A question of long barrels.....

[Skychief]

Imagine you are after turkeys with a 42"+ barreled fowler. A gobbler approaches you VERY slowly and you have the gun shouldered in his direction as you sit with your back against a tree. Your arm is NOT resting on your knee as you hold the fowler and it is too late to try to rest that arm in that way (on your knee), because the turkey will see you move.

How long can you hold this position with that long barreled fowler? 5, 10, 15 minutes??? That muzzle can't be wiggling around neither or the wise old tom will see ya for sure!

I have had them take 15 to 30 minutes before finally nearing within range after they are in view. I have only used a short (28") barreled 12 gauge smoothbore and have not had a problem holding it still.


I am wanting to build a fowler in 20 gauge and will turkey hunt with it a lot (as well as squirrel, rabbit and deer hunt), hence the question....

If I go long (42" or longer), will I regret it with a super shy gobbler one day? :idunno: Would I be better served by a shorter (38", or less yet) barrel?

Please, fire away....I need some input.

Thanks much, Skychief. :hatsoff:


Mods: If this should go into the hunting category, please move with my apologies. I thought I might get more responses here :idunno: and the question involves barrel length of a smoothbore. Thanks.

 

[BrownBear]

I can't say about holding steady.

But from traditional enthusiasts I hear claims that the longer barrels deliver tighter patterns in cylinder bore guns. If so, that might be a trade-off if you're going cylinder bore rather than jug choking or something.

 

[Skychief]

Indeed BrownBear, indeed! :hmm:

It will be cylinder bored for sure.

Our own George is mostly responsible for my building a multi-use fowler....His "notebook" has mesmerized me many times over concerning the do-it-all fowler idea.

"Thanks George"! :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Shouldn't be too bad with a fowler. I use a 44" barreled "C" profile rifle that weighs a pound or two more in the barrel. ;-) I have had to freeze waiting for a deer to take a step and instead it decides to stare my direction. Seems like an eternity.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

If you buy an off the shelf barrel it will be heavier than an original fowling barrel due to the the thick walls out on the end.This will still be manageable.
Be careful of what profile to bore size you end up with on stock barrels as they sometimes make multiple bore sizes on the same profile. An example would be the Colerain 44" octagon to round barrels. The 20 and the 16 bore have the same outside dimensions for production/cost purposes and the 20 in that model will be quite heavy.

 

[Robby]

Skychief, To many variables to make any determination on how long you could hold without moving, like weight of gun, how fit you are, how determined you are, etc.. I use a 42" barreled 16ga. mostly and just move at a speed that I perceive the surrounding flora to be moving, If its not moving, I move even slower, even if it is only moving a knee to rest my elbow on. I am always surprised at how much movement you can get away with, and I don't wear camo. Course I only get the dumb ones. :grin:
Robby

 

[gsday]

my 16 bore 44" fowler weighs just under 7 pounds, and most of that weight is between your hands.

I really don't think it's any tougher than most breech loading shotguns.

I do agree though, It is always nice if you can get it on your knee before he pops out in the open woods.

Greg

 

[paulvallandigham]

Skychief: Its called "Hunting", not " Gettin'" for a reason. Anyone can get " busted" by the game he hunts.

Q. Is there brush and undergrowth in front of your stand, or do you use some low camouflage material to cover the lower half of your body when you take a "sit", or "stand"? Turkeys have their eyes on the sides of their skulls, so they do not have binocular vision. Depth perception is limited. That is why they respond to any movement,rather than any stationary object. Camo helps to CONCEAL MOVEMENT, because it further impeded depth perception. I would suggest that the gun remain low out of view under brush, or behind a camo screen you provide , until the turkey comes within range. Then wait for its vision of you to be blocked by an intervening tree, branch, or bush, before you mount the gun to your shoulder, and aim it at where the turkey will appear from behind that barrier. This strategy cuts down the time the gun has to be held steady, yets puts you on the bird as soon as he is within shooting range of the gun. You can cock the hammer back to full-cock anytime the bird is visible, and simply hold the cock in the full-cock notch with your thumb until you mount the gun to your shoulder.

Always pull back on the trigger, to lower the sear out of the half-cock notch, while you are cocking the hammer back to full cock. Then release the trigger so that the sear will enter the full cock notch without making that audible "Click" hunters fear. When the trigger is forward, again, you can slowly lower the hammer to the full cock position.

Practice this with an unloaded gun, at home, so you have confidence in the movement, before you try this in the field. Its much better on your nerves.

When you set up a "stand" for turkey hunting, you can either pile up local brush to camo your lower body, and clear the area around the stand so you can move more quietly, or you can set up some fabric in camo print of your choice, to cover your movements. This allows you to use box calls, behind the screen, which helps dissipate the sound so that the bird has more trouble fixing your location.

Put your back against a tree to break up your silhouette, and to protect yourself from being shot in the back by some idiot who thinks he's stalking a turkey, when he hears your calls, and shoots at movement- Just in case. The best set-up of decoys employs multiple hen decoys in different positions, and a couple of JAKE decoys approaching the girls. Nothing will get a Tom to forget everything, and throw caution to the wind than seeing a group of Ladies in his territory being "courted" by some "lowly" Jakes.

All that having been said, You don't have to hunt turkeys very long, IMHO, before all your best laid plans go out the window, and the biggest Tom you have ever seen comes in quietly, without having made a sound, from behind you in the woods. He may walk right past you, or bust you and take off without you ever getting a shot at him. Those are some of the best memories, and makes actually taking a Turkey with any gun a Trophy to picture, and remember always.

Some claim that you only shoot the stupid ones, but I don't believe it. The old Toms may just have to be "seduced" a bit more aggressively. Giving them an opportunity to drive off Jakes in front of the "ladies" works. :hmm: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Robby]

Then, there are those that will paw through a pile of duck dew looking for a grain of rice when the paddy is ripe for the harvest.
Robby

 

[paulvallandigham]

Robby: Are you suggesting that not all turkeys are the brightest bulbs in the marquee??? I suppose there is a reason they were almost shot into extinction here in N.America, back in the 18th and 19th centuries. :hmm: :grin:

 

[Robby]

I'm just saying, that by the time my hunting days are over, I'll have cleansed the local, turkey gene pool to such a degree, that the remaining braintrust will probably be making space shuttles.
Robby

 

[George]

Or the one which hopped up on my foam decoy and bred it. Several times.

Spence

 

[Snow on the Roof]

These Lincoln Land birds must be physics majors compared to your Empire State birds. I've tried off and on for ten years and can't seem to bring one to bare with flintlock or longbow... :surrender:

Snow

 

[Jason Lewis]

the birds in so ill are incredibly difficult to hunt. i've learned on them, and more often then not go home empty handed but with fond memories and dreams of next season. can't wait for sping in the crab orchard...

ps. it took me 10 years to go through 1 10rnd box of turkey shells. that included patterning.

 

[rabjr]

It will be interesting to see how my new .20ga handles. Normally I have difficulty with long barreled guns due to the weight and length but I went with a 41" barrel on this new gun for Turkeys/deer because it will be around 6 1/2 lbs and should be managable for me.

 

[BrownBear]

Just to clarify, the near-extinction of turkeys happened at night and not in broad daylight as they're hunted today. I bet 100 turkeys were shot out of their roost trees by lantern light or moon light for every 1 shot in daylight. Back when, they called that "hunting," too.

I doubt it was legal and he certainly went over bag limit, but back when I was little I was on hand late one night when a favorite uncle used 22 shorts to take 11 out of a single tree. He stopped at that because he figured it was all we could carry. He could probably have killed off the whole flock if he wanted because none flew, even as we walked (staggered) away.

Still happens today, I'm sure. I know some pretty basic folks that see a distinction between "sporting" and eating.

 

[hoochiepapa]

...and I don't know about anyone else but I like the fact that it's hard with an ml. :hatsoff:

 

[Robby]

Snow, I don't know how they would compare on a written exam, but on the orals, I think we would gobble you up, Hah! They beat me for years when I hunted with my long bow, I had to up the technology to a flintlock before I could finally claim one, and it has become one of my favorite things to do because of that. Best of luck this spring!
Robby

 

[Dphar]

Just to clarify, the near-extinction of turkeys happened at night and not in broad daylight as they're hunted today. I bet 100 turkeys were shot out of their roost trees by lantern light or moon light for every 1 shot in daylight. Back when, they called that "hunting," too.

I doubt it was legal and he certainly went over bag limit, but back when I was little I was on hand late one night when a favorite uncle used 22 shorts to take 11 out of a single tree. He stopped at that because he figured it was all we could carry. He could probably have killed off the whole flock if he wanted because none flew, even as we walked (staggered) away.

Still happens today, I'm sure. I know some pretty basic folks that see a distinction between "sporting" and eating.

I am told that this was the common manner of hunting by my forebears.

Dan

 

[spudnut]

I had a Lanchaster fowler by Jackie Brown and it was balanced so well you hardly noticed muzzle weight at all.It was that balanced with a 42 inch barrel.Unforturnatly I sold it to buy another gun,the only way I can change up,But I wish I still had that one.