2012 Iowa Turkey
The above video should give you a taste of part of this year's spring turkey hunt in southern Iowa. This year, I used an Ithaca TurkeySlayer 20 gauge along with a Federal Heavyweight #7 1-1/2 oz. shell. As always, it is one shot and go pick him up. The choke used was a Trulock Precision Hunter Invector Plus "turkey" choke, which yielded a modest .029 inch constriction in the Ithaca but produced spectacularly good patterns. Certainly far more than necessary to 40 yards. Beyond 40 yards or so, I'd hope to convince George Trulock to offer a .040 - .045 inch constriction Precison Hunter extended choke tube.
The Ithaca handled superbly well in the blind with its 24 inch barrel and the combination of rifle sights and its crisp 3-3/4 lb. trigger makes this M37 a dream to hunt with. As a friend of mine likes to say, "making it easy is the hard part" and this set-up makes it all very, very easy. My Dad was using another new shotgun with, let's just say, less than acceptable results. So, I convinced him to use the TurkeySlayer 20 as well.
Dad ended up celebrating his 84th birthday a few days early, with this gorgeous 26 lb. gobbler with 1-1/4 inch spurs.
Copyright April 2012 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
