A friend heard I was going turkey hunting and started to express interest. When he found out I was using a BP shotgun he got even more interested and excited - the next day he called to say he bought a hunting license and if I ever had room he'd like to come. Not being a gun-owner he didn't have much clue, but he has shot rifle and shotguns several decades ago. We arrived at the ranch and loaded up a 12-gauge SxS. I gave him the shotgun and we set out into the brush. I called at a few spots for up to a half-hour but there was no response.
We broke for lunch and I took out some rifles. One, a Purdey English Sporting Rifle in .58 had yet to be fired beyond 50-yards. It has a fixed leaf and a folding leaf. I demonstrated the loading procedure and shot a group at 50-yards. Now, what I really wanted was to check it at 100-yards. After a few shots I had a group and determined the POI at 100-yards with the fixed blade. A few shots with the folding blade were unaccounted for, so for now I won't be using that blade. My friend wanted to try, so I watched him load and shoot. We were both pleased that he hit the target and had a group at 100-yards! His groups was a bit left of mine but he has good retained skills for someone that hasn't shot a rifle in over 20-years.
Next up was my flintlock .54 English Sporting Rifle. This one has a peep sight. I was checking two things: the peep was all the way down and the impact was still a little high, and this rifle shoot a clean barrel shot to a completely different place than subsequent shots. I had worked on the sight so it was able to go down just slightly. I went right to 100-yards since I have used this rifle at that range many times. Sure enough, the clean barrel shot was not on the paper. After a long and thorough cleaning job, the next shot was absent as well. To make my point to myself, I shot a second shot on the dirty barrel and it was in the black bullseye. 4 more shots landed in a group. I don't want to clean after every shot on the range - it takes too long and is just a pain. I will just shoot a cotton ball out of this rifle prior to loading it for hunting. We cleaned and tried the puffer load before a "real" load and it worked. I gave my friend the rifle and he was able to put 3 shots on the paper within close proximity to the black - pretty good for 100-yards with a flintlock on the first time trying.
As we packed up the rifles we heard the first gobble of the day! We went back to the shotgun and wandered towards the turkey. I make a few clucks and the Tom was responding. We picked a spot and set-up a decoy. My friend was in front and I was calling from a few yards behind him. At least a 15-minute exchange of "cluck cluck cluck". "gobble gobble" followed. The dry dust was making my itchy and the hot sun was starting to cause a real desire for some water. But this bird was coming. Finally, a gobble resonated just right in front of us. Like a ghost, the gobbler was instantly standing on a dirt trail where nothing had been a moment ago. I was waiting for my friend to shoot. This is a really big turkey just 15-yards from him. After 30-seconds in the road, the bird came behind my friend and came from my right to left, crossing right in front of me. I could have easily hit it with a long stick (I didn't have a gun). We were both wearing a HECS suit - and if anyone knows much about them, you are darn near invisible to a turkey with one of these suits on. When the bird was sufficiently far away, I went over and asked what happened. My friend was all smiles, but said, "I froze in awe". I told him he should have shot and he said, "It took my breath away". Pretty cool for a man in his 60's to be mesmerized by a bird!
We decided to travel to another ranch that was on the way home. We met up with the lady that owns the ranch and she wanted to ride out in the truck with us. On the first loop around the main ranch road we saw 5 gobblers! We parked in the shade and left the Lady to finish her business on her phone. A hundred yards away I set up a decoy and began the calling. A bird responded immediately and started making its way towards us. I called sparingly because the Tom was covering a lot of ground quickly. A saw a flicker of color and there he was, all puffed up at about 35-yards. The bird hung around again for a while and wandered off. I asked my friend what happened and he said he thought the bird was too far to shoot. Well, better safe than sorry. The Lady invited us back next week.
Not knowing what to expect from my friend having had a good hunt but not firing a shot, I dropped him off at home and went about my business. The next morning he called with some black powder related questions. Then he asked, "do you have any books or magazines about black powder hunting that I could look at"? I said I would drop some off and I told him about this site. Later that afternoon he called and asked if I could take him turkey hunting again this Monday. Sure! Stand by for Part 2! He's hooked.....
We broke for lunch and I took out some rifles. One, a Purdey English Sporting Rifle in .58 had yet to be fired beyond 50-yards. It has a fixed leaf and a folding leaf. I demonstrated the loading procedure and shot a group at 50-yards. Now, what I really wanted was to check it at 100-yards. After a few shots I had a group and determined the POI at 100-yards with the fixed blade. A few shots with the folding blade were unaccounted for, so for now I won't be using that blade. My friend wanted to try, so I watched him load and shoot. We were both pleased that he hit the target and had a group at 100-yards! His groups was a bit left of mine but he has good retained skills for someone that hasn't shot a rifle in over 20-years.
Next up was my flintlock .54 English Sporting Rifle. This one has a peep sight. I was checking two things: the peep was all the way down and the impact was still a little high, and this rifle shoot a clean barrel shot to a completely different place than subsequent shots. I had worked on the sight so it was able to go down just slightly. I went right to 100-yards since I have used this rifle at that range many times. Sure enough, the clean barrel shot was not on the paper. After a long and thorough cleaning job, the next shot was absent as well. To make my point to myself, I shot a second shot on the dirty barrel and it was in the black bullseye. 4 more shots landed in a group. I don't want to clean after every shot on the range - it takes too long and is just a pain. I will just shoot a cotton ball out of this rifle prior to loading it for hunting. We cleaned and tried the puffer load before a "real" load and it worked. I gave my friend the rifle and he was able to put 3 shots on the paper within close proximity to the black - pretty good for 100-yards with a flintlock on the first time trying.
As we packed up the rifles we heard the first gobble of the day! We went back to the shotgun and wandered towards the turkey. I make a few clucks and the Tom was responding. We picked a spot and set-up a decoy. My friend was in front and I was calling from a few yards behind him. At least a 15-minute exchange of "cluck cluck cluck". "gobble gobble" followed. The dry dust was making my itchy and the hot sun was starting to cause a real desire for some water. But this bird was coming. Finally, a gobble resonated just right in front of us. Like a ghost, the gobbler was instantly standing on a dirt trail where nothing had been a moment ago. I was waiting for my friend to shoot. This is a really big turkey just 15-yards from him. After 30-seconds in the road, the bird came behind my friend and came from my right to left, crossing right in front of me. I could have easily hit it with a long stick (I didn't have a gun). We were both wearing a HECS suit - and if anyone knows much about them, you are darn near invisible to a turkey with one of these suits on. When the bird was sufficiently far away, I went over and asked what happened. My friend was all smiles, but said, "I froze in awe". I told him he should have shot and he said, "It took my breath away". Pretty cool for a man in his 60's to be mesmerized by a bird!
We decided to travel to another ranch that was on the way home. We met up with the lady that owns the ranch and she wanted to ride out in the truck with us. On the first loop around the main ranch road we saw 5 gobblers! We parked in the shade and left the Lady to finish her business on her phone. A hundred yards away I set up a decoy and began the calling. A bird responded immediately and started making its way towards us. I called sparingly because the Tom was covering a lot of ground quickly. A saw a flicker of color and there he was, all puffed up at about 35-yards. The bird hung around again for a while and wandered off. I asked my friend what happened and he said he thought the bird was too far to shoot. Well, better safe than sorry. The Lady invited us back next week.
Not knowing what to expect from my friend having had a good hunt but not firing a shot, I dropped him off at home and went about my business. The next morning he called with some black powder related questions. Then he asked, "do you have any books or magazines about black powder hunting that I could look at"? I said I would drop some off and I told him about this site. Later that afternoon he called and asked if I could take him turkey hunting again this Monday. Sure! Stand by for Part 2! He's hooked.....
