Handgun Hunting Afield

Turkey have quickly become my favorite game to hunt with a handgun. They’re one of the few game animals in my part of the country that routinely respond to calls, making the hunts much more exciting than our typical ambush hunts. They’re also the only animal with a spring season in Ohio. Naturally, I want to pursue them with handguns, but Ohio is a shotgun only state.

Handgun for the Hunt

I decided to take a few days off work and try to bag an eastern turkey with my new to me Freedom Arms 353. I topped it with a Matchdot II from Ultradot and worked up a load with Barnes’s 140gr XPB over IMR 4227. 

On the Hunt

I arrived at a WMA bordering Monongahela national forest Tuesday night. The weather was in the mid-30s Wednesday morning, much colder than the mid-50s lows I expected. As I made my way into the woods, I heard 4 gobblers in different directions. I chose to chase one north towards the national forest as every other direction quickly led to private land. After a couple hours of following his gobbles through the woods he went quiet. I blind called for an hour or so, then decided to make a big loop back to the WMA. I worked my way through a valley, then up a steep hill to a high point on the eastern edge of the WMA. I’d occasionally stop to let out some yelps or caws, but none of my calls could pull a gobble from the mountains.

As I crested the hill and settled in to begin calling, I heard wings flap behind me, and watched as a hen soared down the hillside out of sight. This would be my only sighting for the day. I worked my way back to camp and found a few sets of tracks and a wing feather within a couple hundred yards of the turkey I had spooked. I arrived back at camp somewhat disappointed in the day’s outcome but happy to have more direction going into the next day’s hunt.

Working the Gobbler

The next morning I made my way back to the area I’d spooked the hen and set up on the edge of a clearing well before dawn. As the sky lightened the first sound I heard wasn’t gobbling, but aggressive clucking from a nearby pair of hens. I clucked and yelped back with increasing intensity, and a distant gobbler started responding. Then I began to move along the edge of the clearing to position myself between the hens and the gobbler when I found myself face to face with the two hens as they made their way up the hill.

Sitting Motionless

With no choice but to stand motionless and hope they made it past without seeing me. This worked for a few minutes until one of the hens saw something she didn’t like, and both flew off into the trees. I settled in at my new spot, waited a few minutes, and began softly clucking. After about 30 minutes with no response a quick yelp sequence resulted in a loud gobble behind me. Looking to my left I saw the tip of a fan in a depression less than 30 yards away. He came in quietly but fired up, searching for the hens who ghosted him. The gobbler then strutted in to about 15 yards, and I took the shot off-hand. He jumped down a hillside and was dead when he hit the ground. I was back at my car by 7:30. 

 

Based on his 3/4″ spur and 8″ beard he was a 2-year-old tom. He’d broken off one of his spurs.

 

I wanted a lead-free non-fracturing bullet, and the XPB fit that bill. It performed extremely well. He was down quickly, and meat loss was minimal. Most was lost around the exit hole in his thigh, pictured below. I couldn’t find the entrance hole, but I believe it entered at my POA in his breast sponge. The heart, gizzard, and liver were not salvageable.

After getting the meat on ice and fishing for a couple hours I moved to a WMA near Point Pleasant for a wet, unproductive Friday morning hunt. From there I traded my revolver for a shotgun and headed to our deer lease in Ohio where Sunday morning’s hunt yielded a second tom of similar age and stature.

Handgun VS Shotgun for Turkeys

A little research on hunting turkey with a handgun will show it’s a controversial practice in some circles. There’s a feeling amongst some folks that anything but a shotgun or bow makes it too easy. I can’t say I agree with that viewpoint.

I can think of only a few times I’ve had to pass on a shot with a shotgun I could have taken with a handgun, especially considering the modern trend towards tight chokes and TSS. My Ohio bird was spooked and on the move, and fell to a rushed shot inside of 10 yards. That’s a chip shot with a decent patterning shotgun, but I would have struggled to make a well-placed shot with a handgun. The challenges may be different, but I don’t believe one is inherently easier or more effective than the other. I, for one, will be continuing to chase these birds with a handgun.

by: Nick Biederman

Uberti 1873 Hunter Revolver