Whats a Good Turkey Load

[Nut]

Ithaca is a way more experienced turkey hunter than I am and is extremely knowledgeable. So I also take his advice to heart.

 

[Ithaca 37]

Here's a decoy tip: Use a hen and a jake. Set the jake up looking at you. Set the hen up looking straight away from you. A gobbler coming in will most likely come around to confront the jake by looking him in the eye. When he does that his back will be to you so you can move if you have to, especially if you're using a bow. The reason the hen is looking away is because the gobbler will come around behind her to mount her. Once again, his back will be to you so you can move without being seen, especially if his tail is fanned out. Turkeys have about 320 degree vision, so you're only safe moving if he's looking straight away.

I've dealt with a few that had eyes in the back of their head, too, so there's no gaurentee!

 

[Flytier]

Thanks for the info Ithaca. I'll be using a shotgun so hopefully I wont have to move too much. Me playing with sharp sticks just aint safe.

Nut was saying to set em off to your left a little bit so their not directly in front of you. How far out do you do you put yours?

There is a lot more to this than I first thought. But I'm really beginning to look foreward to it.

 

[Ithaca 37]

I rarely use decoys, but when I do I put them about twenty yards away and not directly in front of me so the gobbler won't see me in the background.

 

[dgibson]

Flytier, since nobody else wants to get technical I'll take the plunge. There's great debate over shot size in turkey guns. Some prefer number 4's because the larger shot size provides more downrange energy, which can be necessary at longer ranges. Some prefer number 6's because they provide more pellets in the target area. Others use number 5's to split the difference between the two.

Personally I use Winchester Supreme 3" no. 4's, but that's just because they pattern well. Like Nut and Ithaca said, pattern is priority!

Also, some specialty turkey chokes & guns are lead shot only; you can't shoot steel through them. Ithaca's copper-plated lead work OK for those, though, too.