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I shot a 20-lb turkey this morning about a mile from our house.
I used my grampa’s old singleshot 12 gauge hardware store shotgun from the old days. It has a crack in the grip with a classy duct-tape repair (gotta epoxy it proper). I like it and it fits. It’s very lightweight. Most critters are got in the first shot anyway. You can get these guns for $100 still, at 2nd-hand shops. They come in a rainbow of sizes and fit, but most are on the compact side with a long full-choke barrel. You could probably buy a few different cheap barrels to suit the task at hand. You could easily modify one, if need be (chop a barrel, say) to work best for you.
I’d like to say that my gramps gave his gun to me, but I basically shanghied it from him a year after I got my first license at age 12. I had a really long-barreled 16 ga single that was awkward. That 12 felt so good. So I proposed to gramps that we trade. He had never used his gun anyway, that I knew of, unless I had dragged him out with it. I told him that he could use it still whenever we went out. He hemmed and hawed. I traded him anyway. He didn’t even know, until I told him a couple years later. He did give me a silver dollar once. But I have his shotgun. And I did use it a lot all my teen years, bagging almost everything I shot at. And now I’m greatly enjoying using it again.
Man, I love turkeytime. It’s such a green, warm, lush, time of year, full of birdsong and all kinds of critters out and about. So different from the cold of deer season!
I also love hunting so close to home. (…And doing anything close to home. I wish we had a nice fishin’ hole nearby!)
My super turkey pro pal Steve called it in. But it never made a sound in reply.
It was amazing how we noticed this Longbeard when he was back 20 yards in the brush off to the side. It was just a ghost of a shape but it jumped out at me. Then I saw a flicker of red neck skin. Then it was gone. 20 minutes later he trotted through a small opening on the other side of us and in a couple seconds it was all over with. That’s all the chance you get. I hardly heard the boom.
Steve is really big on the “no noise,” “no movement” rules. Them birds is smart!
…Now to cook up some tasty vittles.
Our neighbor saw 3 turkeys dead along the road last week. Now you’re talkin’! I tell ya, I’m as attracted to that kind of bird as to any. Localvore efficiency simply has a rock-solid appeal to me. Waste not, baby! Many are just clipped in the noggin. Pull over, check it out, if it’s warm, bingo: supremely tasty vittles. (Know your local laws. In Michigan you can harvest roadkill if it’s in season and you have a license…or if it’s a deer. At any rate, I still say “waste not…”)
Longbeard, shortbeard and singleshot. (OYB Bag, too.)
Turkey tableau. (Found the deer skull while out turkey hunting. Dog watched the house while I was out. Classy camo duct tape repair on Grampa’s Singleshot.)
Form follows function. FFF.
