Prepared

I did not grow up turkey hunting. I don’t have a long history with the bird or any springtime traditions. I started chasing turkeys while in graduate school in eastern North Carolina. That first spring in eastern NC, I picked up a cheap TruGlo turkey choke and some Remington Nitro turkey loads for my 870 Express. I put a found beer can on a stick, walked back 30 yards, aimed, fired, and heard the impact of at least one pellet. I called it good enough and headed afield.

Unfortunately, public land hunting back east is not anywhere near as productive as it is here in the West, and while a massive flock of turkeys on the adjacent property led me to find one of my favorite public gamelands, that season produced just one fleeting glimpse of a turkey’s head darting out of sight.

Once I moved back home to Arizona, I started to get the bug a little more. It helps to have friends and relatives who dig turkey hunting, but it still took a couple of years for me to actually get out and chase these birds.

I really started to cut my teeth on a San Carlos Reservation hunt with my uncle. That’s when I first saw a Tom in full strut. Unfortunately, that trusty 870 and I were never quite able to connect. I then spent a total of six days hunting in central Arizona. Again, we got close, but couldn’t quite seal the deal. Fortunately, when I couldn’t make it out for the last weekend, my good buddy Ryan took that 870, TruGlo choke, and Remington Nitro loads out and dropped a nice Tom.

Now, it’s four years later, and I finally drew another turkey tag, in the same unit as before. I am determined to finally connect. And while my shotgun, choke, and ammo combination has proven lethal, I thought it would be a good time to upgrade my setup.

There are a lot of turkey loads out there, but Winchester Long Beard XR is highly regarded and recommended. I picked up some XR and a Carlson’s Long Beard XR Choke that's specifically designed for that ammo. Thinking back on my first experience “patterning” my gun for turkey, I left a lot to be desired. So, I went whole hog this year, bought some turkey targets, and set out to really see the difference between where I was and where I am now.

I set the target out to 30 yards. With my 870 equipped with that old TruGlo, I made three shots, one with the Remington Nitro loads, one with Long Beard XR, and one with Winchester’s new Long Beard Tungsten.

Looking at the results, it’s clear that the distribution of the pellets with the Nitro loads and TruGlo choke is pretty wide. While that shot probably would have resulted in a dead bird, it’s really not ideal. The next shot was with the Long Beard XR loads, and it’s easy to see how much more compact and tight that distribution is. It looks to me that the XRs stay together for longer.

Lastly, we have the new Long Beard Tungsten loads. You can really see the difference between the #5 shot and #9 here. Tungsten is heavier and denser than traditional lead shot. This means that a smaller pellet can carry the same impact as a larger lead pellet. Because of this, Winchester is able to pack more shot into the shell and achieve the same level of effectiveness with the tungsten loads.

Next, I replaced the TruGlo choke with my new Carlson’s choke tube and ran the same test. The Carlson choke tube patterned all three loads better than the TruGlo did. It simply put more pellets into that ten-inch target. To me, that makes sense; it’s manufactured specifically for an 870 shooting Long Beard ammo, while the TruGlo is more universally designed and can fit a myriad of different shotguns. But let me be clear here, I am not writing this to drag TruGlo in the dirt; I am simply showing the difference between universality and a more intentional approach.

Additionally, while the Remington loads would probably work just fine out to 30 yards, I wouldn’t be comfortable shooting much farther than that. The Winchester rounds showed that they stayed together more tightly and put more pellets into the target area. While I am not comfortable shooting to the advertised distances on the Winchester boxes, it’s nice to feel confident in the ammo out to about 50 yards.

Lastly, I really wanted to like the XRs better than the Tungsten rounds. Those Long Beard Tungstens are very expensive, and I usually find myself picking a happy medium when faced with an economical decision about gear; not too cheap, but not overpriced either. In this case, I really wanted to see if there was a difference between a $2.60 turkey load and a $19.00 turkey load. I wanted to not see a difference, but I did. I wanted to not feel more confident in the tungsten, but I did. So, I chose to load that 870 Express with $57.00 worth of ammo and head into the mountains.

Ryan and his brother Josh got to my house around 2:30 AM on opening day. After packing the coolers and updating InReach subscriptions, we were on the road at about 3:00 AM. We had about a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of us. We had a campsite picked out already, and thankfully, it was open when we arrived a little after 5:00 AM.

Ryan had scouted the area the weekend prior, but gusty winds made it impossible to hear anything. We were going in blind and really relying on past experience in the area. Fortunately, as soon as we got out of the truck, we heard a gobble. With limited activity the week before, we knew we had to chase. No sooner than we arrived, the trucks were locked back up, shotguns were loaded, and Ryan and I headed towards that gobbler, while Josh did some recon in different areas.

The problem was that we were in thick chaparral country. Scrub oak and Manzanita aren’t what people typically think of as turkey habitat; that’s exactly why we wanted to hunt there. Sure, there aren’t as many birds as there are further north, in the ponderosas, but there are not a lot of people there, either. We were after some solitude as much as turkeys, and we found both.

Luckily, this bird was very responsive. As soon as we called, he answered. We were getting close, but the country was so thick that we had to inch in a bit closer to find a good spot to sit and call. About 50 yards closer, we found a small opening. I dropped my pack and sat with my back against a tree. I had three small lanes: one to my left, one to the right, and one directly in front of me. I maybe had 30 yards at most. If he was going to come in, it would be close.

Ryan started with a couple of hen yelps, and that Tom went nuts. Truthfully, I don’t think it mattered what noise we made with the calls; he was absolutely fired up. At one point, he was gobbling on top of his own gobbles. We let him chill for a couple of minutes, then I made some subtle purrs and yelps with my slate call. His gobble rang out close, in the lane right in front of me. Ryan and I looked at each other with disbelief. I nestled my shotgun onto my shoulder, centered my bead, and aimed at the opening.

Then, his bright red head popped into frame. Ryan said he heard the tom drumming and spitting. I had tunnel vision. I saw his head, beard, and the tops of his wings and fan. He came in full strut.

Center the bead. Breathe. Squeeze.

The shot rang out, the bird disappeared, and I hopped up and ran to him, thinking I needed to chase him down. That was unnecessary; he was down for the count. It was 6:30 AM.

I am so happy that I patterned my shotgun before this hunt. Through two range sessions, I was able to fix the deficiencies in my shooting ability, and I gained a hell of a lot of confidence in the ammo that I was shooting.

After sitting with these results and the experience from my hunt, I believe the Long Beard XR would have been just as lethal as the tungsten at distances up to 40-45 yards. I was anticipating a bit of a further shot, and chose the Tungsten because that pellet distribution would stay together, tighter, longer. 

I know that Winchester Long Beard Tungsten is expensive, but it is effective. After testing those rounds, I felt like the tungsten would give me the best chance out to 50 yards. I understand Winchester advertises that those rounds are accurate out to 70 yards, but I know my limitations, and I know what distances I prefer to shoot to, and I wasn’t going to take a shot further than 50.

I like the work that typically comes with a hunt. I want killing an animal to feel earned, I like to have a little struggle, some adversity. This hunt, well, it was easy. But the preparation beforehand and the past failures, those experiences make this one feel earned. I was happy to be tagged out before my kids even woke up for school.

Joe’s Spring Turkey Critical Gear List:

• Remington 870 Express Magnum
• Winchester Long Beard Tungsten
• Carlson’s Long Beard XR Choke
• First Lite Corrugate Foundry Pants
• First Lite Approach Hoody
• First Lite Yuma Hoody
• Kenetrek Mountain Extreme
• Swarovski NL Pure 10x42
• Outdoorsmans Glassing Pad