Originally Posted by
nchawkeye
Well, you come on here asking for help and when you get an honest opinion you fly off the handle...
If you don't agree with what I say on here then go ahead and keep doing what you are doing...
But I have to ask, if you have all this experience and know plenty of others getting better patterns and killing toms way out yonder then why don't you simply ask them for their setup????
It reminds me of fellows coming on here wanting to know how much a bullet fired from a .270 will drop at 500 yards...
Only experience and working with your equipment will teach you these things...
There is much more to hunting than using the latest, greatest, most expensive equipment out there...There are ways to get a gobbler in close, so close that you may not want those super tight patterns...The two birds I killed last year were shot at 20 and 25 yards...I used a Browning B-80 with the Remington Nitros 3 inch mag #5 shot you can buy at WalMart...They were number 15 and 16 I have killed with those loads and both were jelly headed...My choke is a Hastings .640...
Frankly, my setup is over kill...This year I'm going back to my 12 gauge double that I got in 1967...I killed plenty of birds with that gun before there were screw in chokes...
And no, I have never and will never shoot at a turkey at 50 yards...
And I have never wounded a bird either...The two go hand in hand...
You know as well as I do, that I can take 20 of the same shotguns with the same setups and there will be 1 phenomenal shooter and 19 good/decent shooters. And if I posted asking on here, don't you think I've asked them as well?? This wasn't a cry for help, I was just being social and chatting with fellow hunters cause it's what I enjoy. I am just looking for opinions on your setups, just to see others that are similar. That way I'm not wasting hundreds of dollars on ammo. I have a great setup, but I ain't killing birds at crazy yardages either. Then again, I have taken one shot at a bird at a distance of 50 yards with my setup. The rest fell dead. I'm a sportsman and to me that is someone who does what the good LORD has provided for them, with all respect to the animal while doing so. I don't take crazy shots. And yes, anyone can buy walmart ammo and kill birds at 25 yards. Sometimes even luck up and kill one at a long distance. But, without a serious setup, no one is killing birds consistently at 50-60 yards with a shell that cost $10 for 10 shells. And if they are, I'd love to buy their setup. I have a friend that once threw a beer bottle at a turkey and killed it, so they can be killed with things other than an $8 shell. And again, if every shot you've fired at a turkey has killed him, then I tip my hat to you, cause there are no others like you! Unless you and them haven't been hunting very long or haven't shot many birds. If you have ever shot at a turkey that didn't die, you may assume you missed, but you may of "wounded" him just as you say I did. But, I appreciate your criticism and I will try and find it constructive instead of just "trash talk". Enjoy your season, best of luck to you!
to you as well