KY Mike is right on with his statement. I am a Turkey hunter and KNOW how tough it is to get a good shot with a shotgun, muchh less a rifle or bow. With the constant moving you will have very little time for a good head shot. Can it be done? Absolutely, no question that there are some that are experienced aand calm enough to make that shot with an AG. Now on the same note, IF you are using a big bore, you have more options such as the base of the neck or the chest. I prefer the base of the neck with a PB rifle as it causes much less damage to the meat. I honestly feel that the taking of Turkey should be left to a shotgun IMO of course. I have taken around 30 turkey and trust me gentlemen, if you only wound this bird, it is gone, and your chances of finding it are slim to none in many cases. Especially the osceola in a marsh or even swamp environment. I have taken chest shots at turkeys in flight at less than 30 feet and have had them hit the ground, get up and run, never to be seen again.Again, Just my opinion.
Quote from: ShakySarge on September 01, 2012, 10:56:43 AMKY Mike is right on with his statement. I am a Turkey hunter and KNOW how tough it is to get a good shot with a shotgun, muchh less a rifle or bow. With the constant moving you will have very little time for a good head shot. Can it be done? Absolutely, no question that there are some that are experienced aand calm enough to make that shot with an AG. Now on the same note, IF you are using a big bore, you have more options such as the base of the neck or the chest. I prefer the base of the neck with a PB rifle as it causes much less damage to the meat. I honestly feel that the taking of Turkey should be left to a shotgun IMO of course. I have taken around 30 turkey and trust me gentlemen, if you only wound this bird, it is gone, and your chances of finding it are slim to none in many cases. Especially the osceola in a marsh or even swamp environment. I have taken chest shots at turkeys in flight at less than 30 feet and have had them hit the ground, get up and run, never to be seen again.Again, Just my opinion.I agree with you that if you wound a turkey, you likely won't find him. I have wounded with both shotgun and rifle and they leave no blood trail. What little bit they bleed their feathers soak up. However, I've also killed enough turkeys with a rifle to know that if you use the right caliber, right bullet, and right shot placement, you will kill them clean every time. A small, fragile, and fragmenting bullet placed at the point where the wing connects to the body will kill them quick. The bullet needs to absolutely explode when it goes in the bird like an AA gun. It will have the effects of breaking their wing so they can't fly and fragging their vitals. Besides my shotgun, my preferred turkey gun is a .22 magnum shooting accutips out to 50 yards. It doesn't give me any unfair range advantage over a shotgun hunter but it lets me lay prone with a bipod. You can get away with murder with a turkey if you are prone. I have used other small calibers in centerfire such as the .204 but I find that the bullets fly too fast and punch through the bird without exploding at close range. Although I have never shot a turkey with a large caliber, most people who do loose them. The bullets punch through the bird without expanding. That's why I wouldn't be concerned with an air gun caliber limit. Really only head shots should be attempted with an air gun. A body shot with a large caliber air rifle would behave more like a large caliber powderburner instead of a small caliber fragmenting bullet. It would just punch through without exploding and not instantly kill the bird. If you connect with a .177 in the head he's just as dead as with a .25. After all, look how small your turkey shot is in a shotgun. 1 little pellet penetrating his brain is all it takes. How much more should a .177 do the trick? You will likely either hit them fatally or miss clean. Turkeys do hold their heads still enough when they are looking at a decoy or you to get a head shot. The traditional way to hunt turkeys with a rifle in Florida is actually to shoot them in the head with a .22LR.
... or I can just get a life-sized turkey head print-out and practice shooting the center of the round part of the skull right behind the eye or right between the eyes if he's looking at me. If one small shot the size of a large grain of sand planted anywhere in that region can put him down, I doubt he'll survive planting a much larger pellet anywhere in there. That's a target about the size of a big walnut. Really not much smaller than the kill zone on a coon skull. Actually that sounds fun. I'm going to run out to Gander and pick one up. Stay tuned.
If you guys wanna practice Turkey headshots.Glue 2 dry navy beans together. That's really close to the size of the brain. Glue that on a stick that's 1/2" or less thick x 5" long, or less...the vertebrae. Set that in the ground at to about 18" tall to the top of it. That'll give you the S/CV size to shoot for. I'm curious about the hit percentages you get at 25yards or better. It'll be tough to do.