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A good friend and I will be attempting a 16ga turkey hunt in southern Michigan this spring. Neither of us have hunted MI ever and he's never hunted turkeys. We will both be hunting with guns passed to us by our grandfathers. He has a modified choke Sweet-16 and I have a full choke Winchester single shot.

I do not reload at this point and I've only hunted pheasants and quail my 16's. I would appreciate your suggestions on shot size and desirable factory loads for turkey hunting. Any thoughts or suggestions on hunting MI are appreciated as well.

Brad

Guest

Brad if you limit your shots to 30 - 35 yards I would recommend Remington Long Range Express with 1 1/8th ounce of #6s. They are easy to find and produce a pretty good pattern. While we are talking patterns it would be very wise to pattern your shotgun using the turkey head/neck pattern sheets. If your gun will consistantly put 5 or more pellets into the head and neck at 35 yards you should be good to go.

Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 31 Location: N. FL

Joined: 18 Jan 2009 Posts: 7 Location: Virginia

Can't speak for now, but a few years ago we went out west and all three of us carried our 16 Gauges. We all shot federal premiums (factory 1 1/4 oz loads). They were hell on wild flushing pheasants. Would think out to about 40 yards they would be pretty decent. For sure a 35 yards that would be one dead turkey.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2349 Location: West MI

Come on up, welcome. Just in case you guys dont have this info yet;

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10958_10969---,00.html

Legaly don't have any ammo with shot in it larger than #4 in your stuff. I like #4 tungsten but I use hand rolled 10ga ammo. I would agree with the above replies that speed and range will be your main concern. Find the fastest tightest shooting load in nothing smaller than #6 for each of your guns. Big shot=penetration&range, if using lead, nickel plating does help too. Hopefully you guys can put in some patterning time before heading up. I would suggest to try and keep your max practice and kill shots out to the 30-35 yrd range. Another tip; after patterning several loads and you have narrowed your possibles down to 2 or 3 for tightness of pattern.....shoot into a phone book out at 30 yards and pick the load that has penetrated deepest.

Application is through the month of Jan. so do your homework on where you would like to hunt and also have second and third area choices in case your first choice reaches quota. I can't speak for every square inch of MI but I've seen birds wherever I go in the state, in fact groups so large up in the Manistee Nat Forest stop traffic for several minutes while they cross the road.

If you guys enjoy good food and beer and are in the Kazoo area try Bell's Brewery, GR try Founders Brewery and Ludington try Jamesport brewery all have great food and fantastic beer. Welcome to MI, Mike

Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 1460 Location: Eagle, Nebraska

Personly, I use 10ga for turkeys. If using the 16ga, I would use Federal's
1 1/4 oz #6. Even then I would keep shots inside 35yds. Closer the better.

Not sure what Mich turks are like. I KNOW what they are like here in Neb.
That is why I use 10ga. I have hunted turkeys for 25+ years, NEVER give them a break. They will surely cut you no slack.

I plan on patterning both guns the first weekend in March. I'm going up to do a little scouting and see if we can narrow our choices. I picked up 1 1/8 5's from Fiocci. Have not seen the 1 1/4 Federal 6's, but will be stopping by the Dundee, MI Cabelas in March as well. My find some Remy's there as well. Should be fun.

Thank you for the information. If I rember, I'll post some pics of the patterns and hunt.

Brad

A nice load of 7/8 or 1 OZ of 7.5's will do all you can ever ask for and then some .

Look back at some of my postings on this subject and the birds in the photo's an what they were shot with an how far .

Turkey is not hard to kill you just have to hit him in order to accomplish this task .

Regards Charles

Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 1460 Location: Eagle, Nebraska

7.5's may not be legal in all states for turkey?

Number 7.5 Hevi-shot if legal size is ok for closer shots.

Of course you won't find that in 16ga.

If using the 16 and 7.5's I would get the velocity up! You will need to get that small pellet moving if bird is down range a bit.

I would definitely be patterning 7.5's at 7/8oz out past 30yds to make sure you have a good "kill" pattern.

I am big believer in patterning all shot guns at various distances with the load you decide on (load I decide on depends on how it patterns!)