Turkey Hunting Help

Never hunted them before but going to try this year due to the number on my deer ground. Will a 20 gauge with a 3 inch shell do the job with a turkey choke installed. What size shot would you use and what other gear is absolutely necessary. Pretty broad question but I am starting at zero.

Yes the 20 guage will work. My kids have shot a pile of them with the 20. Keep shots under 30 yards. We use 6 shot and make sure you only take a clear head shot.

Lots of cammo and don't move!

20 gauge is a great turkey gun. 5-6 shot will do well. Camo everything. Gloves are important, face mask too.

Go out preseason and learn the birds. Get yourself a few different types of calls and become proficient in thier use. Practice, practice, practice.
Watch some YouTube videos on turkey hunting and call use. No substitute for boots on the ground to learn about turkeys.

I happen to make box calls if you have a desire to own a good one. Good Luck!

All great advice above. I would add, don’t over call.

Make sure you pattern your shotgun with the choke and loads you choose.


Good luck out there.

There are many different ways to hunt them. I like to bow hunt them so I use a blind I and set up where they travel through from roost to fields etc. or just where they are at. I just wear my everyday cloths, and use a good box call. In a blind you don't have to worry about moving and spooking them, and can move around and do what ever, till you are ready o shoot. This method can be done using a gun also and for me it a great way to hunt them. My best success is late in the day evenings, just before they roost for the night or late late mornings close to around 12 noon. A 20 gauge is a great gun and 6 shot a good load and put the bead on his head. The head shoot is the best shot for a turkey. IMO

Good Luck and have fun!

Get yourself some Federal TSS loads and an appropriate choke for it and you'll be able to kill turkeys cleanly at extended ranges. Pattern your gun and learn how it shoots.

Around the first of April find out where they are roosting 2 different days. On a calm morning just park where you usually do before daylight. They will gobble and that should be where they always are. That day, or another, slip in an hour or two later and see/hear where they are then. Try not to spook them at all and do not use turkey sounds to locate. To hunt: set up between roost and where they head, in the dark(no light evidence if you plan to get within sight of the roost tree) at least 100 yards away. Learn the yelp, cluck, purr. Light yelp a couple of times when they are on the roost. Call very sparingly when they are on the ground(once every 5-15 min). If they are coming in call less or not at all. Do not move when they can see you. That means do not move. They tolerate a lot less movement than deer and can pick you up quicker. When they are on the ground three scratches in the leaves every 5-15 min can help(mimics feeding). I would not use decoys to start off. They can work great and make it seem too easy OR they can keep them away and you now are regretting them.

READ THE ABOVE ADVICE OVER AND OVER AND FOLLOW THE ADVICE TO THE LETTER, AND "BE PATIENT" AND YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.

I agree with the tss recommendation. Tho I load my own. If you do not wish to spend the money on them I would recommend either the long beards or heavy 13 shells. I wouldn't take a shot over 40 yards with them. I shoot a mossberg 500 with a carlson choke or a indian creek choke. The patterns are about the same. I would give the hevi 13 a slight edge over the long beards as they had a bigger pattern at 25ish yards and still had a excellent pattern at 40. They are also 7 shot and a little more dense than lead with more pellets.

If you decide to go with the tss loads go with 9 shot. They will kill farther than you should be shooting (check game laws to make sure that shot size is legal). Long bears will run you about $1.5-2 per shot, hevi 13 $3-4 per shot and tss close to $6 per shot.

To pattern your gun I would first clean your barrel very well. Then fire a pheasant load at about 20 yards. Take note of where it hit. If it was close to your point of aim fire one of your turkey loads. Again, take note of where it hit compared to your point of aim. Move the target out to 40 and fire your turkey load. I would fire 2 shots at 40 to make sure that the load is hitting the same. If The shots are not hitting point of aim you can put sights on the gun or you can just compensate. The chose is yours.

A lot of great advice. Camo very important. Get yourself something comfortable to sit on (I use Cabela's ultimate turkey seat it's a weird looking little chair) so you don't squirm, Keep your gun up on your knee pointed in the general direction you think they'll come from, get a box call they are the easiest to learn, learn to call softly (all that loud calling on the shows are fake and edited in to sell calls), definitely pattern your shotgun ( remember it's more like a rifle with turkey chokes. Try several different brands of shells as like a rifle it may prefer one over another. Aim for the center of the red part on the neck below the head.. Remember when scouting the hens and gobblers are together now and will be in different areas due to hens nesting. Find their new locations. Prepare to become addicted once that first gobble happens at close range and goose bumps you didn't know you had instantly appear.Good luck !

Truth.


Turkn8rtrapper and TurkeyTimes advice is great.

So is everyone else’s.

If possible, sit just below a rise of ground or ridge. Call the turkey over the hill. Be sure to be inside of the range of your gun from the crest of this hill. This way, a turkey can't possibly see you until it's too late.
If you are not hunting under a hill and you don't use decoys, do not call again when you see the bird. He will likely pick you out and be gone. Or he may march back and forth knowing that he should see that calling hen and she's not there.
It's been my experience that once the bird gobbles coming toward your direction, he knows where you are within a couple of yards. It will keep slowly coming towards the caller. When you call, it stops and struts and fans and drums....Every time this happens you slow him up getting to you.
I enjoy hearing the birds gobble! So calling at them when they are some distance won't hurt. In close and only if you have to a single soft cluck and then a soft purr right behind is the only call I will use.
Good luck! I was probably 35 years old before I ever heard a turkey gobble and I hunted a lot. Turkey hunting in most states is a fairly new thing as they were extirpated by the European settlers. Just hearing them is a successful hunt to me.

A gobbler gobbles to get hens to come to him. The more you call and sound interested in him the more he wants to stand his ground. Soft clucks and soft yelps with some purrs are all you need. If you do not get him off of the roost, he will remember you. Basically you are playing hard to get.

One of the biggest birds I got taught me that lesson. I called in the corner of a field. I had 2 gobblers respond about 350 yards on the other end of the field. We talked back and forth for about an hour or so and they did not move. I decided to move and get below them. Took me about 20 minutes to get below them when I heard them gobble close to where I was. Lesson learned, SHUT UP and let the bird come to you. I did get the bird but it was more work than it needed to be.

When people say call little and sit tight, that is sound advice. Of course you need to be around birds. I have called a few bird off of roost but only when I was less than 100 yards from his tree. Got most knowing that they would be in the area and made some soft calls. Got most knowing that they would pass through an area and just sat and waited. You don't need to know how to call to get a bird, you just need to know where they are going. If I can't get them off of the roost I go where they are going to be.