Pygmy

I have enough issue trying to kill one with a shotgun However, I have a friend who hunts traditional archery ( recurve and longbow) who fills his tags in Fla and Georgia every year...He does most of his hunting from a custom made portable blind and kills most of his birds at 10 yards or closer...

Ten years ago ( at 62) I could still pretty much do my moving hunt also, but it seems I have gone downhill quickly since then... I wish The Mermaid hadn't taken down the trapeze over our bed...

I have never shot a 3.5" 12 gauge and never plan to..The two guns I use for turkeys, a Rem 1100 and a rem 11-87 are capable of killing turkeys at as long a range as care to shoot, and being gas operated, aren't too bad to shoot off the bench while patterning or checking scope zero.. I often use a Browning Citori for duck hunting with 3" 12 gauge loads....I don't notice the recoil while I am hunting, but it gives me a headache if I shoot more than 10 or 12 times, and I usually have a bruised shoulder, which doesn't happen when I shoot one of my gas autos...

Back in my running and gunning days, I had almost unlimited acreage to hunt on... I still could hunt probably several thousand acres, both lightly hunted public and private, if I were still able to cover the ground.... Now i am limited to a couple of hundred acres pretty much due to my physical ability..Moving around on those properties would definitely be counterproductive...

They told you correctly....I remember when Ithaca Deerslayers were introduced around 1960, guys who had older M 37s and wanted to add a Deerslayer barrel were sending them to the Ithaca factory to have the barrels installed..

You are on the right track now, Wolc... High brass and short mag 16 gauge loads carry 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 oz. of shot respectively, putting them in the category of 3" 20 gauge loads AND 12 gauge 2 3/4" loads , which have cleanly killed truckloads of turkeys. Some older modified choke bbls are choked fairly tight, leaning more toward improved modified or even light full..That can only be determined by patterning your gun, as you intend to do. I would not be surprised to see a sure kill pattern at 30 yards with your 16 gauge, or perhaps even a few yards farther...I would definitely go with the smaller shot sizes ( 6 or 7.5) rather than the coarser 2s and 4s due to higher pellet count increasing shot density on target. Good luck...

I am just a little fat guy, so really appreciate the recoil reduction offered by the various gas operated autos, HOWEVER, I do admire the UTILITY of the various pump guns ....

MAYBE.....And if he stands out there at 27 yards, will you be able to resist the urge to shoot ? MAYBE..... USE ENOUGH GUN !!

Okay, my friend....I respect your reasoning..However, I have killed about 130 gobblers.... I have also used a .410 with both 2.5 and 3"shells for rabbits, squirrels and grouse.... And I would hesitate to take a shot a mature turkey gobbler with a regular 2.5 ( or 3") shell at 20 yards..Not talking all the fancy specialty stuff they have today.....Also, if you are using a single shot and just HAPPEN to screw up the first shot........My last comment on tis subject...Good luck..

Rob... I would not discount a 20 gauge with some of the modern loads for turkey, but for ducks and geese with AFFORDABLE nontoxic shot, I still would not want to go with less than a 3" 12 gauge.... I'm talking steel shot for the ducks, not that stuff that cost $5 a shell... I'd tell him to buy a 3" 12 gauge and use steel for waterfowl and whatever patterns best for turkeys...

You can say that again !!

I like you Wolc, but I think your plan of trying to kill your first gobbler with a 2.5" .410 cartridge is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard....Use your 12 gauge for your first one, and don't risk wounding a fine bird with an inadequate gun/load combo...

I hunted woods for many years and would still like to, if I could...However there are several reasons I can no longer hunt woods effectively.... I can no longer run up, down and across the hills the way I used to....I can no longer sit motionless on the ground with my back against a tree the way I used to....I can no longer hold the shotgun steady enough across my knee to make a clean shot as I used to... SOO Now I hunt from a popup blind, mostly field edges, with decoys....I can sit in my blind on a comfy stool and use a bipod to steady my gun for a clean kill.. One advantage is that often I can see gobblers at a distance and watch thier reactions to my calls/decoy...Back in my many years of woods hunting I usually did not see the bird until his head popped up within shotgun range... I still seem to be able to kill about as many turkeys...And I get an occasional nap in besides...

Happy Birthday, Tony !!

Nice pictures Jerry....When I first saw the title of this thread I thought perhaps you caught The Missus bending over the bathtub....<<grin>>......

From what I have been able to learn online, no covid tests or vaccination proof is required crossing back and forth across the Canadian Border....However I will be sure to carry my proof of full vaccination along with my passport, etc. just in case...

I'm hoping to renew my annual gobbler hunt in Ontario this spring...I have read that as of 4/1/22 I can enter Canada with proof of full vaccination... I have not been able to learn what my requirements are to get BACK IN to NY....Can anyone here enlighten me ?

If you got da money, I got da time !!

Thanks, My friend....I have missed two ( was it three ?) seasons up there due to the covid BS.... I would love to go up this year, but it depends how many hoops I have to jump through crossing back and forth the border.. When my buddies came down for deer season last year, they had to get tested before crossing the border both ways...On top of that they had to spend a good share of their hunting time going back to the clinic down here and it cost them about $250 each to get tested....If it is still like that, I'll pass...Too old to put up with that BS.....

Fifty years ago I had the hope of starting spring gobbler season in Florida and hunting my way north as the seasons opened.. Never happened due to family issues, the need to earn a living and other life issues... However I did manage over a period of time to hunt Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, PA, NY, Maine, and Ontario Canada.. I killed gobblers in every location except Georgia....

Geeze, Moog, I wish you had given me a call The Mermaid and I would have come up to lend you a hand...<<grin>>....

The state of Pennsylvania does not allow semi auto rifles OR shotguns for big game hunting... I don't know if any other states do the same, but PA is a huge market for hunting rifles...

Hitting a live cougar with a ski pole.....Brings up visions of an Indian touching an enemy with his coup stick.....Hehehe...

I saw my first robin of the year in my back yard this morning....I've been seeing redwings and grackles at my feeders for about a week now...

You may be right, Rob....I had a big glass of water before bed the other night and dreamed about Wendy Nichols when she was 19....