Turkey Hunting with a .308 Winchester

[mannyrock]

Dear Guys,


   I am primarily a deer hunter.  Butm my county and state permit a rifle of any size to be used on turkeys.




   During the past two falls, while deer hunting from my stands, I have had clear shots at turkeys, but have never taken them, because I have not bought a turkey license.


  Distances are from about 75 yards to 125 yards.




  This year, I have decided to buy the license, and take a turkey if a good shot is presented while I'm deer hunting.    My question is, does anybody have any real world experience about what the effect would be to hit a turkey squarely in the body with a .308 Winchester, 150 grain soft point at those distances?   




  Based on all of my hunting experience, I personally think it would be almost a clean pass-through, with only a small amount of expansion, but I doubt that the bird would be able to just jump up and run off.


  Does anybody have any practical thoughts on this?




  Though I welcome all comments, I'm really not interested in whether anybody thinks that this is "fair" or "sporting" or not.   It's perfectly legal.


 
Thanks,


Mannyrock




 

[Oldshooter]

That 150 gr soft point may expand more than you would think.(I know a 165 does    )
 
I'd use a fmj on a turkey if I was not going for a head shot. MEO 

[Ranch13]

Shoot them  high in the back at the base of the wing if you can't get a shot on the base of the neck.
 FMJ, or reduced mousephart type of load is the safest route.

[james]

Like Ranch 13 says, keep the shots high, out of the guts and you probably won't damage much meat.  I've seen 150 and 165 Sierra soft points in a .308 pass thru with little damage.

[gstewart44]

My cousin shot one with his .270 during deer season a few years back......hit the tom right through the leg/thigh area.....well he was able to salvage the head, beard and spurs......all the meat was a gut contaminated mess.    He thought about trimming around the breast to get some of the forward meat, but it had a funky smell to it after the explosion of innards.....

[mannyrock]

  Okay, well I guess that I'll have to use either a FMJ bullet, or a super strong big game bullet, like a Nosler Partition or a Swift A-Frame, or maybe the Winchester (or is it Federal?) Fusion rounds, that won't even begin to open up when it hits that 20 pounds of meat.




    I once had to put a finishing shot in a large deer, at point blank range.  I shot him in the neck with a  Fusion round.  It passed clean, with zero effect, leaving a tiny exit hole on the other side of his neck.  It was terrible. 




   Thanks, Mannyrock

[SHOOTALL]

We have always been allowed to hunt turkeys with a rifle . In some counties like where I live we can hunt turkeys with a rifle of and cal. But no deer with a rifle  . I have shot about as many with a rifle as with a shotgun.
 By accident I shot one in the butt. I was aiming around a tree trunk I was backed up to sitting . I'm right handed and was shooting left handed. Anyway I hit the bird square in the butt took off about an inch or so . A lot of its insides came out and it hit the ground stone dead. Since I have shot several more the same with same result no meat damage and less to clean out.
 A shoulder shot will destroy a lot of breast meat a lot of the time . a shot where the neck body come together can mess up a breast or not depending on angle. Turkey feathers are tuff and bullets seem to expand like hitting a hard surface.

[SHOOTALL]

Of course a head shot is good. I did that once by accident.