is this crazy
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226

Not trying to stir things up but here goes, been turkey hunting only once in my life and just found out that it is legal to use a rifle in my county for turkey. With that being said, would a 17 HMR do the trick with a shot to the breast. They say the best part is calling in the turkey close but I like rifle hunting and figure this way I could take one out to a 100 yards.
#2

If you're going to use a rifle I wouldn'taim forthe breast.[:'(] You would ruin most of the meat and make a BIG mess of things.[:'(]IMO
I would try to aim for the head. No mess, and no tracking required...
IMO
I would try to aim for the head. No mess, and no tracking required...

#3

We just had this discussion here on this thread and even had mention of this gun. Check out what was said about it here >>---> http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2447022
#4

A .17 will take a turkey down, but there is nothing better than taking one with a shotgun from 20 yards away. Everytime I have a gobbler running in to me, it seems like my heart is about to jump out of my chest. My father-in-law shoot two nice sized jakes a week before thanksgiving. He body shot them and we didn't have any big messes when cleaning the birds for the thanksgiving meal
. He did have to walk up on one and shot it again becuase it was not completely dead.

#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pa
Posts: 4,647

I would not recomend a 17 HMR for turkeys unless you were strickly aiming for head or neck
I body shot a gobbler with a 22 mag a few years back and the bird just took to the air and soored off a big ridge and glided out of sight
Learned my lesson and will never do that again... If your that desperate to kill a turkey, use a high powered rifle



#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Watertown, NY
Posts: 133

There is no fun or excitment inshooting a turkey with a rifle...To me the allure of the sport is going one on one with a tom...Using my woodsmenship to find the best set up, listening to him gobble as Icall him in close and make a good clean kill with ashotgun loadto the head...Aftermore then20 years of doing this I still get a rush of adrenillin and shake like a leaf...That's turkey hunting...

#10

I think with a head or neck shot you would kill it but with that small of gun a breast shot would be a very low percentage kill unless you hit the heart. The turkey will eventually die but you probably wont find it.
I would use a shotgun unless I could shootlike Annie Oakley.
I would use a shotgun unless I could shootlike Annie Oakley.