Yikes! Big Game season here in Montana has sure put a dent in my full time Varmint Hunting!
Although I did get in some Varminting on most every Big Game scouting and Hunting trip I made.
I began Big Game season by blistering my feet to ribbons helping not one but TWO of my Hunting buddies scout for Mt. Goats in TWO different mountain ranges and game management units! Life is never simple! I made several treks with each Goat Hunter for back up safety concerns during scouting and Hunting trips as well as extra eyes. I did learn several new areas to Hunt the high mountain Rock Chucks I do so love to go after!
I did not shoot any of these Chucks this fall though as the concerns about spooking the various Mt. Goats we mapped out took precedence. Both my buddies were successful and I learned all over again just how heavy Goat meat is even when being humped downhill!
Then my Varmint Rifles came along with me into Antelope scouting and Hunting seasons. I killed a total of 4 Coyotes a Badger and numerous Prairie Dogs with my new 204's on these trips. I also took a wonderful 14 7/8" Buck Antelope on opening day of the Antelope season (Remington 700 Sendero in 270 Winchester). The Antelope is at the taxidermist! There goes a new Varmint Rifle! The Remington 204 Varminter took one called in Coyote on this trip at just under 300 yards and was a one shot kill (Hornady 32 gr. factory ammo). I also took a large boar Badger with it on this trip again one shot kill.
I had my Ruger 204 Varminter along for the Elk opener here in SW Montana and took a yearling Coyote with it no problemo at 150 yards. I also took my first ever 6x6 Bull Elk on the second day of the season (Remington Classic in 7mm Remington Magnum). The Bull Elk is at the taxidermist - there goes a new Varmint Rifle AND a scope!
Then I went along as pack man (Mule?) on a special tag Elk Hunt in north central Montana with a friend who had drawn a coveted tag. The 204 took several Prairie Dogs and an adult Coyote on this venture. My friend got a nifty Bull on this venture! The day after I got home from this trip I repacked for my main Big Game venture of the year. A trip east for rutting Montana Mule Deer! I decided to take along the Ruger 77/17 VT and my Turkey calls on this Safari! The Turkeys are out in DROVES in the country I Hunt Mulies in. And they are considered VARMINTS by all the ranchers in the area. I had two tags for Turkeys and my partner on this trip had never killed a Turkey. He had brought a fine English double shotgun (I forget the brand name - hey its not a Rifle for Petes sake!) to harvest his first wild Turkey with. We took off one afternoon from our chasing of the Mulies to get into the Turkey "Varmints". It wasn't long until we heard some Turkeys chattering back to my screechings on my box call. The Hunt was on. We were in steep draw and ridge country with lots of brush. We saw the Turkeys at about 110 yards and in the group of 40 birds was an albino Turkey! My partner went into excited mode and grabbed my Ruger to harvest the white bird with! I reminded him that not only did the Ruger have a sling it had a long Harris bi-pod on it and he should use it! He assumed seated position and fired one fatal shot into the birds lower neck killing it quickly! His only tag was filled! I grabbed my Rifle back from him and went in the direction of a bearded normal pelage Turkey had flown off into. About 30 minutes later I spotted the young Tom heading for a thicket due to my approach. I sat up the Rifle quickly and again one shot - one Turkey!
The fall season in Montana allows for two Turkeys in certain areas and the use of shotguns, Rifles, pistols, archery equipment or cross-bows. They really want the turkeys harvested come fall! The spring season is shotguns only for the Turkey "Varmints". Go figure!
Both Turkeys were well photgraphed and then cleaned and many feathers saved! Our cooler was quite full and I decided to only harvest the one Turkey for myself. I am looking forward to wild Turkey stir fry this week!
The 17 HMR did very little damage to either Turkey and virtually NO edible meat was lost! I have shot several Turkeys with shotguns and I MUCH prefer the 17 HMR to harvest them with!
Day before yesterday we each harvested nice 4x4 Mule Deer and packed up the game and our equipment to head home.
One of the ranches we Hunted on preferred we shoot all Badgers seen. I had left the 17 HMR back at base camp that day and a very large Badger was observed and then brought to bag with the Big Game & "Varmint" Rifle - my Remington 700 Sendero in 270 Winchester with Leupold 8.5x25 variable scope. The Nosler 130 gr. Ballistic Tip ruined any chance of making a mount out of that Badger! But the rancher will have fewer problems in the future.
Still lots of Prairie Dogs out in eastern Montana with one day (November 9th) setting a new all time record high temperature of 71 degrees! This bested the old record of 65 degrees for that date by 6 degrees! Maybe the hippies are right - the earth may be warming up a tad!
Coyotes were heard every night and every morning of this last 9 day Safari and proper notation was made of all locations for an extended Coyote Hunt come January!
In total about 450 Turkeys were seen in our travels of this last Safari! They are fun to Hunt and great to eat and the 17 HMR again was more than up to the task of cleanly harvesting the Turkey "Varmints"!
Well the taxidermist is gonna get rich this year and I will have to forego buying one of the new Remington XP-100 Rifles I did so want until I can pay off the taxidermist! Oh well it was my best ever Big Game/Varmint season here in Montana! That is cause for great happiness and celebration along with the memories and new Hunting locales found.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have neck shot several turkeys with rifles in my time.

I have friends back east in WV that use rifles as well.

Where did you hit them with the 17HMR?? I am curious..

Congrats on your hunt.

No rifle Turkey hunting only Shotgun & Bow in Kansas. I would love to use my Ruger 10-22 match or maybe my 22-250 or even the Dan Wesson 22 10" silhouette, but I would rather not use a shotgun.

Sharpsman: I aim for the base of the neck on broadside or going straight away Turkeys. I dreamnt this up myself as I have never really witnessed or read much if anything at all along the lines of using rimfires for Turkeys in books or articles. I have by the way also killed Turkeys with my 17 MachIV as well as my Lilja barreled Ruger 10/22 and my first Turkeys were harvested with a Marlin bolt action 22 Magnum. All using this base of the neck shot.
If you can visualize making a triangle with both your index fingers and both your thumbs and imagining that is the base of the Turkeys neck then I aim for the center of that size area on the Turkey.
Like I say this renders no unusable or bloodshot meat. I used the Remington 17 HMR ammunition for this Hunt.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Swede44mag: Thanks for the well wishes and come on up to Montana in the fall and get after them with your 10/22 match Rifle!
They recently raised the non-resident Turkey tag price to $110.00 though and that along with the fuel these days may make this a pricey endeavour!
My partner and I spent over $300.00 just in fuel costs on this 8 day venture!
Whatcha gonna do?
Pay to play I guess!
I amy have to start mowing lawns or something next summer to afford fuel!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

$110.00 to shoot a turkey??? A bunch of them feathered varmints cost me a chance at a rare November groundhog yesteday!!!I was just about to launch a 165 grain Hornady from the 300SAUM when a flock if them scared him back to his den.....possibly till spring! It's easier to kill a turkey than a groundhog anymore!!! I think I'll start the NGF..National Groundhog Federation!!! Probably have at least 100,000folks join in tne first couple years!! $30.00 a piece!!! That's a pretty good little chunk!!! I could probably give half of it away, claim charity, and still have $150,000 left!!! Ain'y never made that much before!!! GHD

I much prefer rifles (or pistols) to shotguns for turkey hunting. All methods are legal in both spring and fall here in Texas (except for some retro- areas of East Texas for the Eastern subspecies). I like treating the turkey more like big game and usually hunt them by spot and stalk, although sitting and calling is also great sport.

If ranges are expected to be short, I like a .22 Magnum. For longer ranges, I use a .222 or .223 loaded with FMJ's at around 3000 fps. Aiming for the base of the wing usually does little if any damage to the breast meat. Even an errant shot through the breast damages only a tiny amount of meat with the FMJ's.

Don't get me wrong -- I love shotgunning, but I regard shotguns as something you shoot at swift, airborn targets; not something you use on ground-dwellers to bowl them over with a 40 inch-wide cloud of lead (home intruders excepted).