© Othmar Vohringer
After juggling a few dates around I finally will be able to squeeze a few days of turkey hunting in before our season closes on May 15. For a while there I was worried I couldn’t make this year. On May 8th, that is three days after my birthday, a friend and I head out to the Christina Lake area for a few days of turkey hunting.
That late in the season it will though going, I have been told that the area has seen quite a bit of hunting pressure lately. I hope that I can come back here after the hunt and tell you all a great success story. To be honest with you all, turkey or no turkey, I am just glad to get out and do some hunting and spend time with friends in our great outdoors. That alone will be a story worth telling
In the meantime I would like to hear your spring turkey hunting stories. Submit the story and a picture, if you have one, to me and I will be happy to post them up here for all to read.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Which shot?
© By Othmar Vohringer
“Just get the heaviest and biggest load and that should do the trick.” This was the answer I overheard given by a sporting goods store clerk to a customer inquiring what the best load for turkeys would be.
While it is true that a turkey can be shot with a magnum load and large pellets – heck you could even use buckshot - there is more to choosing the right load than just picking any shot shell box that says “Turkey load” or something to that effect on it.
Your goal should be to find the perfect gun / load / choke combination that will provide you a consistent pattern out to 30 yards and beyond. This is easier said then done. Each gun is different in what it likes to shoot. My turkey gun for example performs best with Federal Premium High Velocity Turkey Load 3” with #4 shot pushed through a full choke. But don’t take this as the gospel. Your gun might like something entirely different.
The only way to find out what your gun likes is to spend time at the shooting range. Purchase as many different loads from 3” to 3 1/3” (provided your gun is chambered to accommodate 3 ½” shells) stuffed with pellets from size 4 to 6’s. I also recommend using different brands and different designations from the normal to the “turkey loads”. If your gun comes with interchangeable choke tubes, most do, try different chokes with each load. The results can vastly differ. For example my gun didn’t perform a consistent pattern when I used the “extra full turkey choke”. When I changed to a ordinary full choke I had the pattern I was looking for.
Another often overlooked but very important factor is recoil. The 3 ½” and the 3” magnum turkey loads deliver a heavy payload, but the recoil these loads produce can be very uncomfortable to handle for some. Heavy recoil creates flinging. Believe it or not, but it is a fact that magnum loads account for more hunters to miss turkeys because they flinched in anticipation of the severe kicking a magnum load dishes out then anything else.
As ethical hunters we owed to the turkeys to develop the perfect killing pattern and not just head in the store a day or two before hunting season opens and buy any old load that’s on sale. Or as in the case at the beginning of this article let a sales clerk that obviously had no clue tell you what you should use. Take the time it takes to figure out what makes your gun a turkey harvesting tool and you will not have to live with doubt and spoiled memories.
Image Copyright by Othmar Vohringer Product Stock Photography
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
“Just get the heaviest and biggest load and that should do the trick.” This was the answer I overheard given by a sporting goods store clerk to a customer inquiring what the best load for turkeys would be.While it is true that a turkey can be shot with a magnum load and large pellets – heck you could even use buckshot - there is more to choosing the right load than just picking any shot shell box that says “Turkey load” or something to that effect on it.
Your goal should be to find the perfect gun / load / choke combination that will provide you a consistent pattern out to 30 yards and beyond. This is easier said then done. Each gun is different in what it likes to shoot. My turkey gun for example performs best with Federal Premium High Velocity Turkey Load 3” with #4 shot pushed through a full choke. But don’t take this as the gospel. Your gun might like something entirely different.
The only way to find out what your gun likes is to spend time at the shooting range. Purchase as many different loads from 3” to 3 1/3” (provided your gun is chambered to accommodate 3 ½” shells) stuffed with pellets from size 4 to 6’s. I also recommend using different brands and different designations from the normal to the “turkey loads”. If your gun comes with interchangeable choke tubes, most do, try different chokes with each load. The results can vastly differ. For example my gun didn’t perform a consistent pattern when I used the “extra full turkey choke”. When I changed to a ordinary full choke I had the pattern I was looking for.
Another often overlooked but very important factor is recoil. The 3 ½” and the 3” magnum turkey loads deliver a heavy payload, but the recoil these loads produce can be very uncomfortable to handle for some. Heavy recoil creates flinging. Believe it or not, but it is a fact that magnum loads account for more hunters to miss turkeys because they flinched in anticipation of the severe kicking a magnum load dishes out then anything else.
As ethical hunters we owed to the turkeys to develop the perfect killing pattern and not just head in the store a day or two before hunting season opens and buy any old load that’s on sale. Or as in the case at the beginning of this article let a sales clerk that obviously had no clue tell you what you should use. Take the time it takes to figure out what makes your gun a turkey harvesting tool and you will not have to live with doubt and spoiled memories.
Image Copyright by Othmar Vohringer Product Stock Photography
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Friday, April 17, 2009
Are decoys costing you toms?
© By Othmar Vohringer
While there is no doubt in my mind that turkey decoys can enhance your hunting success, there are undeniably situations when decoys have been a detriment to success.
I have heard many stories of hunters whose success has been spoiled by using turkey decoys. I even could share some personal experiences I had over the years when decoys have worked against me. The stories reach from hunters that have had their decoys mistaken by others for the real thing to the incidents of turkeys that were scared by decoys. Other stories I heard, and personally experienced, were of toms that hang up well out of shotgun reach the moment they can see a turkey decoy.
Lets look at a few scenarios I addressed above and see how we can avoid a negative response to decoys. Lets start with hunters stalking decoys because this is the most serious and dangerous aspect of decoy usage.
As I have often said, using turkey decoys on public land isn’t a very safe thing to do. If at all possible avoid using decoys on public or private lands were chances are that other hunters could be preset. The most common turkey hunting accidents are the ones were hunters getting shot at because they have been mistaken as turkeys or the hunter shot at the decoys.
If you feel strongly that you cannot do without decoys on public land then at least go the extra length and mark the decoys clearly visible with blaze orange tape or flags to make it plainly visible to approaching hunters. I have yet to see that blaze orange ribbons or flags spooks a turkey away from the decoys. And if it did, so what. I rather return home without a tom in the bag then not at all or after a stopover at the hospital.
There are times when turkeys get scared by decoys and this is often the case in strong wind. I had ones a tom spooking so badly that he fell over himself as he run away. Just in that moment when the tom came into shooting range the wind picked up and the decoy started to spin on its stand. This unexpected erratic behavior in turn scared the pants off the tom.
Most decoys come with mounting devises that prevent them from spinning in the wind but if you still own decoys that are mounted with a single rod you will have to anchor them. Anchoring a decoy is not difficult. Usually sticking a twig of some sort or and old arrow to either side of the decoy will be sufficient to pervert the decoy from spinning.
What can we do about the tom that hangs up out of shooting range when he sees our decoys? A very common problem is that hunters stake out decoys where they can be seen for a long way in the hope that a tom seeing the decoys from far away will come running. But that is not so. A tom seldom will come to a hen. Gobblers are male chauvinists. A tom will only go as far until he can see the hen and then stop. He expects the hen to come to him.
It is a much better strategy to set up the decoys in such a way that the gobbler can’t see the decoys until he is in shooting range. By using the features of the terrain this is seldom difficult to achieve. A gobbler that comes to calling fully expects to see a hen as I described in Show him what he want to see – or hide. The same tactics can be applied to decoys. As I said, a tom expects to see something when he comes to calling, preferably a turkey hen. Placing a decoy will give him that confidence to stick around for a minute or two before he gets suspicious.
Turkey decoys can be a great asset to your hunting success, but they have to be used wisely and with caution otherwise the decoys will be a detriment to your success. As with everything else in hunting, using decoys is not a strategy in itself, it is only a small part of a well planed and thought out strategy that will lead to success provided everything is done right.
For more information on turkey hunting, seminars and course visit my website
Image copyright by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors Stock Photography
While there is no doubt in my mind that turkey decoys can enhance your hunting success, there are undeniably situations when decoys have been a detriment to success.I have heard many stories of hunters whose success has been spoiled by using turkey decoys. I even could share some personal experiences I had over the years when decoys have worked against me. The stories reach from hunters that have had their decoys mistaken by others for the real thing to the incidents of turkeys that were scared by decoys. Other stories I heard, and personally experienced, were of toms that hang up well out of shotgun reach the moment they can see a turkey decoy.
Lets look at a few scenarios I addressed above and see how we can avoid a negative response to decoys. Lets start with hunters stalking decoys because this is the most serious and dangerous aspect of decoy usage.
As I have often said, using turkey decoys on public land isn’t a very safe thing to do. If at all possible avoid using decoys on public or private lands were chances are that other hunters could be preset. The most common turkey hunting accidents are the ones were hunters getting shot at because they have been mistaken as turkeys or the hunter shot at the decoys.
If you feel strongly that you cannot do without decoys on public land then at least go the extra length and mark the decoys clearly visible with blaze orange tape or flags to make it plainly visible to approaching hunters. I have yet to see that blaze orange ribbons or flags spooks a turkey away from the decoys. And if it did, so what. I rather return home without a tom in the bag then not at all or after a stopover at the hospital.
There are times when turkeys get scared by decoys and this is often the case in strong wind. I had ones a tom spooking so badly that he fell over himself as he run away. Just in that moment when the tom came into shooting range the wind picked up and the decoy started to spin on its stand. This unexpected erratic behavior in turn scared the pants off the tom.
Most decoys come with mounting devises that prevent them from spinning in the wind but if you still own decoys that are mounted with a single rod you will have to anchor them. Anchoring a decoy is not difficult. Usually sticking a twig of some sort or and old arrow to either side of the decoy will be sufficient to pervert the decoy from spinning.
What can we do about the tom that hangs up out of shooting range when he sees our decoys? A very common problem is that hunters stake out decoys where they can be seen for a long way in the hope that a tom seeing the decoys from far away will come running. But that is not so. A tom seldom will come to a hen. Gobblers are male chauvinists. A tom will only go as far until he can see the hen and then stop. He expects the hen to come to him.
It is a much better strategy to set up the decoys in such a way that the gobbler can’t see the decoys until he is in shooting range. By using the features of the terrain this is seldom difficult to achieve. A gobbler that comes to calling fully expects to see a hen as I described in Show him what he want to see – or hide. The same tactics can be applied to decoys. As I said, a tom expects to see something when he comes to calling, preferably a turkey hen. Placing a decoy will give him that confidence to stick around for a minute or two before he gets suspicious.
Turkey decoys can be a great asset to your hunting success, but they have to be used wisely and with caution otherwise the decoys will be a detriment to your success. As with everything else in hunting, using decoys is not a strategy in itself, it is only a small part of a well planed and thought out strategy that will lead to success provided everything is done right.
For more information on turkey hunting, seminars and course visit my website
Image copyright by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors Stock Photography
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
