turkey

[redlite]

Our area is runnin rampant with wild turkey. Had a flock of em in the yard again this am. Do they eat chicken? My wife was freakin out this am that they were gonna attack our pet egg layer. She wanted me to start shootin em and cook one for easter tom.
I am not a hunter and know nothin about them.
Question for the turkey hunters. I know they are hunted with shotgun and bow/ arrow, (no rifle hunting in MA) but If it were in season and I were a licensed hunter, could I drop a turkey with a pellet gun shot to the head? If I were gonna do it for real, is there a particular place you need to shoot them so as not to ruin the meat aside from blowin their head off?

[Hookedagain]

I have shot dozens of them with a shotgun. Always take a head shot as to not ruin the rest of the bird. A pellet gun? Hmmmm....not sure on that, I suppose it would work if you were close enough and a good shot.

[Nebe]

Order some guillotine arrows
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Pete F.]

A casting egg and a big treble hook might be your best bet, then throw a blanket over it.
Just don't go bragging about it since it's not quite legal to go turkey snagging.

[spence]

Make sure you clean it in the kitchen, they smell like roses inside.

-spence

[Raven]

i would buy a cheap bag of sunflower seed and spread it around
where ya want them to be..... they are easy to train like that

[redlite]

Originally Posted by Raven

i would buy a cheap bag of sunflower seed and spread it around
where ya want them to be..... they are easy to train like that

I had thought about doin that, but between our chicken that poops all over the garage, the wood chucks that eat our plants, and the deer stripping the bark off all my saplings, i figured I don't need any more pets.
Just cause we live in a "Right to Farm Community", doesn't mean i need to be a farmer.........
I like the fishin for turkey idea though......hmmmmmmmm

[Raven]

the flock i had behind my house were like chickens
i'd see them out there and walk out throwing seed
in a big broadcast sweep gesture
and instead of retreating back up into the woods
they'd run toward me hell bent for
leather because they are addicted to sunflower seed
there's those collapsible net traps ....bet they'd work

[Pete F.]

Hunting : Throwing Stick, Bolas
Here are some more low-tech ideas. Though I think if primitive people had fishing rods they might have gone for the rod, casting egg and treble idea, sort of like a bolo with leverage.

[Raven]

try following them

can't be done

[Night Shift]

Pellet gun/head shot = dead turkey (or chipmunk, or squirrel, or woodchuck, etc....) every time. ...so I've heard

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by Night Shift

Pellet gun/head shot = dead turkey (or chipmunk, or squirrel, or woodchuck, etc....) every time. ...so I've heard

They're surprisingly tough birds. I wouldn't count on a pellet penetrating their skull.

Nothing beats a spring gobbler coming to the call in full strut! They deserve better than being eradicated like a common varmint.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by Matt D

. I wouldn't count on a pellet penetrating their skull.

"Nothing beats a spring gobbler coming to the call in full strut! They deserve better than being eradicated like a common varmint".

so true


if your pellet riffle shoots pellets at 1500 feet per second it'll go right on thru it's head....

as for VARMITS .... varmit's destroy and eat your garden that you work so hard to create. One afternoon i was marveling on my row of onions that were just taking off bigtime all carefully mulched to conserve moisture so they'd grow big... they had reached that size where they'd double in size in a week

next morning every single scallion onion was tore out and destroyed by a turkey..........
trying to eat my worms that i cultivate to make black soil and put in
the garden.... SO THAT DEFINES VARMIT in my book
i couldn't care if it has hair or feathers

cause problems: i will defend myself and my property
including my food garden

[PRBuzz]

I assume some VARMITS raised on nice garden vegetables make for a nice roaster?

[Night Shift]

You would be very surprised what a .17 cal. pellet traveling at only 800 fps. can do during open season by a licenced hunter. I am a hunter and safely, quickly, and cleanly are always top priorities. Whether it is from one well placed pellet or from a pattern of a hundred or so.

I actually admire turkeys and love to listen to them gobble this time of year and do not actively hunt them. BUT, all of my neighbors are farmers and we all agree with Raven. He stated it perfectly. The only thing I would add is: A gobbler in full strut IS an awesome site. Just not on your porch waiting to trounce your 13 year old dog or chasing the neighbor’s kids. That makes him turkey pie in my book.

[Raven]

Funny turkey story

we were up in the very top of Cuyamaca forest (cali) camping at our own risk because the area
was basically closed for the season but we didn't care.

So we had a great night with the campfire's and all that...
and then came early morning listening to the sounds of nature in pure silence
hard to find these days.... but we're on top of a mountain

My wife is sleeping in not wanting to budge an inch out her sleeping bag.
no early coffee or breakfast enticement could persuade her to get up.

so then off in the distance we hear a Gobbler calling ever so faintly
and i said to the others "i heard a turkey callin out thata way" pointing

well it took about an hour or longer for the old turkey to get closer
and closer and CLOSER to the camp with the gobbling getting louder
by the minute
everyone was thrilled with the sound of it
and it was even starting to echo a bit

finally as i see the turkey entering our camping area from inside the tent
and i said to my wife...."wake up hon" and check out the tom turkey out here"

she sits up real fast and yells at the top of her lungs in a mean way
"YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE YOU DAMN TURKEY !!!!

the turkey takes off all startled.... and i said, "did ya hear it gobblin"
she says, "yeah! for the last F-ing hour he's been keepin me awake"

and with that over .........and she went back to sleep

everyone started laughin real good or um "quietly"

[TheSpecialist]

I have killed big groundhogs with a .22 pellet gun with one shot, it can be done. That said turkey have very keen vision and getting close for a shot is going to be tough, especially one the birds get wary. Keep in mind you will need a turkey permit. Basspro sells a .22 cal Beeman with a scope for 99 buck that is the one I have been using.

[Night Shift]

My wife agrees with yours. The window on her side of the bed gets slammed shut at 0500 every morning when the gobblers start, now till the end of june. Then it's the cat bird that perches 10 feet from our pillows. I love it, her ...not so much.

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by TheSpecialist

I have killed big groundhogs with a .22 pellet gun with one shot, it can be done. That said turkey have very keen vision and getting close for a shot is going to be tough, especially one the birds get wary. Keep in mind you will need a turkey permit. Basspro sells a .22 cal Beeman with a scope for 99 buck that is the one I have been using.

Shotguns or bow&arrow are the only legal ways to take a turkey in MA. So I guess if you're going to be an outlaw anyway, why bother with the permit?

[Raven]

i had a tom here i was trying to train....
but i think someone might have shot him....
haven't seen him this year

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Night Shift

My wife agrees with yours. The window on her side of the bed gets slammed shut at 0500 every morning when the gobblers start, now till the end of june. Then it's the cat bird that perches 10 feet from our pillows. I love it, her ...not so much.

you better hide her Gloc..

[Rockfish9]

this one knows what the yellow bucket means....

[Raven]

shove them into a big ole funnel that's pointed down at a 45 degree angle
and snip the head off with pruning sheers into the yellow bucket

[Night Shift]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

this one knows what the yellow bucket means....

It had better steer clear of your wife, she was on a war path when it crapped on your front steps last weekend. I wouldn't let her catch you with the yellow bucket again eighter

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Raven

shove them into a big ole funnel that's pointed down at a 45 degree angle
and snip the head off with pruning sheers into the yellow bucket

No funnel needed.... get one person to hold the wings in close.. the other does the cutting...... killed more turkey's than I care to talk about...domestic ones.. not wild ones..

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Night Shift

It had better steer clear of your wife, she was on a war path when it crapped on your front steps last weekend. I wouldn't let her catch you with the yellow bucket again eighter

yea she was....

[Raven]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

No funnel needed.... get one person to hold the wings in close.. the other does the cutting...... killed more turkey's than I care to talk about...domestic ones.. not wild ones..

and if your ALONE? then what?

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Raven

and if your ALONE? then what?

stand back and let 'er flap.. BUT DONT LET GO OF THE NECK....