By Kenneth L. Kieser
Fall turkey season is nearing its close and waterfowl hunting will soon be here. Are you ready? Every year, millions travel to the waterways, hardwoods, bottomlands, rolling hills, pine forests and numerous other landscapes in pursuit of varies types of birds or fowl.
Then the moment of truth when wild game is in sight deepens your breathing and makes you feel a hunter’s excitement. You squeeze the trigger and the wild game escapes, hopefully not wounded. Then, after all preparation for the hunt, you leave the woods with a hollow feeling after missing what seemed to be an easy shot. Being prepared and knowing your firearms is important. Spending time on the shooting range can, and will, remedy shooting problems that have humbled many hunters—including me.
Shooting wild game is killing, or at least it should be. Wounding any creature to fly away or run off and suffer is terrible for the creature and for you. The one-shot kill requires preparation and plenty of practice. Anything less than a one-shot kill is totally unacceptable.
Knowing how your shotgun patterns is only part of the equation to having a successful hunt. But it is a very important part. Being used to shooting again and knowing your firearm makes you a more successful and safer hunter. Practicing the shot before the season will leave you confident with your shooting abilities, and you’ll be able to focus on other important parts of the hunt.
This year, try these helpful hints to ensure success.
1. Does size matter?
When choosing a shotgun for hunting, choose a model that’s comfortable to shoot to give you more confidence. Shooting magnum loads can lead to a bad case of the flinches or jerking the trigger, sure ways to throw off your sight plane.
2. Chokes and such
A key element to an accurate shotgun is a good choke. For example, turkey chokes have more constriction than a Full choke, and are often labeled Extra Full or XX Full. Tighter chokes are designed for smaller pellets such as No. 6 or No. 5 shot. The more open constrictions are better suited for larger pellets such as No. 4s.
Can you have too much constriction? Yes, you can. Depending on your gun and the ammunition you’ve selected, you can over-constrict the shot to the point where the pattern diminishes. It is possible for the pellets to bounce off each other or become deformed, leaving large holes in your pattern. The solution for this is to go to a more open constriction or to a smaller shot size.
Many veteran waterfowl hunters use improved or modified chokes with steel shot. Most prefer to work ducks or geese in for close shots. You will still find full chokes in blinds, but not as often as the lead shot days.
3. Ammunition
The ammunition you choose can drastically affect your pattern. Each gun-choke combination will shoot a specific round better than the others. The only way to determine which it likes, is to shoot a variety of ammunition. Vary your shot sizes and brands from several distances and stick with the one that gives you the most consistent pattern.
4. What’s in a pattern?
The ideal pattern for hunting turkeys is 100 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards. This density means that there should be plenty of pellets in the small vital area of the turkey’s head and neck to kill it ethically.
5. What’s so magical about 40 yards?
Turkey guns are often patterned at 40 yards because that is the maximum distance promoted by the Turkey Hunting Safety Task Force as the proper range to ethically and cleanly kill a turkey with a shotgun. However, knowing how your shotgun patterns at distances less than 40 yards is also very important. I think up to 50 yards is adequate for waterfowl hunters, though there are many 60-yard shots, even with veteran hunters.
6. Dial it in
Shotguns tend to be different, so field testing is important. Initial pattern tests should be on a 30-inch target. Sheets of butcher paper or craft paper work great. Draw a small two-inch circle in the middle and color it in with a marker, then draw a 10-inch circle centered on that.
Pace off 40 yards or use a laser range finder to mark your distance. Use a shooting brace/bench to reduce human error and shoot a single round at each target. Shoot a few different types of ammo through different choke tubes, record the information and then compare the results. Pick the round that gives you the densest pattern.
7. Be ready to shoot
After a few trips to the range, you’ll have the confidence that your gun can produce the needed results for cleaner kills.
Do you plan to hunt, then practice first, no matter how experienced you are afield? Wounding a creature to suffer and eventually die a terrible death is a horrible memory to live with. Practice to make sure this does not happen to you.
Photo by the author.