How to Pattern your Shotgun for Hunting Turkeys
Turkey Hunting Tips - Hunting for turkey is not so much different than hunting other game in the woods, but one difference might be the size. To be able to hit such a small target, it is of utmost importance to pattern the shotgun. Not balancing and zeroing the shotgun might keep a hunter from being able to hit that turkey.
There are a few materials available that might help a hunter pattern his gun. For example, many of the better hunting and sports stores offer turkey targets. If a commercially produced target is not preferred, a hunter may draw roughly the size of a turkey’s head on a paper and pin this paper to the usual target used to train.
To properly pattern a gun, targets need to be set up about every ten yards starting at twenty. This means 20 yards from the shooter, 30, 40 and then five yards distance for any targets after the 40 yards one. When shooting at the targets, try out different types and even different brands of ammunition, since most shotguns and rifles have different accuracy levels with different loads. If the hunter is lucky he has one of the few shotguns that is very accurate and there will not be much pattern work necessary. After setting up the targets, the hunter needs to aim at the turkey head. By shooting the head, he will learn several things about the gun (given of course that the shooter is a good shooter). First of all the hunter will learn from his shot pattern, where he has to aim at with the bead of the shotgun to be able to center his shooting pattern on the turkeys head. It will show if the gun is dead on, or maybe a tad bid high or low. As mentioned before, the hunter should try out different loads, so that he can learn which load gives him the best, most accurate pattern.
