Back in the day

[tha bugman]

What would you have considered pellet count wise "good enough to hunt with?"




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[Cottonmouth]

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.

[Farmboy27]

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!

[Longshanks]

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.

[surehuntsalot]

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

[Bowguy]

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

[Yoder409]

"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.

[01Foreman400]

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.

[owlhoot]

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.

[OldSchool]

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

[owlhoot]

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.

[Dr Juice]

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.


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[turkeywhisperer935]

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.

[BowBendr]

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

[cluck]

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