Turkey Hunting

Is turkey hunting with a muzzleloader  a "stunt"?
Like most things . . . that depends.  It will work . . . if you're looking for a challenge and are willing to pay the price!

Most states require turkeys to be taken with a shotgun.  Because of  a turkey's feathers and breast bone its advisable to take them with a head shot.  The best shot size is #4, #5, or #6.  Personally, I've settled on #5 shot for all my muzzleloader shot gunning except for dove and quail where I use #7 1/2 shot..

The key to successful turkey hunting with a muzzleloading shotgun is:

  1. either get the bird in close so a less dense pattern will take the bird cleanly or
  2. finding one that has a very dense pattern at longer ranges.
Almost any muzzleloading shotgun will work with #1, however, I prefer the #2 option since I hunt mostly open farm land, don't get too many chances, and some of those chances are in the 40yd range.  This is the type of shotgun generally referred to as a turkey shotgun with an extra full choke.

The shotgun must be patterned at the most likely  range you intend to shoot. I generally place my decoys about 25 steps from where I set up so that's where I do my  patterning.  I also pattern it further out to detemine how far out I can reliably take a turkey.

The problem with using an extra full choke with a muzzleloader is that the choke constriction prevents loading and must be removed for loading.  That's not too big a problem as one shot should be all that's necessary anyway.  The biggest problem I see is getting powder kernels on the choke threads which is not a good deal.  That can be prevented by using a funnel with a long spout and allows the powder to bypass the threads.  Its hard to find the right tool for this, I've been looking for two years and still haven't found the right tool.

What about the Knight TK2000?  Read my review on this shotgun in the Muzzleloading Firearm Reviews Section. 

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