#BARREL LENGTH FOR TURKEY PRO#

Powell says this is a real advantage for dealers - to encourage additional sales by stocking a wide variety of aftermarket products. If you were asked to describe the attributes that make up the perfect turkey shotgun, they’d most likely include a synthetic camo or flat black stock and forend for durability and stealth a short barrel for maneuverability a reliable, smooth action for quick follow-up shots sling swivel studs for easy transport and fiber-optic sights for rapid target acquisition.Īnd this is good news for shooting sports retailers in addition to the fact that consumers typically own several shotguns, the wealth of aftermarket add-ons for turkey guns increase sales potential. Today’s turkey hunter is a specialist when it comes to firepower. Modern-day enthusiasts prefer special-purpose shotguns tailor-made for the task at hand, and nowhere is this more prevalent than in the spring turkey woods. Long gone are the days when a single scattergun served all hunting needs - from upland birds to waterfowl to big game and even self-defense. And this is particularly true when it comes to their shotguns. Turkey hunters are a dedicated lot, reflected in the turkey-centric gear they use. The first gobbles of the morning followed in short order. Once there, we set out our decoys and settled into a scant finger of brush not far from where the turkeys were roosted. Like avid turkey hunters everywhere, we set our alarms for ridiculously early, so we could be on the way to our setup long before first light. Linda and I even set up on a small flock that ignored us on their way to the roost but provided a starting point for the next morning.

Once at the ranch, we quickly sighted-in our new shotguns using equally new Apex Ammunition’s TSS Turkey loads and then headed afield for a late afternoon tour of the ranch - seeing plenty enough turkeys to cause a restless night. But hidden in the endless miles of seemingly mundane terrain are boundless honey holes where all sorts of critters hang out - including the long-legged Rio Grande turkey. The drive was a reminder of how expansive and changeless South Texas is.

#BARREL LENGTH FOR TURKEY PRO#

Linda is the director of media relations for Mossberg, and this hunt would serve as a proving ground for the company’s newest special-duty autoloading turkey gun, the 940 Pro Turkey.

All indications pointed toward a late spring this year, and I was relieved that I wouldn’t be chasing turkeys in my home state till late May.ĭuring the three-hour drive down from San Antonio, my long-time hunting buddy Linda Powell and I had plenty of time to catch up. If fact, more than a foot of snow still covered my yard, even though it was now early April. I even found the 90-degree heat to be exhilarating, having survived a brutal northern Minnesota winter.

And wild turkeys? The ranch is literally crawling with them. In addition to whitetail deer, coyotes, javelina and even ocelots, it’s common to see herds of nilgai, waterbucks and blackbucks while cruising the ranch’s two-track roads. This historic site encompasses 14,000 areas of pristine South Texas ranch country and is a haven for both native and imported wildlife species. But I could barely contain my excitement as we cruised a ribbon of asphalt that dumped us off at Yturria ranch headquarters - the launching pad for our three-day hunt for the Rio Grande subspecies. This was far from my first rodeo, and not even my first venture to the Lone Star State to hunt turkeys.

Barrel length for turkey