.410 this fall

[charlie elk]

Fat chance I will see a gobbler

Don't be so negative about that, the 3 turkeys in my avatar are fall gobblers that sported 10-12" beards. Most fall turkeys killed in WI are gobblers & jakes.

in my exsperience hens and poults will die from fear.

This has not been my experience at all. Fear makes them run and fly very fast, but I have yet to see one tip over dead from fear alone.

[fallhunt]

MO. public land is where this hunt will take place and I think we have seen 4 total longbeards in the fall but we didn't start hunting there until 2005 when they opened fall for the whole month of Oct. LOL

[Steve_In]

Just a reference but if I remember the heavy 3" loading was 11/16 oz of shot. That would be about 240 #7-1/2's or 154 #6's. Not much to start with. When you go HTL the pellet count will go down some.

Link to pellets per ounce
http://www.muzzleloadingshotguns.com/ho ... etperounce

[fallhunt]

Thanks,that is good info. Is HTL shot sold in a factory load for .410 ? If so where can I get it?

[charlie elk]

MO. public land is where this hunt will take place and I think we have seen 4 total longbeards in the fall but we didn't start hunting there until 2005 when they opened fall for the whole month of Oct. LOL

Over the years I found fall gobblers, jakes, and hens/jennies hang out in separate groups usually in different areas. If you want to kill gobblers you must find their areas to hunt and you will rarely see hens and poults around them.

[Steve_In]

Is HTL shot sold in a factory load for .410 ?

I don't know of any HTL in factory loads. I would guess you could get some costom reloads.
My use of the .410 was rabbit hunting over dogs. I was able to pick my shots and if one did not present a good shot there was a 50/50 chance I would get a shot the next time around. We never shot at jumped rabbits preferring to give them a sporting chance to shake the 6 hounds we put down. My 2 brothers also had .410's. We found the #6 shot killed cleaner than #4. #4 left a higher percentage of wounded rabbits. Fortunatily 2 of our hounds retrieved reliably. It did not seem to make a difference in which brand we used. We did not try #7-1/2 shot but I switched to it in my 18 gauge ML and I am very pleased with the results. My choice of the .410 for rabbits was to minimize meat damage by using less shot. Most .410 are made on 20 gauge frames so weight savings are no there. You are packing the same weight gun around with less of a payload.

[fallhunt]

My buddy and I shot Sat.He has his grandfathers Winchester 42.Both guns did well with 6 and 7.5 shot out to 25 yrds.We were using Remington shells and will try Winchester next time.Nobody sells Hevi 13 loads in .410 arouind here and I don't want to buy a case. I am happy with the gun and what I learned.This hunt will be one step easier than a bow hunt with no blind.

[kygobbler]

fallhunt wrote:
in my exsperience hens and poults will die from fear.

Dont believe that because I got a good story to counter that. A couple of years ago I had a hen come up with what looked like a bad leg. She was in a little thicket and would barely come out when I called to her at maybe 30 yds away. I thought I could shoot her through the thick brush so I pulled the trigger. Wrong, she flew about 100 yds into a fence row. Now since this bird was already wounded I decided I was going to go after her and bring her home. So I walked up the fence row hoping to flush her out. She didnt flush out untill I was right on top of her and when she did I couldnt get a shot on her. She flew about another 100 yds into a 4 acre wood thicket. So I followed her again and when I got to the woods I noticed her right in the middle. I got in position to shoot at 40 yds and as soon as I got my sights on her she took off again in flight. I shot and down she went. When I got up to her she was laying on her back and her wings and legs were spread out.

I set my gun down to take a little breather after walking what seemed about half a mile and as soon as I put my gun down she jumped up and took off running. I chased after her on foot and caught her and proceeded to stomp on her head to finish her off. While I was packing her back to where I had my gun and vest she never made a move. I tossed her on the ground and was thinking that the beep beep bird was finally dead. I was putting my vest on when all of a sudden she jumped up AGAIN and took off running. I chased her down again and when I caught her I pulled out my knife and cut her durn head off.

The morale of the story is just because they are not as big as a gobbler doesnt mean that they dont have the will to survive like one.

[Steve_In]

kygobbler now that is a good story. Where are the cameras when stuff like this happens?

[Steve_In]

kygobbler now that is a good story. Where are the cameras when stuff like this happens?