The Maverick comes through! Got me a real nice hen early this morning at 73 yards.
The fall season is pretty short here. The turkeys also had a bad year last year after coyotes invaded the area. I was on edge this past few days, because last week I saw a small gaggle of 5-6 browsing under a spruce tree with low hanging branches in my backyard 75y out, but I didn't have a clean shot at them from where I was laying prone. I tried to reposition myself to get a wider vantage point, but I got made and they scurried off into the brush and didn't"t return.
About gave up on them thinking I was going to blank for the year (goose egged this past spring). I've been trying to let the grass and weeds grow for as long as possible to attract the whitetail to the yard, but the turkeys obviously don't like foraging through through it. So yesterday I decided to trim back some the weeds and mow the grass strategically around the game trails leading into the yard, and sure enough it paid off!
Despite being better prepared for them today, I STILL ended up having a nasty shot at them as they wouldn't come out in the open. The very second I had a semi-clear shot at this hen with her back to me, I didn't hesitate to squeeze the trigger. It punched through some spruce and deflected a bit low and right - impacting her high thigh, but she went all of 10 yards and dropped behind a tree.
This was cool, because I've never used a PCP to harvest a turkey before. I was going to use slugs on them, but I reconfigured my Maverick to shoot 44.75 JSB domed pellets for squirrels, and wanted t see if they'd get the job done on a turkey. Sure enough they got it done!
This bird had a MASSIVE gizzard too. It weighed in just under 16oz after I cleaned it! Here was the POI:
The fall season is pretty short here. The turkeys also had a bad year last year after coyotes invaded the area. I was on edge this past few days, because last week I saw a small gaggle of 5-6 browsing under a spruce tree with low hanging branches in my backyard 75y out, but I didn't have a clean shot at them from where I was laying prone. I tried to reposition myself to get a wider vantage point, but I got made and they scurried off into the brush and didn't"t return.
About gave up on them thinking I was going to blank for the year (goose egged this past spring). I've been trying to let the grass and weeds grow for as long as possible to attract the whitetail to the yard, but the turkeys obviously don't like foraging through through it. So yesterday I decided to trim back some the weeds and mow the grass strategically around the game trails leading into the yard, and sure enough it paid off!
Despite being better prepared for them today, I STILL ended up having a nasty shot at them as they wouldn't come out in the open. The very second I had a semi-clear shot at this hen with her back to me, I didn't hesitate to squeeze the trigger. It punched through some spruce and deflected a bit low and right - impacting her high thigh, but she went all of 10 yards and dropped behind a tree.
This was cool, because I've never used a PCP to harvest a turkey before. I was going to use slugs on them, but I reconfigured my Maverick to shoot 44.75 JSB domed pellets for squirrels, and wanted t see if they'd get the job done on a turkey. Sure enough they got it done!
This bird had a MASSIVE gizzard too. It weighed in just under 16oz after I cleaned it! Here was the POI:
