Spring turkey hunting is about as predictable as the weather or
the stock market. Sometimes you guess right and sometimes things
happen you could never foresee, both good and bad.

With so many variables at hand, a wise turkey hunter tries to
control what he can, as best he can. He can buy good camouflage
clothing, a good face net, learn to use his calls, scout and study
the terrain, practice different set ups and buy the best shotgun
and shells. After all, the very best turkey hunters can have a
terrible time bagging a gobbler; sometimes you swear youre
jinxed!

Yet many hunters who go to extremes in almost every other aspect
of this turkey hunting game often neglect to pattern their
shotguns. They have shot a few turkeys and had success with the
loads they originally bought, perhaps actually killed a turkey at
some distance and just dont feel there is any point in sticking up
a target at 40 yards and shooting three or four different loads.
Sooner or latter this will keep them from filling their tag.

The odds keep getting better you may only get one decent shot a
season and you want to know not only how your gun patterns with
what load and shot size, but if it is actually even hitting where
the sights point!

I know someone who actually got around to patterning his shotgun
this year at 50 yards. He did so after hitting and failing to kill
the only gobbler he shot at last spring. He bought some new
Remington High Speed, two-ounce loads and first fired one of his
old shells.

When he saw how few hits were on the paper the realization
suddenly came over him that he had been very, very lucky in
previous years to have nagged as many birds as he did. He put in
one of his new shells and hit the turkey head twice as many times.
Amazing!

Gee, maybe those old shells were not as great as he wished they
were.

Always curious I tried a shot with his new loads and saw they
were not near as effective as the Winchester Supreme, High Speed,
two-ounces of 4s I was using.

When he tried one of my shells he hit the head twice as many
times as he did with the Remington! Simply by patterning his gun he
increased the number of hits he could expect on a turkey head and
neck by four times that of his original shells. That means he had
four times the chance of killing his bird. That sort of odds
improvement cant be taken lightly.

Another friend patterned his gun with me this year and
discovered his scope had shifted point of impact over the last
several years. His shotgun was hitting about 15 inches high!
Shotguns kick and that heavy recoil will move a scopes zero over
time. You also can fall in the woods and strike or jar your sights
causing them to move about. No matter how you look at it, you
really need to pattern your shotgun.

As I have said many times, I am not a fan of number six shot.
However, a great many people swear by them. If you are going to use
number six shot, I would recommend the Heavy Shot. They definitely
hit harder and penetrate deeper than lead six shot and increase
your odds of a clean kill.

Choke tubes are another great way to increase your pattern
density. I like the tubes that stick out past the muzzle of your
shotgun. The Ulti-Choke, Undertaker, Hastings and other long,
quality extra-full choke tubes can make a real difference in your
gun.

Most factory, short, choke tubes are not long enough to
stabilize the entire length of your shot column at the same
instant. As a result the shot in front is constricted to its
smallest diameter as the back end of the column is being
compressed. This pressure of compression is not only inward it is
transferred forward and backward. Simply put, unless the entire
length of your shot column is held stable at the same time, your
pattern is not going to be as tight as it would be otherwise.

Technicalities aside, pattern your gun, see what shells pattern
the tightest, make sure the sights are zeroed in and if you dont
like what you see, buy a special choke tube and do it again.

The success of your season may depend upon it!