Spring Turkey

[deermanok]

Congrats on a good hunt.

 

[Roundball2319]

Thanks.

 

[Brokennock]

Congratulations to the o.p.

In response to someone else, I forget who and it doesn't matter. It may not take a large bore smoothie to get the job done, but, many states have a minimum gauge or bore.

I wish I could figure out how to purr on a wingbone call. In the past, when there were still turkeys on the properties I usually hunt, soft purrs and clocks would often bring birds in those final yards.
Now all I see is destruction and ATVs.

 

[Ponderosaman]

Congratulations to the o.p.

In response to someone else, I forget who and it doesn't matter. It may not take a large bore smoothie to get the job done, but, many states have a minimum gauge or bore.

I wish I could figure out how to purr on a wingbone call. In the past, when there were still turkeys on the properties I usually hunt, soft purrs and clocks would often bring birds in those final yards.
Now all I see is destruction and ATVs.

It is difficult to purr on a wingbone. That’s better left to a pot and scratcher. I also am not a big fan of ATVs.

 

[Roundball2319]

Congratulations to the o.p.

In response to someone else, I forget who and it doesn't matter. It may not take a large bore smoothie to get the job done, but, many states have a minimum gauge or bore.

I wish I could figure out how to purr on a wingbone call. In the past, when there were still turkeys on the properties I usually hunt, soft purrs and clocks would often bring birds in those final yards.
Now all I see is destruction and ATVs.

Thanks. I often hunt with a friend that is in his mid 70's. He taught me how to hunt America's greatest game bird. He still gets out and puts the miles in hiking to birds. We both don't like the Atvs. As the years go by with them in the woods we see less and less turkeys in the areas where turkeys use to thrive.

 

[Roundball2319]

A little more info on the muzzleloader. It is a stock I got from my mentor who taught me how to muzzle load as well as turkey hunting. I got the barrel from a member here. It was pitted and I spent a weekend polishing out with a dowel, some break free, and different grades of sandpaper. The shot came from a dusty corner in my mentors barn.

 

[Eterry]

If you pattern the load, know what it will do and have confidence in it, it doesn't take a handful of shot to down a turkey. Only ONE pellet in the right place will do the job. You called him in to a close range, not a 40 or 45 yard shot as some try with modern weapons. I see no reason Not to take that shot, given the circumstances.

My good friend made and used wing bone calls. He was gonna help me make one, but a routine visit to the hospital proved fatal. RIP George Wikel.

 

[megasupermagnum]

If you pattern the load, know what it will do and have confidence in it, it doesn't take a handful of shot to down a turkey. Only ONE pellet in the right place will do the job. You called him in to a close range, not a 40 or 45 yard shot as some try with modern weapons. I see no reason Not to take that shot, given the circumstances.

My good friend made and used wing bone calls. He was gonna help me make one, but a routine visit to the hospital proved fatal. RIP George Wikel.

20 yards is quite the shot for a cylinder bore muzzleloader shooting such a light load. With #7.5 shot, sure. With #4? I'm willing to bet you have a 50% chance of missing a turkeys neck and brain. Who knows. Maybe a #4 at that distance will punch through the breasts anyway, making it a moot point.

 

[Eterry]

Then I guess Roundball should've bought a lottery ticket after taking the Tom, and the bird was having a bad day before it answered the call...Some days it just doesn't pay to get off the roost. Remember it is a 56 cal, not a 12 Bore.

I'm reminded of the story of the bullet company customer service operator. His favorite response was "Sir, tell me exactly at what point in the animal's death did our bullet fail?

 

[Roundball2319]

If you pattern the load, know what it will do and have confidence in it, it doesn't take a handful of shot to down a turkey. Only ONE pellet in the right place will do the job. You called him in to a close range, not a 40 or 45 yard shot as some try with modern weapons. I see no reason Not to take that shot, given the circumstances.

My good friend made and used wing bone calls. He was gonna help me make one, but a routine visit to the hospital proved fatal. RIP George Wikel.

Sorry you lost your friend.

 

[Roundball2319]

20 yards is quite the shot for a cylinder bore muzzleloader shooting such a light load. With #7.5 shot, sure. With #4? I'm willing to bet you have a 50% chance of missing a turkeys neck and brain. Who knows. Maybe a #4 at that distance will punch through the breasts anyway, making it a moot point.

In my experience with using the unmentionables I prefer #5 shot for all around range and pattern density. I didn't have any of that size but plan on working up a load in that size for next year. I do appreciate your input in the discussion thus far and I very well could have gotten lucky. While I said the range was 20 yards it was somewhere between 15 and 20 yards. I patterned a few at 25, 20, and 15. Between 15 and 20 I was getting hits in the head and neck areas on the targets. Not a nice dense pattern but hits none the less.

 

[smo]

Congrats!

 

[Roundball2319]

Thanks

 

[appalichian hunter]

Dead is dead, good job.

 

[Patrick Thomas]

It never ceases to amaze me when a hunter has success, proof in the pudding as it were, that someone comes along and says they’ve been lucky. Sounds like skill to me.

 

[megasupermagnum]

All I want is for people to have good experiences. Maybe he overestimated the range as he says. 5 yards makes a monumental difference when dealing with such light loads. You can't wish, or skill a shotgun pattern together. You can either develop the load you want, or get the animal within that range. A 7/8 oz load of #4 from a cylinder bore muzzleloader at 20 yards is lucky. I'm speaking from direct experience from having watched a crippled turkey run down by hand. Sometimes your shot doesn't have those golden BB's.

 

[Grenadier1758]

It never ceases to amaze me when a hunter has success, proof in the pudding as it were, that someone comes along and says they’ve been lucky. Sounds like skill to me.

I have always found that with a solid basis of skill comes a tendency for luck to play a part in a successful outcome.

Here we can see that @Roundball2319 has the skill to use a wing bone call to bring the turkey in to a range of 20 yards. He has the knowledge of the pattern of his load in his 56 caliber smoothbore at that distance. Luck, for Roundball2319, was finding the turkey within hearing of his call. Skill ended up becoming a successful hunt.

 

[Buckskinn]

Nice work! As long as you load a magic BB in the load it doesn't matter the range. But don't use more than one, it's just a waste...