Turkey Hunting

[Yazu]

I have questions regarding weapons for turkey hunting.

I'm planning to set up couple areas in Whitehart for my turkey hunting.

I already have a Compound Bow Pulsar which I use for turkey hunting and it hits pretty solid and silent. I also have a 12 GA Semi-auto that I used yesterday to kill two consecutive turkey, haven't experienced it long enough but I think it's not bad.

My question is, what else (weapon) should I bring for turkey hunting? is .223 good? or .17 is better? Do they kill with 100% integrity?

Another question, are turkey decoys necessary? I also read that they distract turkeys so will it help me for more silent kills with the bow?

[**********]

Look up the "Golden Treestand" on Youtube and the official forum.
It's basically the tree @ -14348, 4986. It's an outstanding location for turkeys, coyotes, blacktails and depending on the spawn Roosevelt Elk. If you're hunting with a bow you will get multiple kills and a few waves of Turkeys depending on the spawn.

The disadvantage of the .223 as with the 12 ga is noise. They will both spook everything around, which is not good. The .17 will also spook things, but not as far away.
If you are treestand hunting I would go with the .17 over the shotgun or .223, but I'd go with a bow over any firearm if I wanted repeat kills. Even if you spook some birds after dropping a bird there will still be others (or other animals) not in the direction they fled that will remain unspooked and can be called in. Often the ones you originally spooked come back after a cooldown period as you've called in other birds or animals and dropped them in the intervening time.

I'm not overly fond of the .223 as a varmint gun since the ammo costs money, and apart from turkeys, all the animals it can shoot are covered by the .243 with free ammo, and it does a great job. As a backup for turkeys, rabbits and geese I'd go with the .22 pistol. It's very light, the ammo is as cheap as .17, and the 2-6x20 handgun scope also works for the majority of handguns. The .17 might have a smaller spook distance than the .22 which is a bonus.

If I particularly wanted turkeys that would be my personal choice, but you would need a treestand, and ideally a tent to get to that location, either by spawning or via fast travel, and I'd stick with a bow and carry a shotgun with a variety of ammo to go roaming with when the turkeys dry up. The central area from the "Golden Treestand" to Tower 12, Tower 6 and the lake are a goto hotspot on Whitehart that deserves a tent.

There is a similar turkey hotspot in a thread on the forum, described as the "Platinum Treestand" which is South of the above area, and if the spawn is ideal can give you a 3 hour turkey massacre from my testing.

[Yazu]

Originally posted by **********:

Look up the "Golden Treestand" on Youtube and the official forum.
It's basically the tree @ -14348, 4986. It's an outstanding location for turkeys, coyotes, blacktails and depending on the spawn Roosevelt Elk. If you're hunting with a bow you will get multiple kills and a few waves of Turkeys depending on the spawn.

The disadvantage of the .223 as with the 12 ga is noise. They will both spook everything around, which is not good. The .17 will also spook things, but not as far away.
If you are treestand hunting I would go with the .17 over the shotgun or .223, but I'd go with a bow over any firearm if I wanted repeat kills. Even if you spook some birds after dropping a bird there will still be others (or other animals) not in the direction they fled that will remain unspooked and can be called in. Often the ones you originally spooked come back after a cooldown period as you've called in other birds or animals and dropped them in the intervening time.

I'm not overly fond of the .223 as a varmint gun since the ammo costs money, and apart from turkeys, all the animals it can shoot are covered by the .243 with free ammo, and it does a great job. As a backup for turkeys, rabbits and geese I'd go with the .22 pistol. It's very light, the ammo is as cheap as .17, and the 2-6x20 handgun scope also works for the majority of handguns. The .17 might have a smaller spook distance than the .22 which is a bonus.

If I particularly wanted turkeys that would be my personal choice, but you would need a treestand, and ideally a tent to get to that location, either by spawning or via fast travel, and I'd stick with a bow and carry a shotgun with a variety of ammo to go roaming with when the turkeys dry up. The central area from the "Golden Treestand" to Tower 12, Tower 6 and the lake are a goto hotspot on Whitehart that deserves a tent.

There is a similar turkey hotspot in a thread on the forum, described as the "Platinum Treestand" which is South of the above area, and if the spawn is ideal can give you a 3 hour turkey massacre from my testing.

May I know where can I see the coords of this platinum treestand?

[DanthemanBoone]

.22 grasshopper pistol with pistol scope is good . Low spook radius and certain kills out at 100 m. is also good for rabbits and arctic hares or ground shooting pheasants or geese.
Light weight and carries in no 3 slot easily with two other weapons, EG a bow and a rifle.

[**********]

Originally posted by Terr:

May I know where can I see the coords of this platinum treestand?

Check this link:

https://forum.thehunter.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=90957

It's well worth checking out the fan guides on the official forum. It's a gold mine.

eg. Having trouble with Sambar deer?

https://forum.thehunter.com/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=93372

[Yazu]

Originally posted by **********:

Originally posted by Terr:

May I know where can I see the coords of this platinum treestand?

Check this link:

https://forum.thehunter.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=90957

It's well worth checking out the fan guides on the official forum. It's a gold mine.

eg. Having trouble with Sambar deer?

https://forum.thehunter.com/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=93372

Can I put a tripod stand instead? will that work?

[Yazu]

I put a tripod stand somewhere on the middle of that meadow.

[snr-skid]

The best weapon by far to get multiple kills with turkeys is the crossbow pistol, I find decoys do work well if they are spaced apart as the turkeys will walk from one to another giving you time to choose the correct shot without spooking the others, saying that the best tactic I've found is laying down by the water on the lake or beaches in whitehart calling them in and using the crossbow pistol,had 25 males once in a very short space of time coming in from all directions.

[sonnycc]

Originally posted by snr-skid:

The best weapon by far to get multiple kills with turkeys is the crossbow pistol, I find decoys do work well if they are spaced apart as the turkeys will walk from one to another giving you time to choose the correct shot without spooking the others, saying that the best tactic I've found is laying down by the water on the lake or beaches in whitehart calling them in and using the crossbow pistol,had 25 males once in a very short space of time coming in from all directions.

I agree, best weapon for hunting Turkey in a treestand. It sounds loud, but it is the quietus of all the compound Bows

[sonnycc]

Originally posted by sonnycc:

Originally posted by snr-skid:

The best weapon by far to get multiple kills with turkeys is the crossbow pistol, I find decoys do work well if they are spaced apart as the turkeys will walk from one to another giving you time to choose the correct shot without spooking the others, saying that the best tactic I've found is laying down by the water on the lake or beaches in whitehart calling them in and using the crossbow pistol,had 25 males once in a very short space of time coming in from all directions.

I agree, best weapon for hunting Turkey in a treestand. It sounds loud, but it is the quietus of all the compound Bows

I compare it to the Snakebite bow.

[TommyFresh]

Crossbow pistol is a must have. Decoys are good if you are in a stand/tower if not the turkey will sometimes stay behind the tree you're in and you won't get a good look at it. I really like the .17... I'm pretty sure the spook range for animals is lower with this weapon than other rifles and it's nice for picking turkey off at range I also use it for foxes.

Treestands are also useful when hunting turkey as they have good sight and don't see you at all. You can just stay there and call, even if you spook one they won't flee far enough to be out of range so just stay in the stand and keep calling and they'll eventually come back.

[Yazu]

As for the Decoys, will it reduce the chance of spooking other animals that are distracted by the decoys if I shoot one with a bow? I think I read those decoys give distraction too.

[Yazu]

So the possibility for them to not notice my shot will more likely to happen if I have decoys distracting them?

[Pete Gaimari]

Funny you should post this. I was hunting Whitehart yesterday on stand #6 for elk. I had just bought the Pulsar. I never hunted turkey in real life and had no desire to do it in game. However, two turkeys came walking by about 30yds out. I said to myself go ahead and take a turkey at least once. I shot the one in the lead and the other one just kept walking.

I said to myself the Pulsar is a perfect weapon for turkey. I'm surprised you're looking for a 2nd one.

[TommyFresh]

Originally posted by Terr:

So the possibility for them to not notice my shot will more likely to happen if I have decoys distracting them?

I can't confirm for sure but that's also been my experience. It appears that when they are distracted by the decoy the spook radius is slightly reduced.

You still need to wait 20 or so seconds before firing again or they'll spook straight away and even if they are distracted they will still spook if they are right next to each other so you still need them to be a little apart.

[MAGs☢uilleᵗʷᶦᵗᶜʰ]

If they have a distance of about 5m following each other, you can chain them one after the other with a bow. Anyway, that's what I was see with my snakebite bow, without decoy and tower

Even if he steps on the corpse of their congener, they continue xD.