destry with a lighter for my pipe. Many thanks Destry.

Back in the day, I used #3's I got from Herter's for geese. I loved the way 3's patterned in my goose gun. Number 2's were all over the map. I plan to use Destry's 3's for turkey this fall. It will be good to shoot my old load again.

Andy, NO EUROTRASH!!!!

I usually use a 12g Remington Special pump with a red dot for turkey. I roll my own TSS shells and use #9 shot. I normally take my birds within 25 yards over decoys but occasionally I have one hang up. That TSS stoned a big Tom a few years ago at 65 yards. It dropped right there, flapped it's wings three times and was stone cold dead!! Usually I am fortunate enough to take two gobblers in the spring with an extra special spring turkey tag. Not sure what I will do this year? Will I use the tried and true pump? Will I use the SC trap gun loaded with lead 7 1/2s? Will I use a single shot .410 with a red dot and 3" TSS shells?? I'll know by Saturday, 1 May when our season opens.

Shoot the SC and kill a longbeard monarch. Take some good pictures and write the story and submit it to Parker Pages. They might accept it... and then again, they might not. But rest assured, they’ll only accept it if you’re shooting a Parker.





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I'm thinking I might use my SC Davis / Gitman gun for turkeys this spring. I'll just have to be careful not to shoot too high given the trap diminsions of the stock.

Right! Pattern it before opening day.





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Exactly. I know it shoots 30 / 70 at 40 yards but I haven't patterned it yet with 6's. It should handle them well but you never know how a barrel will shoot until you pattern it. I don't use the turkey head targets but pattern my turkey guns using the 30" circle at 40 yards.

You must have an aim point don’t you? A black spot to aim at?





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Yes, I use a small stick on florescent dot made for rifle targeting with large chart paper.

Why MO doesn't allow an antique 8ga in the woods is silly, but a lot of the rules on what you can use, or not use here in MO baffle me sometimes...... It's like our former Muzzleloader season, it's now called "alternate" weapon season, and the mix of what's allowed or not allowed is just plain silly when you can kill a deer with an inline muzzloader easily out to two hundy.....

We are also limited to shot no larger than #4, which makes sense given that there are too many people in the woods who do not do a good job of identifying their target before they cut loose......

I'll probably use the #5 RST's in the VH for bird one, then use the LC Smith 16ga for bird 2 with #6 pheasant loads. :D

I heard the editors are fussy and real hard asses about the articles!! :whistle::corn:

We’ll see about that after the Summer Issue hits my mailbox...:corn:





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Dean....Do you hunt turkey in Vermont? How is the hunting up there? What gun do you use and what load?

My family moved from Andover to Wilmington in 1823. I go to Wlimington once a year to visit their old graves. I love Vermont.

I hunt almost exclusively in Vermont - deer, grouse, woodcock, turkeys, and a lifetime of memories. My Dad brought me to deer camp there in about ‘56 and I go back each and every season for long weekends and weeks at a time. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom is in my blood and I have no idea who I’d be if I never went there.

I have hunted turkeys on my cousin’s farm in Jefferson Ohio a number of times and just 3 or 4 years ago a friend and I have been deer and turkey hunting in MA about 50 miles west of Andover.

I have a 12 gauge DH with F/F chokes and a 10 ga. D Lifter with 30” Damascus barrels (chokes unknown but it kills turkeys) and I shoot off the shelf 1 1/4 oz. of 6 in the DH and 1 1/2 oz. of 6 in 2 3/4” loads made for me by Frank Cronin.

I have a lot of fun with either one. This year it will be the job of the Lifter as my DH is with Brian Board for a stock conversion (I hope).





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How close is your hunting spot to where the Benoit clan lived ?

I really don't know Craig, Vermont's a pretty small state. Do you know where they live/hunt? I know they say they do all of their hunting on public land and there's a LOT of that in Vermont.





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Dean, every time I read something like this, where a hunter is drawn to his "home" covers, I can't help but hear Gordon McQuarrie quoting Mr. President: "Always good to get away...always good to come home" (Maybe not exact, but close enough). I miss clear running water and mountains here in North Missouri (having grown up in Virginia), but it's home now after 41 years, and I find it's the best place to be come Fall. I keep thinking I'll go to New England to grouse/woodcock hunt some day, but it's hard to think of when, knowing I'd be leaving my own "home covers." Maybe that's why I enjoy so much when you (especially you) and others post your accounts of hunting in New England. I can experience it vicariously. I hope you have many more days in your Vermont.