# Rimfire turkey hunting?



## Xstream Outfitters (May 4, 2003)

Anyone know which states still allow hunting turkeys with rimfire rifles?


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## Adam Waszak (Apr 12, 2004)

Some allow centerfire. Although I would never want it legal there is a time or two each spring when I think man if only I could use a .22 :lol: 

AW


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

What a horrible idea. I don't think its legal in any states East of the Mississippi. Very few allow it at all.

Its a huge safety issue. Think fully camo clad hunters crawling up thru the grass to ambush some turkeys out in the middle of a field while Mr Road Hunter draws a fine bead on 'em from his truck window. Many other very dangerous turkey hunting scenerios likely as well.

Just my .02.

Natty B.


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## jmoser (Sep 11, 2002)

Tim -

I know for sure that PA allows centerfire rifles in Fall Turkey season. It used to be 'any centerfire rifle,' now language says any caliber rifle is OK (PA does not allow semiauto rifles AT ALL for ANY hunting.) I always wanted to use my 22 mag; I bet that with the advent of the .17s and .204s that there was a hue and cry to allow rimfire arms. Now I have my .223 Encore dialed in and can take a gobbler at 200M if needed!

Check the PA Game Commission website - they have all the regs on line if you navigate around a little bit.
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=466&q=152078

Per the previous post; no states that I know of allow rifles in the Spring, but in the fall [when non-mating turkeys do not respond to calling the same way] rifles are a good bet. In PA Fall season safety orange is also required, nobody wants full camo mixed with high power rifles (although not all states require orange for deer either!)

Turkeys flock up in the fall and move around in large groups, common for me to see 6-10 together on the side of the mountain or in the fields in broad daylight during Oct - Nov.

I see dozens of turkey in fall deer seasons, had a buck 12 ft away this Spring's Turkey season, notice a pattern here?


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## EdB (Feb 28, 2002)

I agree with Natty Bumpo on this one, makes no sense to me using rifles for turkeys. Sure wouldn't be very sporting. Plenty of us get them in the fall with a shotgun too.


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## Xstream Outfitters (May 4, 2003)

This was not an ethics or opinion poll .................

It's just as sporting as hunting anything else with a rifle.


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Sorry, I disagree with you about hunting turkeys with rifles being ethical. 

To my knowledge, turkeys are the only upland gamebird that you can still hunt with a rifle in some states-fewer every year. Everything else you can hunt with a rifle has another advantage that turkeys don't have-they have a sense of smell. Turkeys don't.

So there's one more thing you have to beat, their sense of smell, to get a good killing shot at a bear, deer, elk, moose, coyote or bobcat. It's a lot easier with a rifle when it comes to turkeys, there's no challenge at all. And since we still call it hunting, not killing, there should always be a challenge.


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## One Eye (Sep 10, 2000)

Linda G. said:


> Everything else you can hunt with a rifle has another advantage that turkeys don't have-they have a sense of smell. Turkeys don't.
> 
> So there's one more thing you have to beat, their sense of smell, to get a good killing shot at a bear, deer, elk, moose, coyote or bobcat. It's a lot easier with a rifle when it comes to turkeys, there's no challenge at all. And since we still call it hunting, not killing, there should always be a challenge.


While I tend to agree in principle, comparing senses is immaterial. In fact, I would argue that the wild turkey is better equipped than those animals you list. Their sight and hearing is unmatched. The bears and cervids listed are much easier to get closer to than turkeys. I can beat those animals' eyes in blue jeans and street clothes. Try that with turkeys.

As for hunting, not killing, I could effectively make that argument regarding any animal with high power rifles. Many today practice sniping and killing, not hunting. Be careful opening that pandoras box.

For "my" ethics, I have no interest in pursuing wild turkeys with rifles. They deserve better.

Dan


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## One Eye (Sep 10, 2000)

Don't take the word of a "no name" hunter like myself. Allow me to share the opinion of a better known hunting "expert". Below is a quotation from the great Howard Hill, one of the greatest hunting archers ever. This quote comes from Mr. Hill's excellent book, *Hunting the Hard Way*.



> "The Candian honker, the Florida whooping crane (Sandhill crane), and the wary bighorn sheep are smart, alert, and capable of taking care of themselves, but the turkey, I think, is away out in front of even these, considering all points.
> 
> The thing that is outstanding about the turkey is his lack of both doubt and curiosity. The wild turkey is never curious, and he cares not a darn what you look like, why you are there, or how long you are going to stay; in every instance he will unhesitatingly give you the whole vicinity for as long as you care to have it. I have never seen one wild turkey that could be called either curious, dumb, or lazy, but among the deer, for instance, I have often seen individuals to whom these epithets might be applied."


Mr. Hill had the opportunity to hunt every legal species in North America, as well as all the so-called "trophy" species across Africa. He was the first non-native American to harvest a Bighorn ram with archery equipment. His assessment of the wild turkey is truly a testament to that animal's wariness and cunning.

Dan


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Gene Hill was one of this country's greatest outdoor writers and authors...he was not an expert on wildlife, but then, neither am I.

But I do hunt wild turkeys...and I do know that wild turkeys are curious. If they weren't, they wouldn't come to a call at all. His sense of doubt is what often saves him. They do have failings, that's why they're huntable. 

And I have killed wild turkeys while wearing blue jeans and street clothes, as well as blaze orange, which, if anything, seemed to serve as a wild turkey attractant.

But I have heard it said, many times, by some of this country's greatest turkey hunters, that if wild turkeys had a sense of smell we wouldn't be able to hunt them at all.


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

Very Well Said!

Natty B.


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## Xstream Outfitters (May 4, 2003)

The only thing I wanted to hear in this was the facts. And thanks to you folks who presented those to me.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

One Eye said:


> Many today practice sniping and killing, not hunting. Be careful opening that pandoras box.



Yup, that is pretty much the way I kill every buck I kill with a rifle.

But, with all the limitations in gaining access that hunters face....ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

That being said.....zapping a turkey with a rifle would not take much in the State of Michigan....but in other states...it might be perfectly logical.


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## Ed Michrina (Dec 25, 2002)

I don't turky hunt, but if you were taking a head shots with a small cal. It sounds challenging to me?


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Ed Michrina said:


> I don't turky hunt, but if you were taking a head shots with a small cal. It sounds challenging to me?




Only with a pistol and even that is a maybe....


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