Getting ready for Turkey season

[Renegade Dan]

WB

CenterMark 62 cal. french fusil De Chasse smoothbore
36" Octagon to round Colerain barrel
7.3 lbs
14" LOP
RE Davis fusil lock

I bought it last year used. It was love at first sight and it fit like a glove. The gun is a joy to hold and shoot. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

This will be my first time out hunting for turkeys and I plan to use my 11 bore double.

This will be my very first Turkey hunt

Good luck to both of you !
Spring turkey season has become a time I do look forward to...mainly to get back in the woods hunting "something" since the previous seasons closed...breaks up the long wait until fall again.

While I don't enjoy it as much as I do the cool temps & beautiful colors of the fall woods...and worry about sitting down with the elevated risk of Copperheads moving around in April/May...I do enjoy it enough to have gone for a few years now, learning enough about smoothbore Flintlocks to tag a few...

 

[Renegade Dan]

Thanks roundball! Best of of luck to you also this spring. :thumbsup:

 

[Spikebuck]

Earlier this year saw a flock of 125 turkeys on my farm. Now that the weather has gotten worse and they seem to have moved

I'm not all the knowledgable on turkey behavior. Do they segregate into male and female groups in winter? I have two pretty good sized groups of turkeys I've been seeing most of the winter. One is all long-beards, the other all hens. I know at other times of the year, I see mixed groups.

 

[wattlebuster]

Spikebuck you hit it on the head :thumbsup: . longbeards hang with other longbeards and they let the jakes hang with the hens most times of the year. That is till love gets on their minds. Then you have the occasional "hermit gobbler" that stays by himself most of the year. Around here they are usually 4 or 5 yr olds with the long curved hooks on them. There grumpy old farts that cant get along with other turkeys and are the hardest to hunt cause they dont gobble much and play by their rules such as never go to a call. Let the little ladie come to him :cursing:

 

[dbutch]

Yes I am..starting April 10-17th..Still in winters grip here in Wis.
Had to quit coyote hunting to get ready.
Took the 10 ga fowler out for the first time yesterday afternoon... :grin:
Working up my happy load...Flintlocks and turkeys were made for each other!
Only 34 days to wait... :thumbsup:

I'm pumped!

in the white..

 

[wattlebuster]

Dan I cant wait to see that smoothie when ya get er done. That should be a wattle buster for sure :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Good looking rig...I admire anyone's know-how, skills, and patience to build one...hope you christen it this spring.

 

[David Grout]

Thanks for the kind words Round Ball. Never having called for turkeys before this will be a challenge to get one close enough to pop a cap on.



Two Shot

 

[sb 54 cal.]

You can do it get a good box call and practice with it. Don't call to much when you get one interested.
and watch some videos on calling. Once you get one to come in you will be hooked for life. Pappy

 

[Dave Marsh]

As Pappy237 said don't call too much. Can't get that through my brother-in-laws head....so I solo hunt. Good luck and nice gun. :thumbsup:

Dave

 

[roundball]

Amen!!

 

[dbutch]

Thanks RB..Don't think the turkeys care if it's a t/c or custom..HaHa!
Both get the job done but one is more fun!
Also hunt alone due to over calling.
Like to be mobile to work the birds.
Spring sunrises with all the birds and critters moving makes for a pleasant hunt.
Opening day last year I hear 8 different Toms going off during the first 3 hours. Picture a wide valley with lots of ridge points.
At 9 am they shut down and were hen-ed up.
The mating season was 3 weeks ahead of schedule last year due to the warm conditions.
Now its time to do some scouting!..Good Luck hunting !

 

[Mud_Slide_Slim]

makeumsmoke,

That is a great looking gun! I have spent the past couple days googling half-stock fowlers and and they are spectacular. If you don't mind, I hope you will share some pics when you have it finished...would love to see it! Enjoy taking it through the woods this spring. :thumbsup:

 

[hanshi]

That's a very good looking gun; bet it shoots good, too. :v

 

[Spikebuck]

How common is a half-stock fowler? Other than the pictures on this site or ToW, I don't get to see flinters since I don't know anyone, personally, that hunts with traditional muzzleloaders and no club near me that I know of. I just always think full-stock, but I sure like the looks of that half-stock. Nice! :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

02/28/13 01:50 PM
Pretty rusty from lack of shooting and the first handful of shots were kind of wobbly...but by the time I worked through 30 of Eddie May's .520"s from my normal sitting/hunting position, I was getting myself dialed back in.

Definitely back in the groove with today's range trip...put all 25 in a 2" aim point sticker at 25yds from my normal seated turkey hunting position...will bump it to 40yds tomorrow (or Friday).
Saw a dozen feeding through one of my favorite areas this morning on the way to the range.
Season opens a month from today (May 13th)...hopefully they'll keep working that territory for a while longer

 

[dbutch]

That's good news! on the shooting and the birds.

 

[Skychief]

Praying that you don't start a forest fire with that thing Dan!!!

Good luck, Skychief. :wink:

 

[roundball]

That's good news! on the shooting and the birds.

Ran off another 25 practice shots today...going again tomorrow.

And learned something today as it was the first time I'd ever tried it. For years, whenever the cold. dry, low humidity months came around I'd add some liquid Hoppes+BP lube to a bag of precut/prelubed Oxyoke or T/C patches to get them wet so I could shoot a whole range session without all the ramrod work wiping between shots from the very dry air. And using rifles most of the time for PRBs accuracy was still just fine.

Well, today I used patches wet with Hoppes in my 28ga smoothbore and the normally pretty tight little ragged hole opened up to about 4" at only 25yds...those wet, slippery PRBs were apparently spinning all over the place under acceleration as they launched up the smooth bore.
(but it sure was nice not having all the ramrod actions on the shoulder after every shot)