Wild Turkey Hunting - Ammo Feedback

[datornic]

With 15 miles of wind at 90 yards it's almost impossible to hit it with a pellet from the first shot, and you have no time for the second...so don't shoot it.
Get a cheap blind or a tent and cover it with branches and leaves or camo cover and shoot as many birds as you want from 30 yards away;; especially if you use calls and decoys,,,

 

[mtnGhost]

With 15 miles of wind at 90 yards it's almost impossible to hit it with a pellet from the first shot, and you have no time for the second...so don't shoot it.

Hold your horses buddy. I didn't ask for hunting advice nor opinions on what you think my ethical shot is. I have a blind. I have decoys, there's environmental factors with which you are non the wiser, and I sure as hell didn't ask you to tell me what to do.

I asked for feedback on ammo - not interested in anything else beyond that.

 

[Steelhead707]

With 15 miles of wind at 90 yards it's almost impossible to hit it with a pellet from the first shot, and you have no time for the second...so don't shoot it.
Get a cheap blind or a tent and cover it with branches and leaves or camo cover and shoot as many birds as you want from 30 yards away;; especially if you use calls and decoys,,,

Exactly!! Not to beat a dead horse, but we airgunners (myself included) tend to think that our guns perform like firearms. They are airguns, and we can't forget that. The limitations of speed and power need to be accepted and for whatever reason a lot of airgun hunters are in denial about that. I wish I could take deer at 100 yards with a bow. Just because I can make an arrow fly 100 yards doesn't mean that it's doing it's intended job at that range. That's the challenge of using AG's. I think a lot of us lose sight of that because we're holding a tool that for all intents and purposes feels and looks like a firearm. To quote Tom Hanks in 'A League of Their Own'..."The game is SUPPOSED to be hard. It's the 'hard' that makes it great!" Welcome to hunting with airguns.

 

[Steelhead707]

Hold your horses buddy. I didn't ask for hunting advice nor opinions on what you think my ethical shot is. I have a blind. I have decoys, there's environmental factors with which you are non the wiser, and I sure as hell didn't ask you to tell me what to do.

Easy, easy, mtnGhost...don't go full Karen. You asked for some advice, and you got a lot of it. I think the above post was to point out that ammo isn't going to be a deal breaker one way or the other at that range. Don't get hung up on the small stuff. As has been said millions of times in another helpful environment, 'take what you want and leave the rest here'.

 

[mtnGhost]

Easy, easy, mtnGhost...don't go full Karen. You asked for some advice, and you got a lot of it. I think the above post was to point out that ammo isn't going to be a deal breaker one way or the other at that range. Don't get hung up on the small stuff. As has been said millions of times in another helpful environment, 'take what you want and leave the rest here'.

Yeah I got your Karen. I didn't ask "for some advice" - I specifically asked for feedback on ammo that people here may have used for wild turkey turkey hunting. It's without fail that someone had to inject the classic "California twist" to derail the thread from what was intended to be a dead simple question.

 

[Steelhead707]

I have no idea what a California Twist is, but I do know you can't have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

Good luck.

 

[datornic]

Hold your horses buddy. I didn't ask for hunting advice nor opinions on what you think my ethical shot is. I have a blind. I have decoys, there's environmental factors with which you are non the wiser, and I sure as hell didn't ask you to tell me what to do.

I asked for feedback on ammo - not interested in anything else beyond that.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you; I misunderstood your question. I've seen people taking out turkeys with headshot .25 cal 25 gr pellets up to 30 yards away with Marauder guns. I prefer to use my Impact with .30 cal 50 grn slugs cause they are more stable in the wind and I can take shots up to 50 yards.

But just to give you a little more perspective on the .25 ammo we trapped a few dozen hogs in Texas and took them all out with the .25 Marauder 25 grn JSB pellets from 20 yards away (headshot). Every single one of them around 100-150 lb hogs dropped dead from a single shot. Yes, I beefed up the Marauder with a heavier hammer spring, but nonetheless, the .25 cal from that short distance was deadly.

I also went hunting through the woods with my Impact and took out two hogs 40-50 yards away with .30 cal pellets 44.5 grn JSB. Headshot and they dropped on the spot. I cut the head of a dead hog and tied it to a tree 45 yards away. I took shots with the impact right between the eyes and the .30 cal 44. gr JSB went completely through, so I know I can take ethical shots on hogs up to 50 yrds. Here is enough info for you to chew on Mr. Karen and stop griping! -

 

[Emu]

You're smart to question it. I have lost more birds than I care to count after hitting them HARD with a .308 Texan. If you don't shatter a leg, they'll fly. If you don't break a wing, they'll run. I hit a bird two years ago three times with a .30 JSAR Raptor. It stayed down after the first shot for minutes, then got up and ran. I hit it solid two more times but it's adrenaline carried it down into the underbrush and was lost.

Head shot or nothing with sub .35 cal guns. Guys will say different and that's fine, but my experience is that if you can't head shoot them with a non-big bore (and even a non-Texan pellet/slug shooter is hardly a big bore...just my opinion) then you need to wait or get them closer.

If you do not place correctly the shot on ANY animal it is very possible that you will loose it and never recover it. That is an absolute truth !!

Turkeys have A LOT of feathers and very small heart and lungs. You rather place well the shot !

 

[Steelhead707]

Oh, absolutely! It never ceases to amaze me how tough turkeys are. This thread has taken some turns, but it's a great discussion.

On a side note, airgunners seem especially prone to is desktop hunting. Hollowpoint vs, solid, fps numbers, head shots vs. body, hybrids vs. slugs vs. pellets, acceptable ranges, etc. Modern airgunning is prime for tinkerers and hobby engineers. We all would love absolute solutions and clear-cut answers to our issues. This is easier to reconcile (but still affected by variables) with bench shooting but hunting offers way too many variables. Moving birds, range variation, wind, uphill/downhill, angle of the quarry, and type/size of quarry being pursued. The above-mentioned items take precedence over ammo type and need to be acknowledged. This should be obvious, but we can get hung up on the minutia of airgun shooting and ignore the obvious. That's why I lean towards more power than what is needed; to help combat some of the variables with hopefully more damage and knockdown ability.

 

[lbc_PSI]

If you do not place correctly the shot on ANY animal it is very possible that you will loose it and never recover it. That is an absolute truth !!

Turkeys have A LOT of feathers and very small heart and lungs. You rather place well the shot !

They do have a lot of feathers, but they’re directional. From the front they all overlap and kind of interlock. From the back..not so much. If I were going to take a shot it would be with the turkey facing away and I’d aim high for a heart-lung-backbone-neck. With a facing away shot your pellet/slug should slip between the feathers instead of forcing through them. And no, I haven’t tried this but it does seem very logical..at least to me.

 

[olegj29]

Used a Benjamin Bulldog.357. I know it's overkill, but I'm not at headshot level yet. So body shot it was. Thru and thru, turkey dropped a few feet from where it got hit.

 

[Steelhead707]

I know it's overkill, but I'm not at headshot level yet. So body shot it was.

The Bulldog is not a 'turkey headshot gun', nor is any true big bore like a Bulldog, Sam Yang, Texan, etc. They just aren't accurate enough to hit a turkey head consistently. 1.5" -2" at 50-60 yards isn't good enough for that. That's why you own a big bore; so you don't HAVE to do that, lol!

Not overkill at all. Perfect gun for turkeys. I'll bet the wound channel (and subsequent meat damage) isn't really different from a .25, or at least negligible.

Technically speaking, a .30 caliber centerfire rifle is overkill for deer. A .22 will do the job just fine...better than fine actually if you follow along with the general airgun hunting philosophy of perfect shot placement, head shots, etc. But that seems silly to most people, right? I always wonder why airgun hunters tend to feel they have to 'apologize' for horsepower because it's not that way at all in other arenas. If you tell some elk hunters that you're hunting with a .270 they'll lose their minds, but shooting pigs, turkeys, etc. with small caliber airguns (where clean kills are the exception rather than the rule) are deemed perfectly acceptable and even preferred.

Just an observation. And CONGRATS on a great bird! Well done.

 

[acourvil]

To answer the original question, I have used JSB pellets in .22, .25 and .30 to take turkey. For a broader answer, i would say use whatever gives you the best accuracy. It only takes a few ft/lbs of energy to kill a turkey if you hit the head or neck. If you have a pellet that will let you do that, then use it.

I have not had good success with body shots on turkeys with a pellet gun. It's not impossible, but there is a small kill area and a lot of places where heavy feather cover will prevent a pellet from penetrating.

 

[7Green]

To answer the original question, I have used JSB pellets in .22, .25 and .30 to take turkey. For a broader answer, i would say use whatever gives you the best accuracy. It only takes a few ft/lbs of energy to kill a turkey if you hit the head or neck. If you have a pellet that will let you do that, then use it.

I have not had good success with body shots on turkeys with a pellet gun. It's not impossible, but there is a small kill area and a lot of places where heavy feather cover will prevent a pellet from penetrating.

That is why I like big bores like steelhead707

 

[Bhuntin]

You're smart to question it. I have lost more birds than I care to count after hitting them HARD with a .308 Texan. If you don't shatter a leg, they'll fly. If you don't break a wing, they'll run. I hit a bird two years ago three times with a .30 JSAR Raptor. It stayed down after the first shot for minutes, then got up and ran. I hit it solid two more times but it's adrenaline carried it down into the underbrush and was lost.

Head shot or nothing with sub .35 cal guns. Guys will say different and that's fine, but my experience is that if you can't head shoot them with a non-big bore (and even a non-Texan pellet/slug shooter is hardly a big bore...just my opinion) then you need to wait or get them closer.

Don't overthink it. Use as much horsepower as you can shoot accurately and know your dope chart. It's not any more complicated than that. The turkeys don't have desktop pc's to calculate ballistic info. I have turkeys run after being hit with a 250+ gr. .45 caliber slug. I've also planted them with a .25 out of a Benji Armada. Light tackle sport is for fishing, not hunting. Use as much power as is reasonable for the situation. If you shoot lighter slugs better than heavier, use lighter. The miniscule amount of difference is negligible given the set of variables involved of shot angle, range, moving birds, etc.

No caliber, power setting, or slug choice will replace the confidence and accuracy built on lots of practice and familiarity with yourself and your gun. Stay within the capabilities and practicality of both and run with it. If that means 50 yards and under, than you might have set something up closer and make the necessary adjustments.

Hey guys I’ve asked but haven’t got any feed back I purchased a swa .20 gauge air shot gun from Terry Tate for turkey hunting it patterns well but haven’t used it in a hunt yet anybody have experience with one