If I were to relate the two greatest shots I ever made, you might attribute them to pure luck, and you might be right. What’s more amazing is missing the two easiest shots I ever had in my entire hunting career. The two shots were at a deer and a turkey. Neither were moving, and both were within 15 yards!

The deer was in the Black Hills on my very first deer hunt. I was lying on a ledge above Rapid Creek as I watched trout swim around below when two deer came to drink. I put the bead of my front site on the deer but never thought about aligning the rear sight. I shot over the deer. The big gobbler was 10-15 yards in front of me, and I had completely forgotten that I didn’t want to take a mature bird whose flesh might be leathery tough. I cocked the right barrel hammer of my 125 year-old 16 gauge shotgun, put the barrel bead on the big bird’s head, and fired. When the smoke cleared, I discovered that I had completely missed!

For the past ten months I have wondered how I missed that shot. I found the answer to that question in the article “Tricked Out for Toms” by Adam Haggenstaller. This story appeared in the February 2022 issue of Midwest Game & Fish magazine.

According to the article, a gobbler’s head is a small target. It went on to say that the conventional shotgun bead sight is a poor arrangement for directing a tight pattern to a killing spot as there’s nothing in which to center a single bead for reference to high or low. I was probably right on for direction, but shot high – same with the deer. Many of today’s serious turkey hunters have scopes mounted on their turkey guns, and this solves the problem. I did manage to down my desired jake (young tom) fifteen minutes later. This action took place last April.

Haggenstaller’s article talks more about choke than my problem with aim. Typically, a turkey hunter wants his/her turkey shotgun to perform well at forty-five yards as it is often difficult to call wary gobblers in close. They want the tightest pattern possible – that of a full choke.

For those readers unfamiliar with shotgun choke, choke is a barrel constriction in the muzzle area. The tighter the coke, the smaller the diameter of the shot pattern as it exits the barrel. Typically, a 12 gauge “full” choke throws a 30 inch pattern at 40-45 yards. A “modified” choke throws a 30” pattern at 30-35 yards, and an “improved cylinder” choke throws a 30” pattern at 25-30 yards. Hence, for game birds that flush close to the hunter, we want a more open choke such as “improved cylinder.” A hit with full choke at close range mangles the bird and makes it inedible.

Today’s modern shotguns usually come with a set of interchangeable choke tubes that thread into the muzzle end of the barrel. If one determines that the full choke that came with the gun isn’t tight enough, after market choke tubes are available. I personally like Carlson’s (choketube.com). These are carried in stock by Mitchell SD’s Precision Reloading.

The South Dakota Spring Turkey season runs April 9th through May 31st. We might take our turkeys for granted as we see them most everywhere we go, but there are hunters who travel thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars to bag a gobbler. God willing, I’ll be out there on April 9th as I once again drew a Charles Mix County turkey tag.

My most memorable turkey was a hen. As I sat against a tree along a trail just inside the tree line, a parade of turkeys passed through at ten yards distance. They were oblivious to my presence until the last turkey, a curious hen, noticed me. She approached, stopped at my feet, and pecked at my boot. It gets better. She moved up, stuck her head in my face, and we wound up eyeball to eyeball until I batted her away for fear that she might peck at my eye.

It’s been a tough winter, and I hope my grief hasn’t been reflected in my writing. I lost my boyhood best friend. We were each other’s best man. The loss of my only first cousin followed. These were followed by the loss of a dear Burke friend and the loss of a dear friend’s wife. This Covid Virus has also been stressful for some. But life is for the living!

See you next week.