Rifle Hunting Turkeys; Anyone here do it?

[J E Custom]

States where turkey hunting with a rifle is legal they don't really care anything about turkeys . Turkey hunting is a heritage in the south and it's a art form that most never come to understand. You are one of those cause I'm speaking to you in a foreign language now

I have hunted Turkeys with a bow, a pistol, a shotgun and a rifle. The easiest way to kill a turkey is with a shotgun. Easy doesn't make it a sport, just easy. The hardest way was with a bow. At shotgun distances a bow is still harder because it doesn't have a 30 " pattern and is much slower.

Pistol shooting them is much more difficult than a shotgun because the effective distance is about the same as a shotgun. Taking a turkey's head off at 250 + yards is also a challenge for the shooter and the rifle. We call every turkey in the spring season, based on what weapon is legal and use bow during bow season where bows are the only legal thing you can use, and rifles during rifle season.

I have seen many Turkey's lost and wounded by poor shots with a shotgun, and very few by other means. So I consider any legal method to be sport, as long as you don't miss or injure the game.

I consider any form of hunting a skill, not an art form, and in my opinion a shotgun takes the least skill of any other way used. I hear where you are coming from But agree to disagree.

Just "MY" opinion

J E CUSTOM

 

[yobuck]

Yes. but some times just reach out & grab.
Yep, there they are pickin grit on the road.
Problem with gravel roads like that is that they can hear you coming easier.
Dirt roads are better for that, and be especially watchfull as you approach those curves.
Best to sneak up on the curves. lol
Hey laugh all you want, but it beats sitting on some porch in a rocking chair.
Give me a week and ill have a turkey, Ive seen up to 5 different flocks in one day, but you need to be always tuned in for them. Once theyve seen you its over.
View attachment 222569

 

[204_ruger]

I would like to. I would use my 204 ruger.

 

[Sending156s]

Some states allow Turkeys to be hunted with rifles from .22 Mag thru .223. This seems to upset some people for some reason. Are there any here that hunt turkeys with a rifle? To be honest this has always appealed to me. It is a clean head shot or a miss.

What is your experience?gun)

Check out this video with a pellet rifle head shot on a turkey.

I did it when very young (decades ago) with a 25/06. It was a rifle I hand loaded for precision and shot almost daily. I only messed up meat one time everything else was at the base of the neck. Typical shot was less than 300 yds.

 

[just_jon]

Looking as though PA is about to ban the practice citing decreased turkey numbers due, in part, to the harvest of hens with rifles in the fall. Makes no sense as the fall season accounted for only 18% of harvest In 2019. And of that number, only 33% were harvested with a rifle. Seems as though eliminating the harvest of hens makes better sense in areas where population numbers are down. Funny how adding a 2nd spring tag seems to have had no ill effect on populations, but then again that generated additional revenue whereas the fall tag is part of the general license.

 

[CMP70306]

Looking as though PA is about to ban the practice citing decreased turkey numbers due, in part, to the harvest of hens with rifles in the fall. Makes no sense as the fall season accounted for only 18% of harvest In 2019. And of that number, only 33% were harvested with a rifle. Seems as though eliminating the harvest of hens makes better sense in areas where population numbers are down. Funny how adding a 2nd spring tag seems to have had no ill effect on populations, but then again that generated additional revenue whereas the fall tag is part of the general license.

This topic was discussed on another forum, based on their numbers eliminating rifles would save 900 hens and 1800 total birds out of a total of almost 50,000 turkeys killed. Additionally you are allowed to kill a bearded hen so this rule does nothing to stop the estimated 3,000 bearded hens killed during spring gobbler either. Their statement of "doing it to prevent declining turkey populations" holds no water to anyone who is paying attention when rifles take such a small portion of the total harvest.

Based on the info available it appears this is just a way for the NWTF members of the board to eliminate the rifle hunting of turkeys. Same way one of the members a few years back tried to ban rifles in the fall over safety concerns.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

No fun...even a moron could do it...

 

[HARPERC]

No fun...even a moron could do it...

Perhaps.

I've only went one day at a friends invitation, so take it for what it's worth. If a turkey showed up I would have used his 3.5" Turkey gun, holographic sight etc. What I really desire is a 25-20, or a .25-35 with a home cast bullet. Challenge being in the eye of the beholder.

So many urban and suburban turkey's here they're a nuisance. A good modern air rifle could be a good choice as well.

I can say those 3.5" turkey loads smash skunks.

 

[yobuck]

Well the (elite) among us will always strive too have things done in the proper manor.
Which as a rule coincides with their own opinion.
Farmers have for the most part been blamed for the total demise of the once abundant pheasant population in Pa.
Never mind that pretty much every creature that walks or flys enjoyed pheasants for dinner.
Could it be at all possible that some of those enjoy turkey also?
Or is it to be whatever the elites say it is?

 

[GTN]

I'm from the deep South where spring turkey hunting has an extremely rich heritage. I personally could careless what weapon anyone uses during the fall season but I am on the band wagon that spring should be for gobblers and shotgun/archery.

 

[Treeslug]

Fooling the dumbest animal on earth doesn't make you a hunter.

I take exception to you talking about me in that way. Just because I might look upward in the rain and drown doesn't mean that I am the dumbest animal on Earth. You just haven't met my cousin, Ed. Now he is one strange bird.

 

[DartonJager]

By me if I could turkey hunt with a rifle I would NEVER fail to get one. I seriously doubt I have ever failed to get less than 250-300 yards from a Tom turkey in a field or out in the open somewhere in the last 25 seasons.
Kinda glad I can't, as I would be very concerned as 100% or turkey hunting by me is done from the ground making for the potential to be inline with a Tom someone wants to shoot while I am working him in.