Author Topic: Got 2 turkeys with my 10 Guage this weekend (Read 587 times)

xhare · « **on:** December 04, 2005, 09:44:02 AM »

Well I got two turkeys (hens) with my 10 guage H&R this weekend. Actually, the first, on Saturday morning, was one of the most exciting hunting experiences I have ever had. I literally had 100+ turkeys within eyeshot, and who knows how many more were further into the woods. I have never seen so many. I had to be quite patient to let them get close. There were so many that they did not respond to my call, too much noise coming from real turkeys I suppose. Fortunately for me the flock (is that correct for a group of turkey?) was slowly moving my direction. To further complicate things 6-7 deer (all does except for 1 spike buck) arrived on the scene getting within about 20 yards of me. A couple saw me, but weren't sure what they were looking at, so they just trotted off. They shortly worked their way around behind me where they could smell me. One started snorting/whistling and stomping its hooves. I thought my game was up, but the turkeys seemed to be occupied with feeding, mating attempts, and general unrulyness. Eventually they got within about 20 yards when I finally took one. If they had gotten much closer I would certainly have been discovered. Between the turkey, deer, and fox squirrels who were running around all of this as well, I have never been surrounded by so much wildlife at such close quarters. It was truly an amazing experience and I felt I had to share with you guys.

Anyhow, the 10 guage performed perfectly. In the field I never felt the recoil or heard the noise for that matter (funny how that works). It is a nice, simple firearm that did just what it was asked, when it was asked.

By the way, I was hunting in Allen Co, Kentucky about 20 minutes from Bowling Green along Bays Fork of Trammel Creek.

MSP Ret · « **Reply #1 on:** December 04, 2005, 10:35:01 AM »

, Great story and post xhare, keep it up and welcome aboard!!!....<><.... :grin:

slayer · « **Reply #2 on:** December 04, 2005, 11:05:45 AM »

Now that sounds exciting!! Congrats-Jack.

Redhawk1 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 04, 2005, 01:38:09 PM »

Sounds like a great time. :-D

Tcallbuilder · « **Reply #4 on:** December 04, 2005, 02:14:56 PM »

Man! Aint it amazing what you can see if you spend enough time outdoors!

Great story! Congratulations on those birds! And welcome to Greybeard!

TCB

Nixter · « **Reply #5 on:** December 05, 2005, 09:17:53 AM »

Great story xhare, thanks for sharing.

Would you be so kind as to tell us the load and choke you were using? My 24 inch turkey barrel wouldn't pattern well at 30 yards, then I tried the Gobblin' Thunder from Kick's, much better.

Again, thanks for the story.

Nixter

xhare · « **Reply #6 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:10:54 AM »

I am not at home right now, and I was also using shells I bought a couple of years ago, but I believe they were Federal Premium, loaded with No. 4. It is advertised as a turkey load. My choke is just the one supplied by NEF. I patterned it at 35-40 paces before and it seemed to do fine, I had pellets in the head and neck central nervous system. That said, I did not count pellet holes within a certan diameter.

I have read before that other chokes can be used to much better effect than the factory supplied one. I cant remember which ones work with the NEF (what brand).

Nixter · « **Reply #7 on:** December 06, 2005, 07:32:43 AM »

xhare, the H&R shotguns all take the Browning Invector style choke tubes. I found out about the Gobblin' Thunder on these forums. It isn't a cheap unit for sure but if you have a gun that will pattern at the ranges you can get turkeys in, why bother.

My 10 also likes the Federal #4's. Might pattern them at 40 and 50 just for giggles. I hope I can get a turkey closer than that but what the heck, experimenting is good. I don't have any more turkey targets printed up tirght now so I'll just have to use the coyote targets. Hmm, full load of #4's from the 10 on a coyote?

Nixter

xhare · « **Reply #8 on:** December 06, 2005, 09:08:43 AM »

Nixter, I remember that about the Browning chokes. I looked into getting a cylinder choke for my shotgun because Federal makes a 10 guage slug, and then maybe putting a red dot scope on it since the barrel is tapped. Turns out you can order the 10 guage slug barrel (with open sights) from NEF for less or the same as you could buy a new choke, and I dont remember if I even found a 10 guage cylinder choke anyway.

Never did buy the slug barrel, something I may yet do one day if NEF still offers them. Definitely not something I need, but there is certainly novelty value to such a firearm.

Markus · « **Reply #9 on:** December 06, 2005, 02:59:56 PM »

That sounds like a great hunt. I've never seen that may turkeys in one place,unless they were white ones inside a fence. I'm hoping that I was a good enough boy this year that maybe there will be a 10ga turkey gun under the tree for me this year. I definitely will send it in for the slug barrel. For the novelty more than anything else.

Nixter · « **Reply #10 on:** December 07, 2005, 10:22:12 AM »

xhare, novelty value in a firearm. Now that is a line of thinking I can understand.

I picked up a few boxes of Federals slug for the 10, just haven't found the time to get chokes or barrels for them. I would consider the choke for my 24 incher as it seems to be a more woods friendly length gun than my big SP-10.

If I remember correctly, I can only use a slugger shotgun for deer and bear here in the great state of Wisconsin. But fun at the range is un-restricted. I suppose that I could use them on feral pigs considering they are an un-protected speies but I am not 100 percent clear on that.

Back to turkeys, I'll find out in a few weeks what zone and time period I have for spring season here. Hopefully Zone 30 will be on my tag as that is where my friend lives. He sees boat loads (not 100's) within 300 yards of his house. He walks out to where he regularly sees them and just spies on them. He's becoming quite familiar with thier habits. I guess you could call him my guide.

Nixter

xhare · « **Reply #11 on:** December 07, 2005, 10:50:44 AM »

Nixter, I once bought a couple of Federal 10 guage slugs and fired them through my turkey barrel. The first few really kicked, I mean stoutly, so ,while I know it was not reccomended, I unscrewed the choke to shoot the rest. That tamed recoil quite a bit. I actually only fired 9 out of the 10. I disassembled the 10th one to check out the slug. It is huge! I knew it was 1.75 ounces, but I was surprised. It is much longer than a 1 ounce 12 guage slug, has much thicker walls around the hollow base while only being slightly larger in diameter. It would slide through my 10 guage barrel (remember that Foster slugs expand to fill the barrel). With a listed muzzel velocity of only 1280 fps, much slower than most 12guage foster slugs, it ought to penetrate better better than regualar issue foster slugs. I imagine it would absolutely hammer any game it was shot at. It seemed to be fairly accurate at 40-50 yards too. After 9 rounds my cheek bone needed a rest from the recoil. This is certainly not something you spend a lot of time with at the range, but it was fun.

By the way, most of the firearms I own have a certain novelty value to me. I seem to gravitate to firearms that are just a bit off of the beaten path. I get tired to going to a gun store and looking at the dozens of bolt action 30-06s and 270s. They are great useful guns, dont get me wrong, but I will go hunting with my NEF 45-70 or my No4 MK2 .303 before those.

Nixter · « **Reply #12 on:** December 07, 2005, 11:38:04 AM »

xhare, looky what I found, http://www.trulockchokes.com/chokesearch.asp?Action=GetChokes&Brand=H+%26+R+1871&Gauge=10&Type=Precision%20Hunter , chokes for our big Tens! Google is cool, just need to ask the right question.

Nixter

xhare · « **Reply #13 on:** December 08, 2005, 05:15:06 PM »

Wow, everything one could ever want. And the prices are quite good. I wonder how well they perform. I am not a shotgun person, my love is rifles, so I dont know that much about chokes. I know the basics but some guys seems to have quite detailed knowledge.