February 24, 2023 Optics for a Turkey Gun- Shotgun Scope or Shotgun Red Dot By: Justin Hunold With today’s purpose driven Turkey Guns, Turkey Chokes and Turkey Shells choices a plenty we are sling patterns tighter than ever. We are able to carry longer, set up better and shoot further. Not only are the guns, chokes and shells better but Turkey hunting is becoming more and more refined. From basic lead, to plated, duplex, heavier than lead and TSS shot we are sending shots that pattern as tight as baseballs at 25 yards and sometimes even further. Even though most modern turkey guns come with some form of fiber optic sight on them we should be thinking of those as a backup system. If you’ve spent the time, money and effort to get a gun specifically to chase turkeys, that gun should wear a modern optic. What kind of shotgun scope should you use on your turkey gun? Why? Let’s look at shotgun optics choices for turkey hunting. Why should you run an optic for turkey hunting? The simple answer is precision. When you were out in the field with a simple high brass , heavy game load, full choke and bead you had to know where that gun patterned. This was likely a large pattern by todays standards and you have to keep it in mind everytime you pull the trigger on a Tom. Now, we are shooting ultra tight patterns out to ranges well beyond sixty yards and we need to know where that shot is going to be. Most patterns are the size of a baseball at twenty five yards with today’s gear, so if you’re off by three to four inches you missed. And who wants to think about where to hold to center the pattern. Sight it in, hold the dot on the spot and press the trigger. The rest takes care of itself. Simple and effective. Also, when you’re shooting at longer ranges a bead or even rifled sights are likely covering up way more than they should be for you to place those pellets where they have to go. With a scope or red dot you know exactly where your point of aim is. Be sure of your target and beyond, it works a lot better if you are sure where your projectiles will be hitting within reason. What optic should you have on your Tom tagger? A lot of that is personal preference and hunting style differences. We all have our opinions but there are a few reasons for both a red dot and a LPVO (low power variable optic). Let’s look at them both and help you decide Red Dots When we are looking at the first and more popular category of scopes for shotgun we come to Red Dots. There are three types of Red Dots, Reflex, Prismatic, and Holographic. A few years ago I would have said Prismatic sights were the route to go, but more and more reflex sights for shotguns have taken center stage. Holographic sights are great, but tend to be a bit more expensive. Prismatic’s still have a place but for most folks the benefits and price point of a reflex sight is where it’s at in the turkey woods. Why would you use a reflex sight for a shotgun chasing Tom’s? Adjustable brightness, for when that cloudy spring dawn turns into a sun baked backdrop on an open field, red dot sights for shotguns leave you the ability to quickly adjust the brightness of the reticle. Also weight, a reflex sight is a great lightweight option for those long hikes along oak ridges looking for gobbling birds. Precise, no matter who is behind the reflex sight, no matter what angle the glass is at, no matter what eye dominant or hand dominant position that shooter is in, if the dots on the target it will hit there. Wherever the dot is is where the shot will end up. This isn’t the same for any other sight style other than holographic. This is a real advantage in the turkey woods where non dominant hand shots are somewhat common. Also, take your kid or wife or friend out hunting, hand them your gun knowing that if they put the dot on the spot you have to worry not. LPVO A while back you would see a lot of the famous TV hunters putting the smack down on gobblers with Turkey Specific low power variable optics. For a lot of folks there has been zero reason to move away from these. Let’s look at why you want a scope on your turkey gun. When that Tom hangs up in that open field at 65 yards and you know your TSS is still plenty deadly at that range, you can crank that LPVO up to 4x and place the crosshairs or dot on the waddles, knowing the EXACT placement. What about shooting through that little gap in the brush at his red, white and blue head? Yup, these are the best cases for a scope for turkey hunting. A fairly new option for LPVO’s that might be an interesting addition to some folks for turkey hunting is an illuminated single dot or reticle in conjunction with the standard reticle available with a lot of these models. Still using a red dot to anchor you to that head poking through the brush, but this time with a bit of magnification, which is right up some hunters alley. The limiting factors for a more traditional shotgun scope are weight and field of view. Obviously, a variable scope is going to weigh in the range of pounds comparatively to even a tube style prismatic sight which tip the scale in ounces. The other area where a red dot, especially a reflex sight, does a bit better a job on a turkey gun is in the field of view category. The almost non existent ring you will perceive on a reflex sight leaves little to the imagination. Meaning you will see your Tom and everything else going on around him, to make the safest, most accurate, and most ethical shot possible. Our Turkey Guns come with proprietary bases for mounting optics, and even though we have nice fiber optic beads on the barrel we suggest you use that base to mount the optic of your choice. When running and gunning for turkeys there is a lot left to chance, exact aiming and shot placement shouldn’t be one of them. We do our best to give you every reason to put the best shot on that bird possible, whether that’s with the optic mounted on the included base or a quality fiber optic bead. Let’s be honest we wouldn’t build a base and include it with every Retay Turkey gun if we didn’t think you should be giving a good quality optic a try. Put the dot on the spot and worry not.
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.
April 15, 2022 We Love to Watch Them Strut By: Justin Hunold When you get a group of Turkey hunters together and the stories start flowing one thing becomes apparent, The sounds of spring dominate the conversation. We judge each other by our ability to imitate a turkey, we wax poetic over birds hammering on the roost, the weird sounds we hear a hen make sticks in our minds, hell we even discuss odd things that make Toms shock gobble. Let’s think about the fact that we have calling championships in which other callers judge the accuracy and artistry of the calling sequence presented on a stage in front of the world. For me though, the sounds are a primer and what really gets my motor turning are the sights of the Turkey woods. Hearing them is great, Seeing them is what matters The sounds let me know what’s going on, Tom over there , Hen over there, hunter over there or was that a real bird? That’s the thing, I love the sounds but more and more they seem to be becoming rarer and rarer. Let’s not forget with the progression in call technology and growth in turkey hunting opportunities hunters calling has never been easier or sounded better. This has led to a lot of calls being thrown at seemingly more highly pressured birds. There was an article in a major publication about staying quiet and waiting birds out just a few days ago, this should be the canary in the coal mine of what the sounds of spring are doing to our turkey hunting. Now picture this, you’re walking a ridge top and calling to get a response from a randy Tom. A few yelps in and he thunders from your north and another one hammers from your west, the best sounds. These birds sound equidistant and are both responsive, guess what matters more than the sound of drumming, spitting, gobbling; which bird can you see first. I don’t remember every gobble but I sure as hell remember the sights of the steam pouring out of a gobblers face as he gobbles, the iridescent shine coming off the strutting gobbler all puffed up trying to show off, or the patriotic flag themed dome piece poking through the red rippers and he’s picking his way through the thick stuff. How many times have you slammed on the brakes to see what the flock in the field looks like? How many times did that sight prompt your eye to look at your mapping app to figure out if you could get to those birds? So, as much time as we all like to focus on yelps, clucks, purrs, kee kee runs, spitting, drumming, gobbling and shock calling they are all just sounds in the ether. Clues. What happens if we never get that visual of a bird strutting, or flying down, or a hen sneaking through cover beckoning against you? Let’s look at not only the beauty of these cinematic spring scenes but also what goes into them and how they help us. Look at the more recent tactic of Reaping a turkey, or moving into position behind a strutting Tom silhouette and then shooting the target bird in the face from as close as possible. This tactic works best with a real turkey fan, birds can tell the difference and requires zero sounds, just a natural movement with aggressive posturing from the “Decoy”. Take a look at hunting decoys and the evolution of Turkey decoys over the years specifically. The foam decoys I had at 12 years old wouldn’t even hit the store shelves these days. We’ve gone from hair dryers to reform them to full body molded decoys. Stuff in your pocket to which frame pack carries my two full body Hens and strutting Jake the best? So, the visuals matter on a nuts and bolts level, and with more calling pressure and smarter birds, they matter more than ever.When we are using decoys the Gobbler gets to see what we are looking for as well, visual cues. Setting up in shadows, fully camoed, minimal movement, we want our footprint on the visual landscape to be as small as possible. We have to balance this with good decoy placement, set up to compliment the terrain and scene we are trying to paint with sound and sight. It’s a tough mix between a large visual and the subtle nuances of a natural scene. Turkey’s like to strut in the open in the spring, they are prominent on the landscape in this way, but remember this gets them killed and not just by us. When thinking about the aesthetics of the scene, think about the Hen laying in cover, the Jake just out of direct sight, the Tom not fully silhouetted in the strut zone. You can be too in their face but often you can’t be too subtle. Remember nothing is as subtle as a silent “B” and that’s the sort of play you should hedge towards when dealing with the visual acuity of a Turkey. At the end of the day I don’t believe that the folks who chase spring birds will ever forgo the love and admiration of the music of Turkey’s mating concert. In the end it is probably the most important attachment we have to the birds in many ways. Most of us will never forget the first hammering gobble we heard echo through that early morning misty mountain hop. I’ll never forget the one time I had twelve distinct gobblers answering me and I was too inexperienced to get sight of any of them. But that’s the point at the time I was hunting for the gobble. Now I hunt for the gobbler and I gotta see em to shoot em.To me the other visuals make for a stark contrast to the spring deer scouting time right before Turkey season too. Early spring in my neck of the woods still has snow and ice, a few leftover beech tree leaves hanging on, some oaks holding a bit of their lobed or spiked plumage and a lot of gray and brown. As turkey season comes in, those colors transfer from gray and brown to being splashed with greens of all hues, reds, blues and violets in the flowers that wake up from the winter nap. The aesthetic is striking. But when you hear that bird call in the distance, as thrilling as that is, remember it matters not until you can see all those colors in his strutting plumage as he does his best spring dance for you, the very best sight of spring.
