Thank you, vtbluegrass, I could not agree more as I carry an older Savage 24F12T, .223 over 12 and use the rifle barrel more than the shotgun. Bullet placement is just as important as patterning the shotgun, and is a lot more difficult on a turkey than on a deer, for example. As to rifles in Va, I heard some years back that the commonwealth was considering banning them as there were concerns about slobs road hunting and sniping turkeys out of open fields beside the road. While you couldn't give me an inline muzzle loader or a cross bow, if you're using it legally and ethically, while I may not agree, I/we still need to support our fellow hunters. This petty bickering among the ranks is just what the antis live for. Good hunting!

If all you want is a dead bird, use a rifle. If you want the challenge, excitement and satisfaction of calling one into shotgun range and taking him, then you are REALLY turkey hunting. I've had gobblers frustrate me to the point that I'd consider using a rifle, or a hand grenade, but the feeling passes and I keep trying to use all my skills---woodsmanship, calling, patience, use of terrain, etc., to make a kill that I am really proud of. That's just my personal feeling, and I have shot a turkey with a rifle and just didn't get the thrill I do from the old traditional method. I'm with 007---if rifle shooting a turkey is your thing, go for it.

I think thats stupid to hunt turkey with a rifle. Thats no fun at all. I like to see the turkey up close and listen to him drumm and gobble and make all the noises a tom does up close and personal. Tahst way to easy with a rifle i mean you dont even reall y have to know how to call or anything you can just sit and wait like in deer hunting.. Im so glad Wisconsin doesnt allow you to use rifles

I love to call turkeys and yes I hunt with a 22 Hornet. The last turkey I shot I sniped at the great distance of 35 yards. I don't see any problem unless you are trying to shoot a turkey a couple hundred yards or pick one off the roost at a long distance. People think just because you use a rifle you don't call for turkeys.

I use Winchester 45 grain factory , either solid points or hollow points. I have never had any problem crippling one. A friend of mine hunts with a 22 mag and talked me into getting one and I had it one week and crippled a big gobbler in the fall and traded the gun the next day for a Hornet. I have no use for a 22 mag. The best shot I have found is broadside through both wingbuts, probably the same place you shoot with the 223. I called in a big female coyote that had been sucking pups Tue morning, and she met the dreaded fate of the .22 Hornet. I would rather kill a coyote than a turkey. I called her up to within 25 yards. I don't know where everyone gets the idea that anyone who hunts with a rifle is no turkey hunter or has no turkey hunting skills. Most of the turkeys I have killed with my rifle I could have killed with my shotgun, I just like to hunt with my .22 Hornet. One of the guys at the camp got a nice bird the first morning, but I haven't done any good yet. Have you done any good yet ?

VT: If your buddy has been shooting turkeys in NY with a rifle he has been doing so illegally. The NYS DEC regulations state that: you may not take a turkey with a rifle, or with a handgun firing a bullet. Personally, if it was legal I would try it every once in a while with a rifle. I have nothing against it.

I shot that bird at 200 yards!
With what?
.338, what else?

Sarge, sorry for the late response. I succeeded in further educating an old long beard, probably the same one I missed last spring on the very same ridge. The contrary old so-and-so, rather than come thru the open woods like one would think, came sneaking in thru the thickest piece of bull pines and broom sage on that ridge, hard left. I saw a fist-sized white head go bouncing back down the ridge after he of course saw me. He's a good one and almost has his PHD. This is getting personal! Regards.

007, you have a very good point. I bet that rifle offer cleaner kills but what I mean is that shotgun hunting is more traditional and fun. There is nothing like calling a gobbler within shotgun range so that you are so close to it that one little movement would scare it. I bet that you don't snipe the birds but there are probably a handful of others who do. Also since you are hitting the body with the bullet, I would suppose that ruins some of the meat and there is not a lot of meat on a turkey. I also don't use a scoped shotgun, I don't have a specialty barrel, I use 2 3/4" shells, and I use a 12 gauge. I appreciate your post by the way.

Addendum - meant to add, I carry a .223 over 12 so the shotgun does come into play when appropriate. I too like to see them come in close, as long as I can control my pulse. haha. Per my earlier post, if they all sneak in like this spring, I won't need either. That bird needs to be taken out of the gene pool. Regards................

It's an elderly Savage 24F12T, I've had it for years, I think Savage has discontinued them, not sure. A lot of them wouldn't shoot both barrels to the same general point of impact but I have no complaints about mine.

As a Virginia turkey hunter I personally dont have any issue with hunting with a rifle, but in my experience most people dont at least in my area. I know a good many of the deer hunters I know will snipe a turkey if they have a tag from their deer stand which accounts for a large proportion of the fall turkey harvest in the state according to DGIF. In my area though I think most people use shotguns not because of the challenge but because of the terrain, i would much rather hunt with a shotgun in dense brush then a rifle.

I just checked the California hunting regs and we can use .20 caliber or larger air rifles to hunt turkeys, but not a firearm rifle. Apparently the only small game we can hunt with a real rifle are squirrels and rabbits. That seems crazy to me.

"(f) Air rifles firing pellets and powered by compressed air or gas (0.20 caliber minimum for taking wild turkey); and firearm rifles and pistols for taking rabbits and squirrels, except in Los Angeles County, in addition to the methods listed in (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) above;"

I hunt for the meat not the sport. So I say if I can improve my odds of putting meat on the table for my wife and kids by using a rifle to hunt turkey then why not. You just gotta remember that its about shot placement. Now I'm not going to use a 338 for turkey but a 223 or maybe 243 should be fine.
just my two cents.

i live in nc. but have some property in va and am planning on using my singlee six with 33 gr accutips. it is a hell of a lot lighter than the nova

Thats you're decision and its not legal in Georgia but if it were i don't know if i would use a rifle. I love gettin that bird in close and the challenge of it not saying you're wrong or anything though!

the county i live in indiana will not even let us harvest a fall bird of any type so you are very lucky

Hunting turkeys with a rifle takes 100 percent of the fun out. Turkey hunting is meant to be a challenge by calling the birds close to shoot not at long ranges. If I would use a rifle, I would of have shot 6+ more turkeys in the last two years. That is not the point of hunting though. Hunting is not about how many or how far away you can shoot an animal. It is about getting close to the animals and using your woodsman skills to take down the animal. I think that many think that rifles on turkeys are ok to use because of the way they were brought up. If I was brought up use fully auto guns on deer, I would consider it to be ok. If you use rifles that's fine. Just remember the true meaning of the outdoors. Its not a competition to see how far you can shoot, it is about using your hard earned skills to take that animal. If I would use rifles on turkey's I would have freezers full of turkey's but that's not the point. By using a shotgun, I have developed skills necessary to bring that gobbler in close. If I would of have used rifles, I would be 10x less the hunter that I am today. Anyone can snipe a turkey, only the best can bring them in close for a shotgun kill. If you need the meat because your starving or something, use a rifle.

The true art of turkey hunting is becoming lost because of laws such as using rifles for turkeys. Cripes, I could take my Grandma in the woods and she could set up on a turkey 100 yards out and nail it. The art of turkey hunting is the process of deceiving a wild turkey. Sure I but you use calls while using a rifle but it is not the same. If a turkey hangs up at 60 yards you could either shoot it with a rifle or use true skills to bring it in the extra 30. I'm not saying this disrespectfully to anyone, I am just stating the true meaning of a hunt that is being lost due to so many invitations and laws. Another aspect that I would like to bring up is that a rifle is not as safe as a shotgun or bow. If that turkey is 30 yards out or 300, you never know where that bullet is headed. A hunter may be directly across the field from you in camo and not know that you are there. While deer hunting rifles, you are in a stand so the bullet is likely to hit the ground from the angle but while sitting against a tree in turkey hunting, only the good Lord knows where the bullet will end. I am not trying to be disrespectful in any way, I am just trying to state that the art of hunting is being lost by helpful innovations such as rifles. I respect your decision to use a rifle but I hope that future generations will choose to take the challenge of using a shotgun or bow.

Here in Texas you can take a bird with a rifle. And we only take head shots a 80yd shot on a half dollar sized target ain't easy. But if you don't try it then you can't say it's not sporting because it is.

Calling in Turkeys within a short distance is the way to hunt turkeys ,but shooting them with shotgun with 100s of bullets is not very sporty. More turkeys are wounded with a shotgun than with a rifle. Shooting a turkey at 200yds is harder than using a shotgun at 15 to 30 yds. One bullet will kill one turkey. Sometimes shotguns kill more than one with one shot. Most turkey hunters use a shotgun because they don't have to be a good shot and can shoot thru brush. I would feel safer with a hunter, using a scoped gun, aiming a me, than a shotgunner aiming at me thinking I was a turkey.

Of the handful of birds I've taken with the .223 barrel of my o/u, 40-50 yards was probably the max. I'm more of a rifleman than a shotgunner and feel much more competent with a rifle and that to me is the ethical way to do it, using what I feel will give a quick and humane kill. I also stink at estimating range so the .223 helps there too. Hey Sarge, before I quit hunting public land in spring, I was wearing blaze orange until I started working a bird, had the bejeebers scared out of me in Va. one morning. I ought to touch on that in the next class, come to think of it.