turkey, with a rifle

[lorren68]

Do any of you hunt turkeys with a rifled muzzleloader? I plan on hunting some with my .50 rifle using roundball, I will also hunt some with the longbow. I want a smoothbore for small game and turkeys, but the funds are not there. I have a cva percussion .50 that I have thought about making into a smoothbore, but traditional gunmiths are as rare as hen's teeth around here.

 

[kbuck]

Rifles, muzzleloading or otherwise, are not allowed for turkey hunting in some states. Wish they were in Alabama where I live.

 

[Skychief]

Not allowed here in Indiana neither. I hold nothing against those that legally hunt turkey with rifles, but am glad it's not allowed here. The thought of hunters on ground level shooting balls/bullets with camoflauged hunters nearby gives me the "willys". :shocked2:

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[Jason Lewis]

same in IL and IA, shotgun only. give ed rayle a call he can ream your barrel out for you.

 

[wilded]

Here in West Texas I grew up in wide open country and we all hunted turkey with rifles. I was in my twenties before I even heard of calling turkeys and then it took a while to learn. When I became a black powder shooter I just started using my small game calibers for turkey. I do try to shoot the ball up around 2000 fps whether .32, .36 or .40. Aim point is where the neck meets the body or a high spine shot so as to not harm the breast meat. If you are good enough to hit that bouncing head help yourself, at least you get an instant kill or miss. I try to keep my shots under 50 yards and have had no problems with killing or to much meat destruction this way. Wild turkey is very dry meat and we cut strips from the breast and chicken fry it in spicy seasoned flour. Make gravy from the drippings and you will find it is hard to beat.

One trick I have learned is if you have to call in wide open country use a camo pop up blind. Turkeys will walk right up to one even in a wide open hay field or on the open rangeland. If that is not being traditional, pile up some brush or hay for a blind. ET :idunno: http://wildedtx.blogspot.com/

 

[hanshi]

ML rifles are legal in Va and that's what I plan to use come spring. I have a flint SMR .36 just for them.

 

[roundball]

Rifles aren't allowed here in NC either...BUT...with written Email confirmation from our NC-WRC, I can use a smoothbore with no limitations on projectile what-so-ever...just has to be a smoothbore.

And the only place I turkey hunt is a private little piece of property which is heavily posted, with nothing else around. So at some point I'd like to turkey hunt with a PRB out of my .54cal smoothbore Virginia which is basically as accurate as a rifle at Turkey distances.
And I've done my homework so there won't be any legal or safety issues.

But the first order of business is to try and christen the new .62cal smoothbore with a longbeard using a load of #6s...

 

[gonpce]

I live in VA also and plan to hunt with a .50 flint or a .32 perc. I really would like to use the .50. What would you think the max range would be with 30 or 40 grains bp. I want as little damage to the meat as possible. Any advice appreciated.

 

[George]

Rifles aren't allowed in Kentucky, either.

If you will Google "turkey kill zone" you'll find some good info about where to aim for a body shot. It's further back than you would think. The archers have good info on that. Some good graphics are available on those sites. If you shoot right above the legs from the side, either in strut or standing straight up, you will hit the vital zone and be above and behind the good breast meat.

Spence

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Air rifles are legal for turkeys in CA. I have a friend who killed a tom with his air rifle and now only wants to hunt that way. GW

 

[nchawkeye]

I killed my first turkey ever in VA with a .45 caliber flintlock and 50grs of Goex FFF...Called him in with a wingbone call I had made from our Thanksgiving turkey...This was in 1979...Good times...

 

[lorren68]

Here in Georgia any muzzleloading firearm is legal for turkeys. I plan to aim for the wing root on a broadside shot or at the V above the breast on a frontal shot, I use the same aim points with my longbow. I may try one of the bullhead broadheads or a turkey guilotine for a neck/head shot.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Not legal here in CO.

 

[dallas10c]

In PA our spring gobbler season is shotgun or bow...BUT....our fall either sex is wide open. Use what you like....

 

[sidelock]

I have harvested a good number of eastern wild turkeys with my TC .50. One at 125 yd. I have also shot a lot of MT turkeys (not killed) off my pateo with my trusty Red Rider BB rifle. :thumbsup: AND I aint NEVER shot a camo hunter with either.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Rifles of any kind not legal for turkeys in Arkansas.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

No rifles allowed here in Michigan either, and I`m glad. If they were, guys would be shooting them with scoped varmint rifles from hundreds of yards away across fields. No sport in that. Getting them into shotgun range,,,now thats a different story. The limited range of a muzzleloading rifle with open sights would be a different perspective, but I doupt if the lawmakers here would be smart enough to recognize it.

 

[KHickam]

Turkeys with a rifle - Yep, I killed these tom's within 2 minutes of each other with a 50 cal rifle at 60 yds - shot one in the neck just above where it meets the body, and the other one was curious enough to hang around wondering why his buddy was laying on the ground while I reloaded my rifle so I shot him in the head. :hatsoff: :thumbsup:

 

[sdhunter]

I remember that rifle keith. lol.