When starting out turkey hunting you must first decide on what kind of weapon and what gauge you are going to use. Make sure the gun is sufficient for turkey hunting. Also make sure the gun is sufficient for you as well. You don't want a gun that is to heavy or something you can handle.
1. When you start to sight in a turkey gun I would highly recommend you start with a light load of 7 to 8 shot and at about 15 yards. Also start by shooting at least 3 shots at different targets. These shots will tell you if your gun is shooting straight, right, left, high or low without the fierce pain of the 3 or 3.5 inch shells. Once you have established your gun is shooting dead center, and then we go to the accessories.
2. If possible you need to get a few different choke tubes for your shotgun because each choke tube will shoot different. It will take several shots from each tube to determine which one patterns best.
3. Then you need to determine what size shell your going to shoot 3's or 3.5 inch shells or are you going to try both sizes to see if one shoots better than the other. Remember these shells can run about 8 dollars for a box of 10.
4. To start out you will need several different brands of shells in several different shot sizes. You will have to try each brand and each shot size with all of the different chokes to see which brand and what size shot patterns best for your gun. This can be a very time consuming task at first but trust me the pay off for that big tom will be well worth it. Also don't be afraid to use some shoulder protection against the vicious recoil of the turkey guns.
5. Take the time to evaluate each shot and record the data on the sheet. Put what size shell, what brand, shot size and the ounce load you used. It takes at least 5 shots or BB's in the vitals to effectively kill a turkey. So keep track of how many shots are in the vitals and at what yardage.
6. As you narrow down what ammo and choke tube is giving you the best pattern start backing up 5 yards at a time until you no longer can put a sufficient number of BB's in the vitals. The most important part of turkey hunting is to know you guns limitations and don't exceed the range you a comfortable with and confident at.
I hope these tips help you out this year when is comes time to bag that big Tom. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me here or at my blog, also if you have any other ideas or suggestions for others, just let me know and I will get them out there.
Thanks and Hunt Safe.
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