Mouth calls, a box call, a slate call, an owl call, a folding knife and folding saw, brush clippers, binoculars and camouflage face mask and gloves. Other vest pockets and pouches hold a flashlight, a GPS, two crushable decoys, a foam seat cushion, insect repellent, shells, an extra choke and a gun sling. Throw in a box lunch, popup blind and a cell phone and I could spend the weekend! Truth be told, for some outings, hunters will need every bit of that gear, along with some top-rate calling and lots of patience to bag a bird. Other times the supposedly wily longbeards will almost light in your lap when they fly down from the roost at dawn.

Oddly enough, among all this turkey gunning gear, the most important element is the smallest, least expensive and most taken for granted. And on outings when a jake or a tom is spotted and coaxed into range, this item is at the crux of most failures to fill a tag. All else being equal, or as much as nature and the elements allow, the final outcome of every wild turkey hunt that yields a shot opportunity rests on a single, solitary shotgun shell.

Super selection

When I was but a youth, while folks were in the hardware store buying a pound of nails or a gallon of paint, they also picked up a box of scattergun loads for fall. While rifle cartridges were plentiful, shotgun loads were limited, perhaps two or three name brands and only a couple of shot sizes. Lead pellets were king, size 6 chill for woodcock and partridge, size 4 pellets for pheasant and duck and, if available, No. 2s for geese. Winchester, Remington-Peters and Federal were the holy trinity of shot shell manufacturers up through the mid-’80s. Since there were few turkeys and no open season back then, loads for longbeards were of no concern.

When federal laws dictated no more lead shot for waterfowling, little did outdoorsmen suspect that the ripples of dissatisfaction with steel shot would turn into a tidal wave of new and improved shot shells. New ammunition companies appeared with alternatives to lead and steel pellets, and then the venerable old manufacturers got on board, too. There were high-tech wads developed, better hulls, hotter primers, duplex loads with varied-size pellets, shot buffer was added to create tighter patterns and of course the trial-and-error development of a shot component at least equal if not better than lead.

There’s no ban on lead pellets for turkey hunting, and many gobbler gunners still swear by their old standby loads, but with the advent of tungsten-iron, bismuth, nickel, Hevi-Shot and tungsten polymer pellets, there are now other options. As shot-shell loads improved over the last couple of decades, so did the shotgun actions, barrels and, perhaps most importantly, choke tubes. Changes made to improve the efficiency of steel shot for dispatching ducks and geese also raised the lethality of nontoxic pellets for other game birds. When outdoorsmen go after Maine’s largest game bird, no matter what smoke and mirrors are used to coax that big tom into range, it’s that one small component, a shot shell, that puts the turkey on the table.

Pellet patterns

Big-game hunters who handload shells know there’s only one way to establish which combination of primer, powder and bullet best fits their favorite firearm – lots of time at the range. It’s no different with scatterguns. Various brands and compositions of shells produce individual patterns and distinctive densities, and pattern brand comparisons are the only way to determine the best load. Step one is simple: Select your favorite turkey gun, then pick which choke tube will yield the tightest pattern. Step two requires a trip to the gun shop to purchase a variety of shells and a couple of dozen turkey head and neck targets. Champion Traps and Targets offers a new Visi-Color turkey head that produces easy-to-see bright yellow pellet holes in possibly lethal spots of the head and neck and bright pink circles around brain and spine hits. These life-size silhouette targets are on heavy pasteboard, easy to handle and they cost about $10 a dozen.

Patterning 3- and 31/2-inch turkey loads through a tight choke is a lot like being pummeled by a professional boxer. On top of that, each time you trip the trigger and absorb what amounts to a body-jarring haymaker punch, it costs from $1-$3! Nonetheless, it’s the only way to settle on the best load, so use a solid rest, squeeze the trigger slowly and tough it out.

When setting out targets, my minimum starting distance is 25 yards, and if a particular load stands out, then I test it further at 40 yards and finally at 55 yards. Most loads are deadly at 25 yards and generate very tight patterns, so small a group that it’s possible to miss a turkey’s head if nerves cause a bit of barrel wiggle. Besides showing a small pattern on the 25-yard target, just as important is location of the densest concentration of pellets. Perhaps your shotgun shoots a bit off center, or maybe it’s the way you are shouldering the gun. Either way a correction must be made if several shots with different loads yield the same off-center outcome.

No matter how realistic your calls sound or how lifelike the decoys seem, real turkeys often hang up just at the edge of confident shooting range. Twenty-pound toms don’t get big by being stupid. When this happens, hunters who have researched loads through extensive patterning have two advantages: They are better judges of range, and they have confidence in their choice of load and their ability to hit their target at 50 yards.

Top choices

I have a 1963 Browning Superposed over-and-under that shoots 3-inch shells. Barrels are fixed chokes of full and modified, so that means lead or bismuth only to prevent barrel damage to this old beauty. Bismuth-buffered long-range 3-inch shells with 1? ounces of No. 5 shot average 22 pellets in the head and neck at 40 yards. Plan on paying $2 to $3 per shell. Winchester Supreme turkey loads hold 13/4 ounces of size 5 pellets in a 3-inch shell and are a great second choice if you want to get the best from a special old gun without fear of damage. About two bucks per 3-inch shell in boxes of 10 and the average runs 12-15 hits in the head and neck at 40 yards with 45 to 55 on the target of the 300 pellets in each Supreme shell.

When it comes to new guns, I favor a Browning Gold or Benelli Super Black Eagle II fitted with an Undertaker turkey choke. Hands down, the meanest load is a 31/2-inch Winchester Supreme stuffed full of No. 5 lead pellets. The recoil is cruel, but shots averaged eight pellets in the vital spine and brain area and 24 in the head and neck at 40 yards. Runner up was Federal’s Tungsten-Polymer No. 4s in 31/2-inch pills. These are great in brushy terrain. Plan on a couple of Washingtons per shot.

In the line of nontoxic, more bang for your buck and you don’t mind spending $3 per 3-inch shell, Hevi-13 is the king. Made by Environ-Metal, Hevi-Shot has been buffered and sped up to its full potential for big birds at longer-than-average ranges. Best of all, these shells are fairly low recoil, yet put 20-25 No. 6 pellets in the head and neck at 40 yards. As an aside, my Browning Gold really took a liking to Federal’s New Premium High Density Ultra-Shok loads. Meant for waterfowl, the 3-inch shell with 13/4 ounces of No. 2 pellets really held together at 55 yards with 6-12 pellets in the head and neck.

Each gobbler gunner will have to play mix and match with their own shotgun and shells at the pattern board, but now you have some basics to work with. Time is of the essence since youth turkey day is today and Monday begins the “A” season for sportsmen born in even-numbered years; “B” season sports have another week to get ready. Youngsters and small-framed women who favor the 20 gauge for reduced recoil, as well as novice turkey hunters with minimal shooting experience will all benefit from patterning their guns, for the shooting experience as much as selecting the best load.

Even after finding a dependable shot shell match for my turkey gun, I still experiment each year with one or two new products – just in case. I also fire a few shots each spring while sitting in full camo gear, facemask and gloves included, just to be sure the gun shoulders well and aims true from an unorthodox location. Turkey time has arrived, have you got the very best load for your shotgun? Second shots at big toms are rare, so be prepared and make that first shell count.

bgravesoutdoors@ainopt.com