Choke and Load Recommendations for Spring Turkey Hunt

OldSavage

OldSavage

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I am making the transition from bow to shotgun for turkey this spring and wanted a little help. I will be using my Winchester SXP 12 gauge but wanted to pick up a good turkey choke and a good round to go with it. This shotgun uses an invector plus choke system.

Any suggestions?
 
Try your factory full choke and Federal shells with the flite control wad. Had good luck with this in a Benelli M2 with the factory full choke and a Remington 870 with the factory Extra full turkey choke. As always, every gun is different and yours might like something entirely different.
 
^^^good advice, I use Winchester Supreme #5 1 3/4oz through a full choke and it has dropped many birds out to 45 yards. I have also used a primo xfull but didn't see a significant improvement
 
i like my poly choke and federal #5. i have a tight pattern at 40 yards with the wad impacting within 5 inches of my aimed target. thats a x2 full setting
 
OldSavage said:
Just for interest sake, if blaze orange were to be enforced, how would this be any more dangerous than any other type of rifle or big game shotgun hunting? Not an advocate, just wondering.
Click to expand...

Well, blaze orange and turkey hunting don't really work out together because the birds have good eye sight - maybe blaze while walking.

I think the shotgun is safer for a few reasons. The main reason I felt it would be dangerous is that a lot of hunters hunt turkey in fields. A bullet could easily pass through a bird and keep going or you could easily miss and have the bullet go anywhere. Another reason I think that a shotgun is safer has to do with the distance that it takes for the shot to impact the ground. This is due to the energy of the shot and the fact the shooter is typically shooting from a seated position.

I enjoy the challenge of hunting turkey. I think on how sporting it would be to walk the legal distance from the road and setup for a 100 yard shot. To me that's not much of a hunt.

I know some places allow rimfire for turkey and they might not have accidents. The above is just my thoughts on it.
 
Cintax said:
Well, blaze orange and turkey hunting don't really work out together because the birds have good eye sight - maybe blaze while walking.

I think the shotgun is safer for a few reasons. The main reason I felt it would be dangerous is that a lot of hunters hunt turkey in fields. A bullet could easily pass through a bird and keep going or you could easily miss and have the bullet go anywhere. Another reason I think that a shotgun is safer has to do with the distance that it takes for the shot to impact the ground. This is due to the energy of the shot and the fact the shooter is typically shooting from a seated position.

I enjoy the challenge of hunting turkey. I think on how sporting it would be to walk the legal distance from the road and setup for a 100 yard shot. To me that's not much of a hunt.

I know some places allow rimfire for turkey and they might not have accidents. The above is just my thoughts on it.
Click to expand...

I use a 22mag, shots are from 5 to 25 yards, the hunt is what you make it, the birds go down and stay down.
 
OldSavage said:
I am making the transition from bow to shotgun for turkey this spring and wanted a little help. I will be using my Winchester SXP 12 gauge but wanted to pick up a good turkey choke and a good round to go with it. This shotgun uses an invector plus choke system.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Thanks for this post. I'm heading out for the first time this year and I have the same equipment. I'm going with a friend who is a member here and guided by an experienced family member. Life is good.

I think the farm is either in 87A or south part of 80 (Ontario).

I was looking at one of those turkey chokes ($35) but didn't grab it. Will be patterning on cardboard before going out. I'm not against the turkey choke but I wish I could do a little more trial and error with different shells before purchasing. It looks like ammo can get really expensive, so I wonder if a $35 turkey choke will get better results with cheaper ammo (still within the regs of course), so it would pay for itself over time....

Another question since the thread is drifting:

Camo, I was thinking of looking for a 'shell' type thing so I could dress in the right layers underneath and just put a waterproof shell on top. Southern Ontario in April could be Miami or Dawson's City.. So, I know the birds have great vision, but would 'woodland camo' pants work? Or is the realtree type really necessary to avoid spooking them? Was hoping to get a realtree shell and a good hat / face cover, and then wearing some woodland pants and covering my boots with foliage. Gloves too of course.

Also, my SXP is black - I saw home depot had some real tree duct tape - would that help temporarily?

I don't want to spend a fortune on gear before actually getting out there. Would like to have high odds for success. Haven't talked to family member guide but will this weekend.

Was hoping to get some thoughts from you guys here. Thanks all.
 
Winston1984 said:
Thanks for this post. I'm heading out for the first time this year and I have the same equipment. I'm going with a friend who is a member here and guided by an experienced family member. Life is good.

I think the farm is either in 87A or south part of 80 (Ontario).

I was looking at one of those turkey chokes ($35) but didn't grab it. Will be patterning on cardboard before going out. I'm not against the turkey choke but I wish I could do a little more trial and error with different shells before purchasing. It looks like ammo can get really expensive, so I wonder if a $35 turkey choke will get better results with cheaper ammo (still within the regs of course), so it would pay for itself over time....

Another question since the thread is drifting:

Camo, I was thinking of looking for a 'shell' type thing so I could dress in the right layers underneath and just put a waterproof shell on top. Southern Ontario in April could be Miami or Dawson's City.. So, I know the birds have great vision, but would 'woodland camo' pants work? Or is the realtree type really necessary to avoid spooking them? Was hoping to get a realtree shell and a good hat / face cover, and then wearing some woodland pants and covering my boots with foliage. Gloves too of course.

Also, my SXP is black - I saw home depot had some real tree duct tape - would that help temporarily?

I don't want to spend a fortune on gear before actually getting out there. Would like to have high odds for success. Haven't talked to family member guide but will this weekend.

Was hoping to get some thoughts from you guys here. Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about camouflage on your gun plenty of birds have died with wood and blue or in your case black. If you are going to apply a camouflage the gun; there is products specifically designed for this application. You can find it at sporting goods stores and Wal-mart. I, personally, wouldn't be using duct tape in case it won't come off, or damages the finish.

Camouflage for yourself is important. I just use real tree camouflage that I got at Sail and Bass Pro. It's nothing special, just a hoodie, long sleeve shirt, hat. gloves and some pants. I actually bought the Redhead camouflage hat from Bass Pro and it has a built in face mask and came with gloves. That being said, the stuff you have should be fine.

You don't actually need to buy turkey loads to kill turkey. Turkey loads are just heavy like a pheasant load. Anyway, for well priced turkey loads you can look to Bass Pro right now since they are having a turkey sale right now. I have experience with the following ammunition out of my stock full choke for my SX3. All of them patterned well and I really don't have a favourite. The least expensive was the Kent Diamond Shot at $6.97 for 10 rounds but I see it's gone up to $7.99 still a good price.

Remington Nitro Turkey (#5)
Federal Premium Mag-Shok Heavy Weight (#6)
Kent Ultimate Diamond Shot (#5 and #6)

I picked up some Federal Premium Mag-Shok Copper plated in #5 and #6 to try as well this season. I also recently purchased a Carlson's Turkey choke so I will be patterning all the above through that soon. You don't need 3.5" and 2 oz. to kill a bird so try not to get sucked into the hype. There are plenty of loads for under $15 that will put a bird down just fine.

And $35 for a turkey choke isn't expensive, some of them get to over $100.
 
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