What would you have considered pellet count wise "good enough to hunt with?"
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Back in the 80's when I first started, we would take a skoal can and draw a circle around it and shoot at it and count pellets. 10-15 in the circle at 40 was pretty decent with a long barrel full choke gun.
Back then, the serious guys shot 3" guns with Fed premium #4s . I had a 2 3/4 rem 1100 that I eventually traded for a 3" 1187. I felt like I won the lottery.
A half a dozen or so hits in a turkey head target. No one ever bothered counting in a ten inch circle. We all figured that turkeys didn't have 10" round heads!
We just made sure the POA/POI was on, shot full choke fixed chokes. Shot 4's and 5's. Coke can at 25yds and the more holes the better. Called them inside 30yds and put em down. Most shots were inside 20yds. Didn't use decoys. Started using extended turkey chokes in 90-91. Hastings .665 non ported choke and Hastings CT-1 threads in the gun. Back then the turkeys we hunted didn't have the feathers hunted off of them. They would come to the call allot more often.
I always and still do today(turkeys haven't changed any) count the # in a turkey target, 8-10 hits in the vitals = dead bird
In the 80s we'd only shoot turkey head targets. 12-14 in the brain n spine was enough for error. Figured 2-3 should be plenty
"Back in the day " we used 2's. Anything under about 50 yards had exit wounds. So if you could put a couple pellets on the bird he was pretty much a goner.
I doubt there wasn't much patterning going on. Just 25 years ago when I got in to hunting I never heard anyone talking about patterning a gun.
Started patterning shotguns for turkey in 1978.
Trying different brands and shot sizes for the best amount of hits in hand drawn turkey head , usually on a paper plate. A 10 hits or so was the goal in the head-neck, if you got that at 30-35 you were doing great. Was fortunate then as a guy at the local sporting goods would open up the 25 round boxes at sell you 3 at time so you could try a few combinations , didn't matter if 2 3/4" or 3", just whatever did the best.
Shot size was 4-6, smaller sizes 7 1/2 was unheard of in my area for turkeys.
Like a lot of you I used a turkey head and neck target. 10-12 hits in the vital areas was considered sufficient. It killed birds then and still does today.
Owlhoot, I used to buy single shells, or a few of different kinds, from a local guy here too. I mentioned it to one of the guys at one of the big stores one time and he looked at me like I was nuts.
Bob
Quote from: OldSchool on March 27, 2016, 03:42:39 PM
Like a lot of you I used a turkey head and neck target. 10-12 hits in the vital areas was considered sufficient. It killed birds then and still does today.
Owlhoot, I used to buy single shells, or a few of different kinds, from a local guy here too. I mentioned it to one of the guys at one of the big stores one time and he looked at me like I was nuts.
Bob
Not having to buy 25 shells was a big plus on the wallet and if he didn't do that 3 at a time alot of us would have not tested much to find the best load. Heck even the 10 rounds are too many as a lot of guys just buy a box an pattern then use those . They are not buying another . Swapping shell between friends helps.
About 25-years ago one of my turkey hunting mentors told me I needed a minimum of 15 pellets in the lethal zone of a turkey target at your maximum allowable yardage. Back then, we were using copper plated or std lead shot.
Sent from my thunder chicken slaying machine!
Everything all of you guys are saying is true. The big store chains do look at you nuts if you mention not buying a whole box of shells. When I first started turkey hunting 14 or so pellets in the killzone was acceptable but with the advent of better loads the whole game has changed and the birds are alot more pressured now.
I can remember shooting my 1st turkey specific shell about 1980. We never counted numbers in a 10" circle. Just seeing turkey targets in a store was a real treat, we usually just shot at a big sheet of cardboard to verify that the poa/poi was true. After that I usually shot at a coke can, the more holes the better. I never counted, I just knew that 6's made more holes than 5's, which made more holes than 4's...and so on...
Killed a bunch of gobblers, never remember any cripples, but never shot one at 40 either...
2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions
Back in the early sixtys we didn't know what camo was. Just wear black or brown or maybe army green. Never heard of anybody making a turkey only shell. Just used goose number two or four shot. Had to be high brass and paper shell. Very few people could use a mouth call. No turkey calling contest. just box calls, lynch. Or a lynch slate. I just gave my son a lynch box call that my brother owned and used to call up one of the first turkeys killed in our county. This was back in the early sixtys. My brother taught me all I ever knew about turkey hunting starting when I was eight or nine years old. I'll be sixtyeight in may this year. I spent two years in the army and thats the only years I have not turkey hunted. All three of my sons love to turkey hunt. I really like everything about it. Love to hear old tom in the spring. cluck :turkey2: :turkey2:
First shotgun in 1963, no camo for turkey or ducks, blued and walnut guns, fixed chokes, WE changed, they didn't. Did we really gain anything, who knows?
Quote from: longislandloco on March 28, 2016, 08:28:01 AM
First shotgun in 1963, no camo for turkey or ducks, blued and walnut guns, fixed chokes, WE changed, they didn't. Did we really gain anything, who knows?
I know I used to have less misses with the older equipment. Not that I miss allot but there is the occasional miss up close. Definitely had more turkey rodeos in the early days where I had to chase the turkey down. Back then when you pulled the trigger you jumped up running. Now the turkey is either leveled by the shot or clean miss. In some respects technology has changed the sport and we have definitely figure out how to make the sport of turkey hunting as expensive as possible. I used to shoot Nitro and I wondered what my ole dad would have thought of that shooting a $8-$9 shell. For $10 we used to drive to the turkey woods, eat breakfast and give the turkey a ride home in the back of the truck.
I've not been turkey hunting very long, but my uncle hunted them pretty hard back in the late 60's early 70's. He said he used the loads as you would for squirrel, high base #6's. He used the same army clothes from nam, just plain olive drab, and a box call. He used a phone book for a cushion! There was a friend of my dads, he was an older gent that hunted them all his life, and he used a 20ga single shot. I remember him telling dad he used to let them get close enough to kiss before he shot! Them old timers had a way with words, just wish I'd been old enough to really pay attention to what he had to say.
:morning:
Love hearing these tales! Brings back very fond memories of my mentor and best hunting buddy-"Hunting Harry"! Man was like Daniel Boone in th woods. He was brought up in th Depression era and learned how to hunt for food cause his Daddy would give him two .22 rounds and tell him to go get dinner. We would be joined at the hip pretty much all Spring and Fall. He shot his A5 Mag with 3" 4's and was happy with 10-12 hits in a turkey sized target @ 25 yds. We killed many turkies at 25 yds or less with a Lynch box call. GREAT TIMES! Have a GREAT season y'all !!! :camohat:
Great to hear stories of the good old days when you didn,t have all these gimmics or have toos.I remember when you just grab your gun with some shells in your pocket and your knife and went hunting.Never had trail cameras ,thats why you get off your rump and scout.You will learn more doing than watching a video or looking at pictures.Thats the fun of turkey hunting is being out there scouting and listening to the birds.We never patterened our guns back then.Killed a bunch of birds,I agree they have changed and are more wary as ever but it is also more of a challenge and a real hunt now.
Quote from: turkeywhisperer935 on March 27, 2016, 11:40:18 PM
Everything all of you guys are saying is true. The big store chains do look at you nuts if you mention not buying a whole box of shells. When I first started turkey hunting 14 or so pellets in the killzone was acceptable but with the advent of better loads the whole game has changed and the birds are alot more pressured now.
That would be the biggest difference I see is the pressure on the turkeys. We hunt private ground that has allot of turkeys but the turkeys are hunted and called to everyday. The majority of turkeys that I have harvested there have all been within 30 yds due to the timber and lay of the land. I could just carry the same set up that I was hunting with in the late 70's and early 80's and do just fine when it comes to the shot.
Back in the day we shot pie plates and we kept them close. The shot was #4s usually @ 25.
40 was unheard of.
I used to just eyeball it at about 30 steps to see if my pattern lined up with the beads.