This little jake got a bit too close for his own good.

[coyote101]

I got this Encore .45/.410 pistol a couple of months ago and have been waiting for turkey season to see if I could take a turkey with it.
Because the barrel is rifled, it really slings the shot and has a pretty short effective range. I patterned it with a few different loads and decided to limit shots at turkey to fifteen yards or less.

I normally set my decoys at about twenty yards when hunting with my shotgun or crossbow, but for this I set them at ten yards. I also stuck some small sticks in the ground at about fifteen yards to use as a visual range limit. No shots at anything farther away than the sticks.

Right about sunrise this morning, this little jake came right in to the tom decoy and I shot him at about twelve yards. He went down, flopped around a little bit, and I had my first turkey with a handgun. Now to see if I can get a mature gobbler.

Here is a short video of the shot:


Another one from the box blind.




Pat

[Yotehntr]

Great job Pat! You had me looking at a 410 barrel for my contender on the squirrel hunt, now your just showing off! 

[HuntnCarve]

Pat, you are the Man!

Not only did you use a pistol, but you filmed it too.
Congratulations on a fine bird.  Our season does not start till the 30th of April here in PA.  I'm hoping to convince Dave to head upstate for a gobbler hunting adventure.
Good luck with the next one.

Dave

[pitw]

That is freaking incredible Pat.  I'mm impressed.

[gravesco hunter]

Very nice Pat

[nastygunz]

 How freaking cool is that?! 

[FinsnFur]

Pat, you are the Man!
Not only did you use a pistol, but you filmed it too.
Dave

AAAAnnd..he did it left handed
Very nice Pat! Very nice indeed

[Hawks Feather]

I am impressed.  Nice bird for the kitchen.

Jerry

[HaMeR]

Way to go Pat!! I knew you could do it!!   

[KySongDog]

Good going, Pat!  Nice blind ya got too. 

[Dale]

What else will fall to the mighty Contender?...  nice bird for eating...

[riverboss]

Wow! Great job Pat.

Sent from my BLU STUDIO 5.0 C HD using Tapatalk

[nailbender]

 

[Okanagan]

Whooee!  12 yards with a pistol.  If I ever get to hunt turkey you'd be my pick to show me how.  You are flat out a consistently good hunter.

[Dave]

Way to go Pat!  Exciting video - I was leaning to the left trying to line up the shot myself. 

[nastygunz]

 We almost have the same gun  ..what size shot were you using?

[coyote101]

We almost have the same gun  ..what size shot were you using?

Fiocchi 2 1/2 no. 8's. I tried 2 1/2 and 3 inch no. 6's, but these rifled barrels really sling the shot and I couldn't get a tight enough pattern, even at fifteen yards. The no. 8's gave me a tight enough pattern at fifteen yards for an ethical shot. I decided to limit shots to fifteen yards or less. This guy was about twelve yards when I shot him.

Pat

[nastygunz]

I use  7 1/2 shot mostly, I might have asked you this already but you have the choke in there also?

[coyote101]

I use  7 1/2 shot mostly, I might have asked you this already but you have the choke in there also?

Factory choke.

[WldWldWest]

Way to go Killa!!
Impressive way to kill one!