Denser patterns

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Frank Srebro

Funny, just yesterday there was a discussion over breakfast on the way to our sporting club, about the merits of the modern practice of shooting fine shot at turkeys and going for the head. The concensus by several long time hunters is, that works well when the bird is called in relatively close, but also that the old timers knew what they were doing by shooting 2's as generally recommended by the period ammo companies for the large birds. Again, 4's are the max allowed for turkeys nowadays here in PA.

Frank, what do you and your friends consider to be "fine shot"?

4's are the "max allowed", meaning the largest shot size allowed? Wouldn't that have been a wise decision, considering 4's and smaller would allow for a denser pattern than 2's and larger?.... keeping in mind not every turkey hunter uses a gun choked 'extra full' or tighter.

[Cold Spring]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Frank, what do you and your friends consider to be "fine shot"?

4's are the "max allowed", meaning the largest shot size allowed? Wouldn't that have been a wise decision, considering 4's and smaller would allow for a denser pattern than 2's and larger?.... keeping in mind not every turkey hunter uses a gun choked 'extra full' or tighter.

Dean, some good questions ..... I consider fine shot for turkeys to be 6's and smaller diameter. Surely, fine shot will create a denser pattern and is very effective for turkeys at moderate range, but as the yardage stretches, the velocity and thus energy/penetration of fine shot drops off much more quickly than 4's or better yet 2's. There's just no substitute for body cavity penetration at longish ranges. The largest diameter allowed in PA is size 4 lead. And if it were legal today for turkeys I'd be shooting hard lead 2's in my 3-inch 12's and short 10's - both with heavy, high velocity loads. As I do for called predators in the winter. Again, all this is my opinion only but it's based on years of fox hunting with trailing hounds when I was a kid, and having hunted turkeys even when we had to drive to the deep mountains to find the few that were around then. My hunting mentor "Goldie" used 2's, period, he killed hundreds of foxes for bounty, and a fox is a whole lot smaller than a turkey. How I wish I might once again hear the baying of his hounds as they got closer, the adrenaline got to pumping, and I knew that '97 was loaded with Peters 2's. It's just too easy to misjudge range when in the woods, and see wounded heavier game run off or fly away.