February 10, 2023 Turkey Guns – Features for Taking Toms By Justin Hunold A feature rich Turkey Gun makes for more confident shooting. When the Turkey Hunting boom started back in the 1970’s any ol shotgun folks had kicking around went into the woods chasing those spring Toms. As time went on folks realized Turkey’s are tough. They started to tote Magnums sporting 3” chambers and delivering that payload through a fixed full choke. And as chasing spring birds grew in popularity so did the list of tools we specialized to chase them. Shotguns were no exception to this rule, and now we are able to bring a true Turkey Gun to bear. Let’s take a look at some modern must haves in the turkey woods. What makes the “best turkey gun” for a modern hunter. Optics- Listen, lot’s of birds have fallen to a plain old front bead, and that will continue to happen. The same goes for fiber optic sighting systems, most modern guns come with them and they are always good to go. More and more though, we get after birds with an assundry of optics on top of our guns. Some folks like a LPVO or Low Power Variable Optic, like a 1-6x24mm. They feel that the ability to “zoom in” helps them deliver precise shot patterns at extended ranges and who’s to argue? This is what these optics are made for, that 0-100 yard zone. Guess what ranges we shoot Turkeys at 0-65 ish The next group of folks run a Red Dot optic of some sort. I fall into this group. Whether a traditional red dot housed in a tube or a prism style sight these are becoming the go to in the spring woods.They are light to carry, dummy proof to use, mostly bomb proof and do exactly what a hunter needs in the turkey woods, putting a point of aim where the center of the pattern should go. Plus in those low light mornings and rainy spring days that red dot is easy to acquire and easy to see on a bird’s head and neck. Retay turkey guns have integral patented scope bases. The picatinny pattern will easily accept any optic of your choosing. If that optic were to fail the whole system is removable so you can trust the fiber optic bead at the end of the barrel. Chokes- Way back in the 70-80’s hunters shot fixed full guns and occasionally modified if that’s all they had to run. The number of chokes available to a modern turkey hunter is staggering. There are a ton of constrictions, porting patterns, wad catching systems and even shot composition specific chokes. In general a good name brand Xtra Full Turkey Choke will work, you just have to find the best load to match that choke. If you’re shooting TSS we suggest a TSS specific choke. The goal is to deliver double digit pellet count into the head and neck of the Gobbler at any reasonable shooting distance. All of these chokes should do that with the right turkey load. Turkey shells pack more ounces of shot than just about any other shotgun shell. Velocity doesn’t really matter in the turkey woods, so these shells will sacrifice speed for shot capacity. With that a lot of folks will shoot a 20 gauge or a 12 gauge in 3 inches. 3.5 still has a following but modern turkey shells, turkey chokes and ballistics mean that folks are patterning better and better with the shorter 3” variant. Retay has huge aftermarket support in the way of choke tubes and with 20 gauge and 12 gauge Turkey guns we have the ability to deliver whatever performance you need from your turkey gun. Especially with our Dead Straight Deep Bore Drilled Barrels. Our guns pattern 20% better out of the box to begin with. A Sling helps when walking out heavy Barrel Length- When I started Turkey hunting it was with a 28” barrel side by side shotgun. Man, that gun shot, but it was long and gangly to carry through the under story. I later moved to a 26” pump gun and finally to a 24” barrel Gordion Turkey. The 20 gauge Gordion Turkey comes with a 22” barrel. The shorter barrel is lighter, easier to carry when slung over the shoulder, and easier to maneuver in a seated shooting position. Plus in the tight cover that woods hunting has the shorter barrel just clears that brush and shrubs so much easier. You don’t need the momentum of a 28 or 26” barrel to swing through or follow up. Likely you need one precise shot, much like a rifle, and doing that with a more compact gun is a joy in the thick spring woods. Grips- About a decade or so ago the familiar pistol grip stock emerged on turkey guns. This allows for steady holding and support when seated and having the gun on your knee. It also compliments the use of optics by lining a shooter up in a comfortable position. Anyone who has shot a Magnum Turkey Load will tell you the recoil is stout. The almost 90 degree pistol grip allows a shooter to handle that recoil a lot better and more comfortably. With pump guns kicking a bunch more than a semi, our new GPS-XL Turkey has a pistol grip to help you handle all of that. Yet, you can still choose a traditional style stock in any of our Turkey Guns because we know this gun might be serving you in a duck boat, layout blind or even chasing rabbits. Our guns are built to hunt. Sling- Most of the turkey hunting we do is a game of miles and opportunities. Walking with a gun slung over your shoulder is a lot easier than having to carry it. Gotta work a pot call? How about running a box call? Both two hand affairs and a sling keeps that gun comfortable while you do that. The more gear we hunt with the handier a sling becomes. Blind? Chair? Decoys? Gotta have a sling to make it all work. Every Retay has been built to accept a sling with integral studs and sling swivels included. Those slip on slings suck so we just make it easy on you. A Great Turkey Shotgun can help lead to Great Photos like this. Can you kill turkeys with a good all around shotgun? You sure can. You can also open a paint can with a screwdriver, but it’s not ideal. So, why not use a paint can opener and why not get serious and get the best turkey gun you can. You deserve to enjoy your time afield and the birds deserve for you to be the most efficient killer possible. The right Turkey Gun helps you do that, and how confident you will be with a purpose driven gun. Confidence kills or so I’ve heard.
January 27, 2023 Should I Hunt Turkeys From a Blind? Thinking about hunting birds both in and out of the box. By: Justin Hunold A lot of Toms are fooled with Hub Style blinds every spring. There 15 yards in front of you just outside of that window your decoys look perfect. They look so good you have to remind yourself to not shoot your strutting decoy. With the blades of last year’s dry grass and the newly greened up version moving in the wind, you see Him lock on to your imitation flock out in the field. And like a young man sowing his oats that Tom is on his way down to get some, either a fight or a romp. This is the way of Turkey hunting from a modern pop up blind. Turkey Calls are very similar to ones from decades past, but the variety and reliability is a lot better, and yes decoys continue to look better and better with modern materials and finishes, and we even understand the spring Turkey better due to continued research, but one thing likely helps kill more birds every year than the modern pop up blind……but it saves a bunch too. Why should you be Turkey Hunting from a pop up blind? There are a lot of reasons to hunt from a blind, they hide your movement, they give you concealment in places that are wide open, they protect you from some of the elements, Turkey’s basically don’t react to them at all and they can help you stay patient. Let’s dive in on Who’s What, When’s, Where and How’s of Hunting Turkeys from a Blind. One main reason to hunt turkeys from a pop up blind is because turkeys dont adversely react to them. Not long ago when you saw a flock strutting in the middle of a field day after day and you couldn’t access them or if you could there was no cover to hunt them from they mine as well have been in a zoo. They were in a spot you couldn’t kill them in. The blind changed all of that. A camo blind standing up in the middle of the field will definitely not fool a whitetail and likely you won’t see a coyote or another predator unless that blind has been there a very long time or is adequately brushed in. When it comes to beards and spurs though, you can pop that thing up and hunt from it that morning. Ground Blinds make places that lack cover huntable for Turkeys Toms and Hens alike seem to not give a hoot about a pop up blind suddenly appearing in a spot it wasn’t yesterday. So, field hunting turned into a big option over the past 20 years when it wasn’t really on the radar much before that. If you see a Tom puffed up in the middle of the field every day, that bird is likely killable with a pop up blind and access to that field. Hunting in comfort is another great reason to hunt out of a blind. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail a blind can make you into a regular USPS mailman. No matter the weather you can generally hunt in relative comfort from a blind. This keeps you concentrating on the birds and not how miserable you feel. It also lends to your patience. Warm, dry and concealed tends to make a hunter stay put rather than feeling they need to be up and moving to stay warm. Sometimes staying in a spot is the key to the game. Impatient hunters save a lot of animals every year. For the reasons listed above Blind hunting is a great way to introduce new or young hunters to the game. A kid can be free to move a bit more in a blind, they can also have a tablet or even a couple games or toys to help pass the time. Teaching kids to hunt is a big undertaking. I believe that there are times this is best done with a compromise of toughing it and making it a bit more comfortable, a blind is a great middle ground. This is the same for newer hunters. Great teaching moments like how much you can move, what it’s like when Turkeys come in and a shot is imminent, judging distance, watching animal behavior can all be taught from a blind in a way that might not happen leaning against a tree. Plus for someone maybe not used to navigating the woods in the dark or at all a destination or home base is a great way to increase confidence. There are a couple instances when that blind that proves deadly so many times is the bane of a hunter’s existence in moments. One story that is told over and over is causing a malfunction in the weapon of the hunter in regards to the blind. This predominantly happens with a bow, the hunter forgets how many moving parts there are and a limb hits the blind, or the sight clears the window but they don’t estimate for the inches difference in arrow height at the shelf and next thing you know they have a new broadhead hole through there camo house. It can happen to a lesser extent with a gun but be aware of your windows in a blind. The other instance is when a bird sneaks in and won’t come around to the side a hunter prepped for a shot. This is when a hunter is generally cursing the blind and thinking that they could have had that bird if they weren’t pinned down inside but running a gunning outside. As a rule of thumb, I keep three windows open to help with this and the more dense the cover the less likely I am to be in a blind. At the end of the day the situation that surrounds the birds are the contributing factors in deciding whether or not to use a blind. Early in the season, with colder, wetter weather and birds heading to fields to get in that ever escaping sunshine, I’ll be in a blind. Having a new hunter with me, Blind time. When birds might be pressured and quiet, I’m more patient in a blind. In my opinion there are a ton of times you shouldn’t be in a blind. But every turkey hunter should own one or two and they should have them ready to go for the situations surrounding the birds.
