Hi Folks,
The fall turkey season in Virginia opens soon. Since the Old Dominion allows one to use a rifle for this wily old bird, I plan on using a very accurate Ruger 77-22H in .22 hornet to arrange a Thanksgiving dinner date for a fat gobbler. I was wondering if anyone else uses a rifle for turkey and what other states allow the use of rifle on them too?
Good Hunting,
HBB

I don't hunt turkey with a rifle on purpose, just by accident when I'm deer hunting.

I've shot them with a .308 Win. Not good. Lost half a breast.

I've shot them with a 25.06 Rem. Great (lucky) shot. I aimed at a flock of about fifteen that were keeping ahead of me, but finally bunched up at 100 yards. I aimed in the middle of the flock, neck high, and ripped one off. Fourteen turkeys scattered in all directions. One was flopping. The shot had hit him just a hair above his eye and taken the top of his head off. No meat loss there.

I've shot many with a .41 Mag. pistol. I usually don't lose meat. I like to shoot them right in the V of the wishbone. If I hit one in the breast I lose about a 1" channel of meat.

Texas allows the use of rifles on turkeys.

George

hillbilly,I have an old lever in 219 zipper that knocks em dead

No rifles for gobblers in Kansas. I have NO earthly idea why....

Fall season in AZ allows rifles.

I usually use my shotgun or bow but do recall one guy I hunted with used his Thompson Contender one year.



We were standing around scratching our butts while scouting out some waterholes when I saw a hen sneaking down through the pines. She made us and nervously stomped off. I figured it was probably a long walk for that drink she was after and she would be back so we dove in the blinds and got ready. 10 minutes later here she come with 3 friends.

I was on a bit of a long streak of bad turkey hunting luck so I was supposed to get first crack at any turkey bird. When the biggest bird wouldn't come close enough for me to get a shot I gave my buddy the signal to take a shot from his blind. This is the same guy who said he never missed, ever. Well, as that big hen was walking up the hill I suddenly heard BLAM!!! and it looked like a cherry bomb had gone off underneath her in the pine needles. All the turkeys scooted over the hill and I tried my best to keep from laughing so hard and rolling into the pond. A clean miss low at 40 yards that just put that turkey into orbit.

Shooting Wild turkey with rifle's....wouldn't that break the bottle?

Bakes

I use a Savage o/u for my fall turkey hunting. It has a 222 Remington on top & a 20 gauge 3" on the bottom. I have 6X Leupold on see thru mounts. Nice fall turkey gun, but the trigger pull is like a clutch in a Mac truck!! I try & hit the bird on the wing butt otherwise there will be damage to the breast.

The Hornet with a reduced load was my choice (it's now illegal in my state). Even a Hornet with a regular load will do a tremendous amount of damage. Try Unique, about 5 grains with your favorite (soft point) bullet. Aim for the wing butt and a turkey dinner will be yours.

I prefer hunting turkeys with a rifle. I usually use a .222 or .223 loaded with a military style 55 grain FMJ. Shoot for the juncture of the wing and the backbone and no meat will be lost at all (even with a shot to the breast, very little meat is lost to an FMJ).

I also have a Ruger 77/22 redone to K-Hornet, but I haven't worked up a turkey load for it. I suspect that a 55 grain FMJ will be too long and fail to stabilize, so I doubt that bullet will work well. The best alternative I can think of would be a hard cast lead bullet of about 45 grains. Cast from straight wheel weights or linotype, they should bore right through a turkey without expanding.

Good luck!