Hunting Forum

Healey-I sent you a personal message. We are going out tomorrow morning and I'm taking another small group out on Monday.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I appreciate it.

I've found that pellet deformation is extreme with buckshot pushed thru a full choke. The shot on the outside (closest to the barrel wall) conforms to the barrel's shape and flies out of the pattern quickly, like a frisbee chucked sideways. Try this for yourself. shoot buckshot thru a full choke at a stack of newspapers and dig them out. Then repeat the process with a skeet choke or the most open choke you have. You'll find fewer badly deformed shot.
Shooting frisbees that don't hit anything is a waste.

Boomer: Where do you live in Kansas?  I was stationed at Ft. Riley twice there in Junction City back in the 80's.  All I ever saw was deer, lots of pheasant.  possum, and a huge snapping turtle.  I've never seen any turkey there. 
Sounds like everyone has a pretty liberal turkey season.  In Arizona.  You have to draw a tag just like any other big game in Arizona to hunt turkey.  It's  not a hard tag to draw.  But, your limited to only 1 turkey per person per year.  There is two seasons.  The fall season. And, the spring season.  The next time  I apply for turkey there will be for the fall season.  We drew for the north Kaibab spring season.  When we got up there.  It started to snow when we were half way done setting up camp.  In the places I wanted to go where I knew the turkey were at.  There was snow up to 3 feet deep.

Lngsht27, that's the reason it's important to pattern each individual gun, choke, and brand of ammo. Just as all rifles handle different bullet weights and brands differently, the same is true of shotguns, their chokes, and the shells used. I mostly shoot Winchester XX buckshot, and with the shot cup in their shells, have never experienced the type of deformation that you describe when patterning or killing deer. Maybe, I've just been lucky.