I'm totally against it. Not because of it being easy or not giving the bird a shooting chance, but because no one wears orange like they do deer hunting.
But rifles and turkey hunting should never mix. Public or private, don't matter. I know we all want an upper hand but sometimes we need to limit things. If you want a turkey so bad you need a rifle, the grocery stores will help you fill that tag without it. Besides with today's loads like TSS I can take a bird easily at 50 yds with a 20 gauge.
The sport of turkey hunting is to call the Tom to within that 20-30 yds that you mentioned, shooting a Tom in the head at 300 yds with a rifle is a shooting challenge not a hunting one (yes I understand this is a long range shooting forum) most people don't shoot turkeys in the head at 300 yds .
You guys do realize i was kidding right?In the 1930s my father hunted them with 22LR in CA.
Saying it shouldnt be allowed is like saying motorcycles dont belong on the highway with cars. There are rules. Just because the Indians hunted them with arrows no reason to say thats the only way. There are separate seasons for bow and rifle so if the old diehards cant handle it, separate them from the rest of us. With 22LR, there are no wounded turkeys. its either a kill or a miss. I would chalange one of these old sports to try hitting a turkey with a rifle. The "sport" is in being good enough that you dont have to have a shotgun full of bullets to hit them!!!! Just one bullet.......