FLYING FALL WILD TURKEYS--TOUGH OR EASY TARGETS??

[stinkpickle]

Really?  If you want to shoot a flying turkey, just go buy a butterball.

Butterballs don't fly.

[Farmboy27]

Really?  If you want to shoot a flying turkey, just go buy a butterball.

Butterballs don't fly.

Lol. I was thinking the same thing.

[quavers59]

Good replys here-- respect to all.   Potter is right--- shooting a flying wild turkey is alot of fun. I grew up hunting pheasants up here in the North East-- so it comes natural. Love calling them up in the Fall also. I do both. One of my fav Fall turkey hunting pics is from-- TURKEY HUNTERS DIGEST by the late Dwain Blain. He stepped out from a old shed and flushed a flock and took one down with an old black powder shotgun. He called it--Easy Pickins. I agree.

[dejake]

Actually, Butterballs do fly; after you tell "pull".

[stinkpickle]

Actually, Butterballs do fly; after you tell "pull".

That would scare the crap outta everybody else in the grocery store.

[eggshell]

I guess one point that is worth mentioning is that young poults are wayyyyyy easier to kill than a big ole feather bound tough old gobbler. As for my fall hunting I have not shot a poult in years. I concentrate on fall gobblers first, an adult hen or a poult gobbler as my last choice.

[Bowguy]

I've run all kinds of dogs my whole life n never had the prob. Don't let my hounds trash and most of the time turkey don't hang out where bird dogs are. Chances of one hoping you pass em by it seems are small. All that being said if some some reason it happened I'd never take em. Just not for me. Obviously I'm not referring to turkey doggin. That actually looks like fun. A couple of my fav things. Turkey hunting n well trained dogs, who could beat that.

[M,Yingling]

back in my younger days I have busted a few fall birds as they take flight ,,, they would do block cuts of the game lands in spring and by fall their was always small bushes with berries on them the turkey went crazy over them and in fall after leaves fell you could hear them scratching around in clear cuts ,, we would  still hunt them basically get within 20 30 yrd at that range they was pretty easy knock down  ,,,say what u will but was still a better time then , I would guess sitting in the  middle of a field in a blind Ha 

[Chris O]

I've never hunted turkeys with dogs only have called them to the gun spring and fall. I have read and talked to a few turkey doggers about it...my jist of it is the dogs flush them and then they are called back in to the gun. Maybe that's why your success rate isn't the best. In my opinion following up at a crippled flying Turkey is one thing,but purposely hunting them by wingshooting wouldn't be my style of hunting them. I wouldn't trust I would cleanly kill them and I enjoy calling them spring and fall to much for that. I know guys that thoroughly enjoy driving them like deer and hunting them in the fall,but that ain't my style either. Hunting behind trained dogs that flush them then calling the flushed turkeys back to the gun would be a blast and would probably surpass my going out and just plain calling them in,but I also throughly enjoy watching a good trained hunting dog do what they were bred to do...

x2 I sure enjoy watching a good dog work whether it's for pheasant or raccoons there noses amaze me.

[spaightlabs]

I dont care if I walk up on one inadvertently while hunting and he takes flight or if I call one up and he figures out the gig is up and takes flight; he ain't getting any TSS or hevi-shot headed his way.  I don't believe in skill-less or opportunistic kills. He earned the right to gobble another day and I tip my hat to him.

[turkeyfeathers]

I have no desire to shoot a turkey on the wing. If it's legal and you want to, have at it. Not thinking I could get my heavy turkey gun to swing properly, get scope on his head and then precede to rattle  his noggin at 30 yards with a 15" pattern if I wanted to.

How about addressing missing 36% of birds you shot at?  115 for 180 are Stevie Wonder like #'s   How many crept off to die in the woods unfound ?  For someone so into turkey hunting and appreciating them so much. Put your gun on paper, different loads, different tubes and practice a bunch  Think of all the turkey loads /choke tubes  or dedicated turkey gun you could have bought versus the $800 book on turkey

[quavers59]

Well, I don't agree with everything here- but respect to all.

[fallhnt]

90% of the posters on this forum don't hunt Fall turkey. So who cares what some of you think? I don't. Some states don't have Fall seasons and some states have short seasons. If a guy busts one after it flys up from under foot,congratulations. Now its family time again.

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[trkehunr93]

Read some of Roger Latham's stuff, he didn't hesitate to shoot one on the wing in the fall.  In his time when you called them back after the flush you tried to flush them again so they would take flight, it wasn't considered sporting if you didn't.  I say hunt them how you want, just know what the chances of a cripple are and have a dog that can retrieve.


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[tha bugman]

I have killed a few flying but flushed many more that got the tip of my hat as they left the premises