The Importance of Patterning Your Turkey Gun

Doug Howlett

From a burning-through-ammo standpoint, turkey hunting is a fairly economical affair—most turkey hunters won’t shoot more than a shell or two in a season at a live bird. For that reason, it makes ensuring those one or two shots count all that much more important. The real recoil-induced pain to your shoulder—unless using a Lead Sled—as well as ammo expenditure, should happen well before opening day at the range on a turkey target. Patterning your turkey gun is a critical first step toward your season’s success.

Even if shooting a familiar load and the same shotgun you’ve always used, you still want to pattern your gun prior to opening day. First, you want to make sure everything is operating as you remembered it prior to wiping it down and putting it in the safe at the end of last season. But just as importantly, it will give you the confidence you need to make that all-important shot at the moment of truth. If you’re changing loads from ones you’ve used in the past, you really want to make sure the choke you have in your shotgun pairs well with the load. Plus, practice is always a good thing—especially when done close to “go” time.

Accuracy First – To get the most benefit from a patterning session, first, make sure you have a solid rest, set a turkey target out at 40 yards, and properly sight down your barrel either using a bead sight, front and rear sights or a red-dot optic and slowly squeeze the trigger as if you are trying to centerpunch a 100-yard target with a .308. The first goal is to make sure the point of impact is matching the point of aim and that the spread of shot is evenly distributed across the head and neck area of the target. Once we know the gun/load/choke combo is doing its job, then we want to practice.

Real-World Practice – Dress in what you’ll wear when hunting, sit on the ground (not a bench) as if you are leaning against a tree in the turkey woods, and shoot at targets at varying distances between 15 and 50 yards away. If using tungsten or similar loads, maybe even set a target at 60 yards or more. Learn how your pattern spreads as it travels and where the point of failure is. Make sure the shot is striking the vital area on your turkey target evenly, with multiple pellets in the kill zone. Even practice shooting up and down hills. Do this and you’ll be ready when a real gobbler is standing in front of you, whether it’s in an open field or peaking around a tree.