GETTING LUCKY ON TURKEYS WITH BLACK POWDER
How to Solve Black-Powder Turkey-Hunting Problems
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: When hunting with my black-powder shotgun, I always
wait until the bird comes in 10 to 12 yards closer to
me than I do if I hunt with a conventional shotgun.
My killing ground becomes 10 to 20 yards. I've chosen
to play the game of hunting turkeys with black powder
this way because I've bagged enough gobblers that I
don't need to shoot every tom I spot. I consider playing
the game fairly more important than bagging a bird.
The rules I set up for hunting a tom with black powder
help to stack the odds even more heavily in the turkey's
favor.
Cocking the hammer on a black-powder shotgun creates
two problems - a movement problem when you pull the
hammer back and a noise problem when you cock the hammer.
Both actions will scare off a gobbler. To solve these
problems, I cock the hammer when the out-of-sight turkey
reaches 30- to 40-yards away. I leave the hammer cocked
until the bird comes into my killing ground or he walks
off.
 A
few years ago, I hunted with my friend, Cecil Carder,
a manufacturer's representative for outdoor products.
We hunted the Cedar Creek Ranch near Rochelle, Texas.
I shared my plastic cup waddings with several other
writers who went on the hunt after they saw how tight
my gun patterned compared to their guns when they used
felt waddings. Just at daylight, Carder called in a
nice gobbler I missed. I had no excuses to offer. But
after the gobbler ran off, I reloaded. Carder and I
went to hunt another turkey. After using a pre-load
to pour the powder down the barrel, I reached into my
possibles bag to find my shot cups. However, apparently
I had given away all of them. Although I hadn't brought
any felt wadding with me, I did have plenty of overshot
waddings. When Carder asked how I would load my gun,
I didn't have a clue as to what to answer him. I studied
the overshot waddings and decided that if I stacked
six on top of each other and forced them down the barrel
and tight against the powder, they would have the thickness
of a felt wad. I realized I'd lose the cushioning effect
that the felt wadding would provide. Because of the
rigidity of the six cardboards, if I did take a shot
at a tom, many of the No. 6 shot would be deformed before
they came out of the barrel. But I didn't really expect
to get another shot at a gobbler that day anyway. I'd
never tried this particular loading system for a black-powder
shotgun. I wouldn't advise using overshot waddings for
overpowder waddings.  However,
I didn't have an option if I wanted to hunt. I then
poured in the shot and used another overshot wadding
to cover the shot. An hour later, we heard turkeys gobbling
across the fence from us.
"Let's back away from the fence, and try to call
these turkeys into this pasture," Carder recommended.
"If the gobbler thinks he has to fly across the
fence to reach the hen, he'll fly the fence. But if
he believes he can come to the edge of the fence and
let the hen see him, he'll try to pull her under the
fence to him. Let's back off about 75 yards before we
begin to call." Carder demonstrated his mastery
of the push-button box call as I heard the gobblers
approaching. When the birds' wings beat the air, I knew
Carder had successfully called the turkeys over the
fence. But as the two toms advanced, they started to
shy away from our calling position. "You better
take the shot," Carder instructed quietly. The
closest turkey stood at 20 steps. The second bird followed
10 yards behind the first in a straight line. When I
squeezed the trigger, the first gobbler flew off as
the second turkey flopped.
"What a shot!" Carder exclaimed. "That's
a good 30- to 40-yard shot with a black-powder shotgun.
I can't believe you shot the second turkey, instead
of the first turkey." Not wanting Carder to know
I had shot at the first turkey and missed, I did the
only honorable thing I could. I lied as I explained,
"I should have taken the first turkey. But I had
a better shot at  the
second one." This explanation seemed to satisfy
Carder. Although I don't advise using overshot waddings
in place of overpowder waddings, if I hadn't used the
overshot cardboard waddings to cover the powder, I couldn't
have bagged a bird, even with the best of luck.
To learn more about turkey hunting, call Night Hawk
Publications, (205) 967-3830 or write 4112 Camp Horner
Road, Birmingham, AL 35243 to order John E. Phillips'
three turkey-hunting books, "Turkey Hunting Tactics,"
"The Master's Secrets to Turkey Hunting" and
"Outdoor Life's Complete Book of Turkey Hunting."
You can visit www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm
to read book excerpts.
TOMORROW: HOW I PLAY THE GAME
OF TURKEY HUNTING WITH BLACK POWDER- RULES #1 - 3
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