Henry’s First Turkey Hunt Part 1

Henry’s First Turkey Hunt Part 1

By Steve Bellrichard

“Shoot him when you’re ready” I said to my son Henry on that warm spring evening. The gobbler stopped 10 yards from our blind and froze. It seemed like hours before Henry pulled the trigger, leaving me time to recall all the preparations and practice that lead to this moment.

Preparation started when I signed my then 11-year-old son up for Hunter’s Education Class. The class was to be held in the Fall of 2017 at the local community college, but the class didn’t get enough students and was cancelled. In January of the following year, our county’s (Des Moines) conservation office offered this class before the April 7th opening of the Iowa Youth Turkey Season and we signed up.

Henry and I attended the Monday thru Thursday evening class and he graduated, missing only 1 question on the exam. That Saturday the class went to the Big Hollow Shooting Range to practice what they had learned. Immediately, we traveled to Farm King to celebrate his graduation by purchasing his turkey tag, a hunting blind and some shotgun shells.

The next step was to get Henry familiar with the gun he was going to be using and to learn what his and the gun’s limitations were. He was going to be shooting my 20-gauge Browning B-2000 that my dad had bought me when I turned 15 years old. This shotgun is chambered in 3” and has a 28-inch full choke barrel. All my hunting buddies prefer a 12-gauge for Turkey hunting, but I have not found that significantly heavier firearm necessary for turkeys. Of course, all firearms have limitations and that is what Henry needed to understand.

We started off in the basement with basic firearm familiarization. He practiced how to make sure the gun was unloaded and taking the safety off and on. We then practiced putting his finger on the trigger and where it was supposed to be before he was ready to shoot. Next, we went outside and practiced loading, unloading, and typical turkey hunting shooting positions. I emphasized muzzle control during these exercises and stopped practice immediately if the gun wasn’t pointed in a safe direction. Of all the lessons he needed to learn, safety was the most important.

The first shooting position we practiced was sitting on the ground with our back against a tree and the gun supported on a knee. I watched the end of the barrel and it was very steady, even after an extended period. This led to discussions about when he could move the gun to aim and when he had to remain still as a turkey approached. We then tried sitting in a chair and it became quickly obvious from the barrel’s movement that shooting unsupported while sitting might not work for this 12-year-old. Shooting sticks solved this problem so we set up the blind and practiced from inside. This, as it turned out, was more important than I had thought as my shooting sticks were too tall for the blind we had purchased. When the legs of the shooting sticks were widened to achieve the correct gun height, the legs could only be moved about 6 inches from side to side. In other words, these sticks would only be effective if the turkey was directly in front of the blind. This limitation was not acceptable. As I pondered another purchase, my son solved the problem by laying the gun stock directly on the blind’s window edge. The barrel was steady, and his range of motion was only limited by the window’s width and the barrel appeared to be at the correct height. Later that evening I renewed my range membership and we were all set to practice shooting.

On the way to the range, and prior to any hunt, I had Henry recite the three primary gun hunting safety rules: always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction, don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to fire, and be sure of your target and beyond. By making him repeat this each and every time before going to the range or on a hunt, I hope to instill in him a safety-first mentality.

We then went over the three things I wanted him to learn today: shooting mechanics, gun and ammunition limitations, and what kind of shot it took to kill a turkey. I was taught that it took 10 BB’s in the neck and head to make a lethal shot.

We started at the 25-yard range. This range has sidewalks/shooting stations at 5, 15, and 25 yards. We placed 3 turkey head and neck targets on the backstop and labeled them with a large Sharpie 5, 15, and 25. I also had Henry prepare the targets by drawing a quarter sized red dot on the neck just below the skull. As he did this, I explained to him that his aiming point wasn’t the turkey or even its head, but this spot. How does Ted Nugent say it, “Aim small miss small”? Henry then took one shot from each distance utilizing a shell loaded with # 6 shot while standing in an unsupported position. We retrieved the targets and reviewed the results, which where both expected and unexpected. Three of the targets had less than 10 holes in the neck and head (i.e. not lethal) and most of the holes were right of the head and neck. I explained to him that this told me he was pulling the trigger instead of squeezing it, and that pulling leads to the barrel moving off target. Being right-handed, pulling the trigger moved the barrel right. He could also see that the closer 5 and 15-yard target had a much tighter group of holes than the 25-yard target.

We replaced the targets and shot again from each distance but changed shooting positions and shell shot size. This time Henry sat in a chair and used shooting sticks and shot shells loaded with #5 shot. I watched for pulling vs squeezing and only saw squeezing. When we examined the targets, all shots were fatal, and the shot pattern grew wider as the distance to the target increased. There was no obvious difference in the amount of holes between targets shot with #6 and #5 shot, so I explained the difference. I told Henry that the smaller the shot size number, the larger the bee bee. The larger the BB, the fewer amounts of shot will fit in the shell and as such there will be fewer holes in the target. In our case, #5 shot are bigger than #6 shot, and there are less #5 shot in each shell than those loaded with #6 shot. He looked puzzled so I helped him form his question, “What shot size is best”? I asked. That’s pretty complicated, because shotgun shells vary in length, size of shot and amount of propellant, but the answer mainly involves energy. What we want is enough BB’s with enough energy striking the head and neck of our turkey to make the shot lethal. For turkey, the typical shot size used is 4, 5 and 6. The results of our shooting showed me that at these distances, both 5 and 6 shot will do the job. I wanted Henry to shoot more but he did not want to because his shoulder was getting sore, but he agreed to return the next weekend.

The next weekend we returned to the range, but before we shot, we reviewed the targets from the previous shoot. The things I wanted him to remember were where he was to aim, how distance affected the shot pattern, and the importance of squeezing the trigger. We compared the 5, 15 and 25-yard targets, and he could clearly see the 5 and 15-yard target’s holes were much closer together than those in the 25-yard target. We then compared the 25-yard targets that were shot from different shooting positions. He remembered the first time he shot he pulled the trigger which moved the barrel right resulting in a non-lethal shot as most of the holes were right of the neck and head. I then had him prepare 3 targets by placing a red quarter sized dot over the area where the head met the neck. As we placed the targets on the backstop, I reminded him that his aiming point wasn’t the turkey or even its head, but this red spot. As we returned to the shooting station, I asked him to summarize what he learned from the previous shoot. Without hesitation he said, “The closer the turkey is the smaller my shot group will be, so I have to aim small miss small and squeeze the trigger”. Ted would be proud, I thought, as I handed him the gun.

As Henry loaded the gun, I could see his comfort with the shotgun was growing and he was correcting himself before I could say watch the muzzle. We only shot 3 times from the 25-yard station, but I had him shoot sitting on the ground, sitting in a chair, and standing. All shots were lethal, so we moved to the 50-yard target for one more lesson. I had him shoot at 3 targets from the 3 shooting positions at 50-yards. As expected, none of the shots were lethal. When I asked him what this meant, he answered, “the turkey has to be closer”, Bingo! I then asked him what he thought his shooting distance limit should be. He thought about it for a while and then said, “25 yards.” I told him that this shotgun’s shot pattern using loads with #5 or 6 shot is lethal to 40 yards, but that was off a shooting bench under ideal conditions. I told him that we should be conservative, and he agreed to a 30-yards shooting distance limit. I felt he was comfortable with the shotgun and capable of making a lethal shot, so we moved on to other preparations.

We tried on some of my older camo clothing and made choices for different temperatures. We then practiced calling and watched hunting videos. He struggled calling, so we decided I would be the primary caller. I had recorded some turkey hunting shows so we watched a few each night before the hunt. Viewing recordings is great because you can stop and rewind the action to discuss what the hunters and turkeys where doing. I pointed out when the hunter can move to aim and when he must stay still. I explained to him that a Turkey’s superpower is his vision, especially detecting movement. I also had Henry pay attention to the Turkey’s body language. Did the Turkey look like he wanted to fight or was he nervous? We watched one show where hens had spoiled the hunt by detecting the hunter’s movement. I told Henry that this had happened to me before and if hens were with the gobbler, you had to be aware of where they were before moving. The only thing these hunting shows don’t prepare you for is the patience usually needed to kill a bird.