If Rifle Were Legal?

[Five Seasons]

Purely hypothetical and just for fun question.

If you could hunt turkeys with a rifle, would you? What caliber and gun would you go with?

[SpacemanSpiff]

I definitely would. I would use any magnum rimfire cartridge. The only one I currently own is the .22magnum which is more than capable of minute of turkey at 100 yards. I only hunt private land and i get the dangers of calling turkeys in the spring on public land. Maybe allow during the fall only? In the spirit of for fun only, again yes and id use my .22 magnum. 

[chrisw]

Absolutely. 22mag, 17hmr, I'd probably buy a long barrel revolver and scope it.

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[mowin]

If legal, absolutely. 22mag or .17 would be my choice. I do believe some states do allow rifle hunting for turkeys. 

[Buckmaster7600]

Absolutely! Probably my lcr 22mag

I wouldn’t ever carry a rifle but hunting turkeys with a pistol would be a blast!!


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[Five Seasons]

38 minutes ago, blackbeltbill said:

Ok- not responding to this one- lol! I need to stop " taking the Bait" and putting it out myself. But,I  will be reading the responses 

it's just for fun bill. not everything has to be serious. 

[Daveboone]

I dunno....Turkeys are tough ol' birds, and I dont know if I would have faith in .22 mag performing a clean kill...I hve over the years bumped over alot of wood chucks, maybe ...some other similar sized critters, and I never thought it was a particularly clean killing round.  I have.....heard from reliable sources that it failed to stop Canadian Geese cleanly with solid shots, which...must have been heartbreaking to see. 

Centerfire rounds would damage meat too much. I tend to think shotguns are the best (keeping in mind the ideal shots with them are only head shots).

[Steuben Jerry]

[Lawdwaz]

Lol, no rifles for me while turkey hunting.   (And there’s nobody who enjoys rifles anymore than me!)

[ncountry]

I would. Probably use my 22-250(smallest I have). I don't turkey hunt , because of top many other hobbies taking up that time.

I like turkey though, and would pop 1 or 2 with a rifle to put in the freezer.

[Sir-diealot]

Nope, I prefer to hunt.

[stubborn1VT]

No thanks.  

[dbHunterNY]

Win model 94 30-30 lever gun. Base of the neck at 500 yards. ....with iron sights. haha gotta call them in close.

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[rob-c]

I would love to hunt turkeys with my SRH 44 mag . 

[grampy]

Just for fun.........my 223 AR with FMJs.   

[Pygmy]

Not this old white boy...I get too jervous and nerky...  Without the pattern spread of a shotgun, I   may very well have missed all of the 100 plus turkeys I have killed..Hehehe..

Just as a note, rifles ARE  or have been legal in a number of southern and western states, Virginia and Alabama being two of them, but still shotguns are the overwhelming choice of nearly all serious turkey hunters....

[rob-c]

8 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Not this old white boy...I get too jervous and nerky...  Without the pattern spread of a shotgun, I   may very well have missed all of the 100 plus turkeys I have killed..Hehehe..

Just as a note, rifles ARE  or have been legal in a number of southern and western states, Virginia and Alabama being two of them, but still shotguns are the overwhelming choice of nearly all serious turkey hunters....

Good thing I’m not serious 

[Grouse]

I would hunt turkey with a rifle.  I'd use my Rem 700 in .223 with FMJ bullets for shots that were 60 yards or more. Placing a shot at the base of a turkeys neck, just above the breast meat, will take out the spine and drop it where it stands with no meat damage to speak of.  If it were legal to do so, why not?

Edited April 11, 2021 by Grouse

[airedale]

I have read articles about Turkey hunting with a rifle, it is done mostly in western states where open country and longer range seems to play a big factor.  The 22 Hornet with FMJ bullets was a big favorite and effective with those hunters. The other 22 cal varmint rounds loaded to the same ballistics as the Hornet were also used with minimal meat damage.

If rifles were legal to use here and I hunted habitat like open farmland where Turkeys could be called into fields for clear shots I would have no problem using a rifle. In the woods where there is a lot of cover to get into the way of a clear shot I would stick with a shotgun,

I once raised Merriams wild Turkeys free range here on the farm, when I wanted one for the pot I would use one of my 22 magnums for the kill. I also used a 17 HMR a couple of times. I did so because I found out quickly that is not an easy task to catch a Turkey and take it to the chopping block like a chicken, a big Tom will beat the Hell out of you with his wings.

When shooting one I made sure they never knew it was me doing the killing. I would conceal myself and take them at distances sometimes close to 100 yards and never had to shoot more than once. With a shot placed behind the wing where it attached to the body similar to the Deer behind the shoulder lung shot they would drop pretty much where they stood with very little meat damage.

I knocked off at least a couple of dozen this way so for me the 22 mag and 17 HMR were very effective and would yield the same result on wild birds I think.

Al

Edited April 11, 2021 by airedale

[Waterfowler]

No, taking head or neck shots from a rifle are tougher than a shotgun. And I have seen a turkey shot in the body with a centerfire rifle and it wasn’t pretty

[Grouse]

Actually, a turkey's head and neck move a lot and very unpredictably.  But the base of the neck, where it meets the shoulders moves very little when the head and neck move.  That base of the neck spine shot isn't hard to do with a rifle as it is a target about the size of a baseball, which isn't hard to hit at 100 yards. 

If a turkey is standing still looking at you from a distance, which they often do, that lower neck shot would be easier to do with a rifle than a close range tight choke pattern shot at the birds head with a shotgun, especially if the bird is alert and moving.

[G-Man]

Not a rifle but 357 pistol for head shots.

[Lawdwaz]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

Not a rifle but 357 pistol for head shots.

(And I really did lol)

[G-Man]

1 hour ago, Lawdwaz said:

(And I really did lol)

Dick kirby use to promote it , in a couple of videos out of texas, about near cut head off it. Would be fun to try.

[DirtTime]

I brought this topic up years ago after seeing it being done out west. If rimfires were legal I might give a .22LR a try. Aiming at the base of the neck or just back of the wing. A centerfire in anything larger then a 17HMR would seem excessive to me.

Compensator: "I just got me a new turkey thumper!".

Buddy: "Whatchda git?".

Compensator: ".300 Weatherby Mag with a Zeiss V4 3-12x56!".

Buddy: Blank stare.