anyone used a 375 h&h to take a turkey. I know it will blow apart ground hogs, but a trkey is bigger and I'm not sure if it will just put a hole or explode the turkey. I'm thinking head shot is the best option here. or a low neck shot.

Just use a solid and take it through the body.

George

I used a 300 gr. solid factory load on deer once...worked great...(the statute of limitations is past now, I hope!)..so I think it should work fine for turkey.

i have 270 gr tsx loaded up. solids are something i can't afford to get busted hunting with

If you are hunting in MN, a rifle is something you cannot afford to get busted with. I hope you are hunting out of state. If legal where you are hunting, perhaps a .22 hornet would be a better choice.

You can do that at a game farm that offers wild turkey, some do.
I know it was legal in Tennessee.
I used a 300 Weatherby to blow a turkey's head plumb off.
His tail fan is on my wall.
He ate real good too.

A .375 H&H should make an excellent turkey rifle for head and neck shots.

Nope, I'm hunting SD where turkey is a big game animal you can shoot with a rifle. It also has to be a minimum of 700 ft/lbs of muzzle energy to be legal.
I'm not going to go buy another rifle to hunt turkey. I suppose I could use my other rifle a 416 rigby, but I haven't found the accurate load for it yet like the 375 H&H that prints 1/2" groups.

Question for the learned???

Please enlighten us that don't know.

Why is illegal to use a rifle or solids for that matter to hunt in Minnestoa??????

Is this becoming "Another Peoples Republic"???

Thanks,

Tetonka
DRSS

quote:

Originally posted by gohip2000:
i have 270 gr tsx loaded up. solids are something i can't afford to get busted hunting with

I just checked the regs. While softpoint or expanding bullets are required for deer, antelope, and elk, there is no such requirement for turkey:
Turkey - Shoulder-held firearms using ammunition which is factory-rated to produce at least 700 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle and handguns using ammunition which is factory-rated to produce at least 500 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle may be used in the hunting of wild turkeys. Muzzleloading firearms of at least .44 caliber and muzzleloading shotguns may also be used in the hunting of wild turkeys.

Are you hunting turkey at the same time you're hunting fordeer, antelope, or elk?

George

Tetonka,

It is not legal to use rifles for turkeys in MN for safety reasons. It is shotgun with #4 or smaller shot, archery, or crossbow if you have a medical exemption. We do not have the wide open spaces here that exist in many parts of the world. Rifles are legal for deer in the northern third of the state only due to the dense woods and less population density. The laws have been that way for decades. This is nothing new. We love our rifles here, but shotguns, muzzelloaders, and hunting handguns get far more field time in state. I still fondle my .375 often, just cause I can. In fact I think I see a cape buffalo in my backyard right now..........gotta run.

Use a soft-point meant for DG - shouldn't expand on a turkey.

http://www.turkeycountrymagazine.com/biospeaking.html

# Turkey hunting incidents involving shotguns had a fatality rate of 5.2 percent.

# Turkey hunting incidents involving rifles had a fatality rate of 15.4 percent.

# When a rifle is involved in the incident, the chance of a fatality is almost three times greater than a shotgun incident.

Do NOT shoot a Turkey in the BODY with any big bore RIFLE even with solids!. PERIOD! ALL You will get is a huge hole full of feathers, guts and a TON of ruined meat. Birds are not constructed like mammals, bad things like what I just described happen when you use a rifle. S I've done it on a big TOM with a .308 solid and would never do it again. Head shots are fine, but since a turkey doesn't keep its head still for long, its quite a challenge. You would be better off with a .22LR, a 40 yrd headshot frankly! There is a reason real Turkey hunters use a shotgun and try for head/neck shots.-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
Do NOT shoot a Turkey in the BODY with any big bore RIFLE even with solids!. PERIOD! ALL You will get is a huge hole full of feathers, guts and a TON of ruined meat. Birds are not constructed like mammals, bad things like what I just described happen when you use a rifle. S I've done it on a big TOM with a .308 solid and would never do it again. Head shots are fine, but since a turkey doesn't keep its head still for long, its quite a challenge. You would be better off with a .22LR, a 40 yrd headshot frankly! There is a reason real Turkey hunters use a shotgun and try for head/neck shots.-Rob

This is more the response I was looking for. So turkeys will most likely explode when body shot with a rifle.

I also can't use any solids because I don't have any. I'd have to order them and wait for them to get mailed, but I'm going hunting tomorrow. I think I'll just try head or neck shot.
The MN safety issue with rifles is not because of safety. I've talked to the DNR about this and they told me it is just because some people think rifle hunting is un-sporting and unwilling to let the whole state be rifle hunting.

Think about this. It isn't legal to rifle hunt deer in the southern half of the state, but you can hunt varmint and coyote around the cities with a 50 BMG if you want. This is why I asked the DNR and they agreed it was stupid and didn't make any sense, but it was because of the "sportingness" of it.

I shot a turkey with an 11" beard on December 25 2009. He was running directly towards me. I was holding center mass and the bullet hit just behind the right wing took a chunk about the size of my fist. Eric Schmidt of AliveAgain Recreations in Corpus Christi, Texas did the work and it came out beautiful. I need to find the link, I have posted pics here before. I was hunting pigs/deer and using Federal 260gr Accubond. The turkey did not "blow-up". In fact it weighed 26lbs and was very much intact! Given a choice I would rather have used a 22Mag, but rimfire is only legal during the spring season in Texas.

Andy

yeah, I'd like to use my 22 LR if it was legal. I'm just not much of a shotgun person (for anything not flying). and is a rifle unsporting if you still take your turkey at close range?
( i was looking up rifle turkey hunting and most people think it's devil play apparently).

I'm still contemplating taking a body shot or head shot. A body shot may be fine, but I'll never know unless I try it. larger bores may have less effect on a turkey than smaller bores because the bullet could exit before expansion. but that's not what my popcan, water jug and water filled coffee cans say when the bullet hits. I do know that a lungshot would be through mostly air in the lungs causing less expansion I would think.

I'll probably just go with a head shot.

quote:

Originally posted by 375er:
Tetonka,

It is not legal to use rifles for turkeys in MN for safety reasons.We do not have the wide open spaces here that exist in many parts of the world. Rifles are legal for deer in the northern third of the state only due to the dense woods and less population density.

You need to start compaigning to have these laws changed, as they are BULLOCKS
Your state is below the median of population density ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...y_population_density

while we have shotgun only GAME, we have no shotgun only areas, that i am aware of. I have personally hunted in counties at nearly 40 times the population density of your state ... most hunters in texas actually DO the same, as the "wide open spaces" have no water/game/humans ...

the law's rational is bogus, and "for decades", meaning population was roughly half of what it is today, meant it was sold as a public safety measure, that felt good, but was wrong.

375 for turkey? sure, download it it to 1000 fps and treat it like a shotgun slug ..

I confess.

I shot one a couple of years ago with .375 H&H 270 gr. Hornady Interlock. Was hunting pigs during fall turkey season and happened upon a flock. I figured I could shoot at the junction of the neck and body and get by without much damage.

He moved.

Managed to salvage half the breast. You could have put a baseball through the hole in the other half.

Wouldn't recommend it.

I have used a .243 on turkeys (100 gr partition) - wouldn't recommend that either. A .223 with fmj bullets works well if you can hit them high (wing butt or neck/body junction).

Took a turkey with a .416 Rem., 400 gr. TBBC. Shot low on the neck, just over the breast, no meat damage. Just severed the neck. Wouldn't want to have shot through the body though. Lot's of feathers flying.

I can't imagine a turkey being shot with a 375H&H, but I can tell you about a possum being shot in the top of a tree with a 22-250. Lesson learned: don't stand under the same tree the possum is in when being shot.

I have shot at least 4 turkeys with a 375 H&H that I can remember off the top of my head.

I have shot more turkeys with a rifle than with a shotgun.

I try to hit them just above the beard, in the "thick" part, before the neck starts.

The breast is mostly below the beard and is usually not damaged.

The last 2 turkeys I shot with a 375 H&H was with Federal factory 300gr Nosler Partitions.

I was hunting [walking] for pigs and spotted the turkeys. I snuck up on them and shot 2.