Module 7 of 11 Core
The Shotgun for Turkey: Loads, Patterning & the Head/Neck Shot
Set up and pattern a turkey gun as a system and master the turkey-specific kill shot — the head and neck, never the body.
Best after: Know the Bird: Eastern Wild Turkey Biology & Behavior
Lessons
6 lessons in this module · 55 across the path
- Gauge & Choke for Turkey 12/20/.410 trade-offs, extra-full/turkey chokes, and why choke and load are a matched system. Assumes primer: Shotgun Fundamentals.
- Turkey Loads: Lead, Hevi-Shot & TSS Why turkey loads differ from upland shot — pellet count, energy, and how TSS reshaped effective range and small gauges.
- Patterning the Shotgun for Turkey Shooting your gun/load/choke at a turkey-head target at multiple ranges to find point-of-impact and the lethal pattern envelope. Assumes primer: Sighting-In & Zeroing.
- Effective Range & Knowing Your Limit Defining the honest maximum yardage your pattern stays lethal and the discipline to pass long birds.
- The Head/Neck Shot & Shot Placement The turkey kill zone (head and neck, NOT the body), the aiming point on a standing vs. strutting bird, and why body shots are unethical.
- Archery for Turkey Bow/crossbow shot placement on a turkey, the broadhead question, and why a ground blind is near-mandatory. Assumes primer: Archery & Crossbow Basics.