CAPTAIN HOOK
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Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
Just time for another topic.....Hunting Turkeys with high powered rifles always never made sense to me. I guess the idea of shooting a bird with a rifle just doesn't seem fair sport. I never understood this practice approved by the Game Commission for many years. I can't imagine a turkey smacked with a 30.06 and what's left to feast on. Most Fall birds are mostly that Spring's hatch, so they aren't very big or very smart. I bet most young birds don't weigh 10 lbs. or so . I also felt this was more of a liability for others to get shot from father traveling stray bullets. I always looked at true sport turkey hunting as calling the bird within range of a shotgun or bow, Fall or Spring seasons. To me just a true challenge of your personal hunting skills and also more sporty ! Sporty = giving game a fair and equal chance under hunting conditions to survive. What's your opinion ? Yes , No , Maybe ?
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dpms
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 14:32:41
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I think the PGC to allowing rifles in most WMUs because hunting accidents did not show any increased risk from allowing rifles for fall turkey hunting. Most turkey hunting accidents occur in the spring with shotguns. As far as using rifles for them. I personally have no problems with it. I have called them into shotgun range and shot them with shotguns, have called them into rifle range and shot them with rifles. Have shot fall turkeys with shotguns and rifles by pure luck. Whatever satisfies you as a hunter should be how you choose to hunt. I have been using a 17HMR and trying to get them within 75 yards lately. Have taken several with it and it has performed well if I wait on the shot I need.
My rifle is a black rifle
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anzomcik
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 14:41:10
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I am not a turkey hunter, but i see no issue with it. If it dead then its dead no matter the weapon. If a person is satisfied with using a 22-250 at 600 yards or 15 yards with a home made long bow, who am i to say if its right or wrong on someone kill. I say do it the way you like as long as it legal and I am fine with it
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CAPTAIN HOOK
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 15:52:51
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Data showed that fall turkey hunters had the highest shooting-related injury rate at 7.5 per 100,000 hunters and grouse hunters had the lowest at 1.9 per 100,000. The case-fatality ratio or the number of fatalities per number of injuries was highest for deer at 10.3 percent and lowest for pheasant at 1.3 percent. Over the study period, rates decreased for deer hunters, increased for spring turkey hunters and did not change for other species. For fall turkey hunters, rates changed in relation to fluorescent-orange clothing regulation changes. I never heard anybody shoot & kill turkeys at 600 yds. even deer ? Very rare ! I never said it was wrong just don't understand the personal challenge , seems too easy of a kill with a scoped rifle overall, and like I said what's left ? Jello and feathers ? Sure it's legal and so are shooting Fall hens. Too each their own , I just prefer the challenge of calling the wild bird in to me , that's more of an accomplishment than the kill. Nothing like true fair competition with nature !
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dpms
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 16:32:44
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I got a lot of respect for the small but dedicated group of fall turkey hunters than target gobblers by calling them in.
My rifle is a black rifle
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CAPTAIN HOOK
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 17:36:56
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Doesn't have to be a big gobbler, they are much harder in the Fall to hunt and call in ,no doubt. I don't Fall hunt anymore it's been a few years, but those Jakes and Jennies can be called in without much problem into "shotgun" range. Don't need a rifle, practice that Kee -Kee run call. I usually didn't kill hens, but I did when I was young, just change up targets as you get older and more experienced. Same in Spring .....no jakes....boss gobblers only or nothing ! Some years it was nothing ! lol..... that's hunting !
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anzomcik
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 18:59:41
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Just to clarify I do not know any 600 yard shots either. I said it for the sake of an example, one weapon being long range and the challenge those hunters face when going for long range hunting not interested in close calling, then the home made long bow hunter the other extreme needing the skill for close quarter hunting. That's all I was trying to show that both styles possess challenges that different hunters may find fun
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pheasant tail 2
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/21 22:25:28
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Rifles are not the experience I seek when hunting fall turkeys. I do dislike the fact that I'm required to wear 250 inches of FO when moving now that rifles are permitted in the WMU I hunt. Not a fan of shooting fall gobblers, but that's just my preference. PT2
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Big Tuna
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/22 00:00:08
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I've killed quite a few turkeys spring and fall. I'd go to the mountains every year and kill a fall bird,a lot of foot work and busting up the flocks was my specialty,wait till they start calling and act like a turkey assembly yelps kee.kee's bang a lot of young of the year under 10 was quite normal. Turkey's are not as big as you think,weight them,Jenny's are always 6-8 lbs adult hen 10-12 lbs Jake's 12-15 lbs and long beards could be anywhere from 16 to over 22 lbs. These weights are from my experiences ( average). Of all the turkeys I've killed only one was shot with a rifle. Ironically last year I killed an 8 pts with a bow in the morning,around 4 pm I realized I left a small knife in the wood at the kill sight. I grabbed my 22. rifle just in case I saw some squirrels,as I rounded the point it was covered up in a huge flock about 75 birds,I picked the closest one to me 9 pound adult hen,shot it at the base of the neck walking away from me,it died instantly. The rest of the flock froze they didn't even run,real wild.lol No I'm not fond of high powers for Turkey. I only shoot long beards in the spring,as for fall anything works for me, I got 4 long beards in the fall and maybe a dozen or so Jake's and 20 some Jenny's and hens. This year no turkey fall hunting at all. Not much left of a center punched turkey with an 30.06. All you can say is I got one.lol
post edited by Big Tuna - 2016/12/22 00:02:28
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BeenThereDoneThat.
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Re: Fall Turkeys with high powered rifles ????
2016/12/22 00:56:44
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Mention of 600 yd shots remind of running the highways in the "Seven Sisters" area of PA. during deer season and seeing orange cloaked figures, along the high ridges of the mountains.
post edited by BeenThereDoneThat. - 2016/12/22 01:09:25
Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a life time. ~Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie (1837–1919)~ Old fisherman never die; we just smell that way.
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