The Old Fashioned Turkey Shoot

[gwpercle]

Reading Wolfdog91's post about having a hog killing brought back memories of a Turkey Shoot . Most of the ones I remember didn't involve shooting at turkeys ...but shooting at a white card with a red "X" printed in red ink on it . The earliest ones I remember were put on by my grandfather , the prize wasn't a turkey ... he raised hogs , had a huge (10' x 10' ) smokehouse where he smoked meat and the prize would usually be a big smoked ham.
Word would go out on what Saturday morning the "turkey" shoot was to be held , men in trucks started arriving early and grandma made coffee and bisquits for those early enough to get some .
They put up tables (saw horse and boards) the firing line and the back fence was where the targets were tacked . A target cost 25 cents or 5 for $1.00 , you wrote your name on it and shot from the table ...you could have as many chances as you wanted ...the men usually put down a dollar . The guns were any shotgun and any gauge you had ...seems like you had to use birdshot , no buckshot or slugs .
The person who placed a shot nearest to dead center of the "X" ... won the Smoked Ham . Sometimes he would have 3 or 4 hams so the rounds would go on untill all the hams were won . Our job was to run out to the fence put up and take down the targets ... a committee of three would judge the targets and decide the winner .
If a fellow bought two dollars or more worth of targets and didn't win anything , grandpa would usually hook him up with a couple pounds of his smoked sausage ... as a consolation prize .

Anyone else do the Turkey Shoot thing ? I wish I had some photo's but ...not a one .
Gary

[waksupi]

I've been to some over the years, only two of them involving live turkeys. The rest were pretty much as you describe.

[Wheelguns 1961]

We used to have these in the early eighties. They would start after deer season. Different organizations would put them on. There was usually one every weekend. The Moose club one weekend, the VFW next, the American legion, and the Elks. They set up the targets at 30 yards, and the one closest to the X would win the meat that they offered for that round. You weren’t allowed to use anything tighter than a full choke, and they had a plug to drop down your barrel to check. They supplied the shells which were #8 shot. Everyone shot the same. I can’t remember how much it was per shot, but you only got one per round. The targets were numbered, and you got a number. It sure was alot of fun. Usually it was pretty much the same group of guys every week.

[Thumbcocker]

Went to one. They were shot standing with shotguns. I won 10# of bacon. Standard 870 12 guage. You had to use their loads. My pattern sucked and the wad hit the target but I had one pellet near the x. IIRC it was $1 per shot in the 90's.

Later it became an equipment game. Some folks took single shot guns and heated the barrels red hot and drove a bearing over it to squeeze it down. Some would show up with doctored handloads with extra shot in them or melted parrifin poured in to make the shot clump.

Shoot rules would say " no reloads. No pucker guns"

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[MrWolf]

We had them at our trap club many years ago. You shot trap for the prizes. My son and I each won one the same tournament and I have a picture of us with the birds (frozen) on the tailgate of my truck. Very nice memories.

[FredBuddy]

I'm no wing shot, but with my old Mossberg 500
I was able to bring home 3 or 4 smoked picnic
hams - the ones with the skin on, etc.

Had a wood burner in the basement. Put a ham
in an old porcelain roaster, added a can of beer
and let that sit on the wood burner all day.
Tender, tasty - even the skin !

That was in the old days when we lived on
the banks of the Shenandoah River.

[HWooldridge]

We held these in the 1960's and '70's at the local KC hall on highway 87 on the way to China Grove. My grandfather was a scoring judge and bought a Remington model 11 with 30" full choke barrel just for this event, and we shot Win AA Skeet 9 shot at the paper sheets - closest pellet to the cross hairs won. I ran targets and also shot - the minimum age to shoot was 12 but younger kids could participate if supervised. It was a dollar a shot and you had to bring your own factory shells - no reloads were allowed. We would regularly come home with 3-5 frozen turkeys; those were the only prizes - although the organizers would occasionally raffle off a shotgun to all the participants.

I recall a couple of guys were caught cheating - they would dribble some gear oil into the end of the shell to help the shot stick together - but it could always be seen on the paper target.

[M-Tecs]

Went to one. They were shot standing with shotguns. I won 10# of bacon. Standard 870 12 guage. You had to use their loads. My pattern sucked and the wad hit the target but I had one pellet near the x. IIRC it was $1 per shot in the 90's.

Later it became an equipment game. Some folks took single shot guns and heated the barrels red hot and drove a bearing over it to squeeze it down. Some would show up with doctored handloads with extra shot in them or melted parrifin poured in to make the shot clump.

Shoot rules would say " no reloads. No pucker guns"

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

One of my clubs still does them and yes at one time they became an equipment game so now they use one of the junior shooters and they use one shotgun to shoot all five X target with trap loads or they use one target with dots on it with a name next to the dots.

[Gator 45/70]

Last one I went too was on school grounds (GASP) Back in the 80's
Turkeys head drawn on paper, everyone in the shoot got 1 shell from the same box of shells.
Most BB's in the turkeys head won a frozen turkey, 5 bucks entry fee.

[jgstrug]

I have never been to a live turkey shoot or one like this for that matter,but I tried not to miss the running deer ones we had. We would sit around the wood stove and sign up over and over. It was 5$ to shoot,when it was your turn you stood in a box the size of a pallet and shot one shot when the target went from right to left,and one shot left to right the target ran on cable loop with a bicycle at both ends for power. Had a NRA target so if you hit the 5 ring twice you would hope that a ten would be good enough out of the dozen shooters,if not you signed up again.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

[Hogtamer]

We’re having one in downtown Appling next year just before Thanksgiving.

[gunther]

Eastern KY, it's the most shot hitting the 3x5 card to win. A shotgun with a very long choke section, like the full length of the bore, was a prized possession, if you knew where the pattern center was likely to be. The required use of factory shells reduced the incidence of "doping" the shells with STP or honey.

[wv109323]

The ones I attended were shot on a card about 5 inches square with a 4" circle. Winner was most shot inside the circle. One place had a three sided hut. The front was 1/8" inch steel to stop the shot. The open side had an "X" wheel. A person stayed behind the steel wall and hung your target on one of the spokes of the wheel. He then rotated the wheel out so that you could shoot at it. That eliminated running targets out for each shot.

[rockrat]

The one's I attended had a V drawn on a piece of paper and closest to the "V" notch won. I had one of those H&R "long tom" shotguns and ended up with a couple of turkeys.

[HWooldridge]

I looked at a lot of targets when I was a runner and you could pretty much always see a “doped” round. It might have been the white construction paper they used, but was easy to see clumps and residue. When something peculiar was noticed, one of the judges would go to the shooter and ask for a shell, then cut the end off with a pocket knife and checked the shot. Another cheat was to pull the wads and put one disk over a reduced powder charge then refill the shell with shot and close the crimp. However, those rounds always had a different report. People usually couldn’t cheat for too long before they were found out.

[elk hunter]

The only one I went to, about 50 years ago, involved a live turkey tethered behind a RR tie wall where only it's head could show above the tie's. I don't remember the distance but one shot from my Bedford County style 30 caliber muzzleloader, shooting a #1 buck shot ahead of 15 grains of FFF-G. secured a turkey for me.

[rbuck351]

It has been years ago now but where I lived they used a piece of 8x11 paper with 10 circles on it about 1 1/2 " dia.It cost a dollar to put your name in a circle and picked some one not signed up on that target to shoot one shot at the paper. The circle with the most hits won. The other method for those wanting to shoot was five shooters at two dollars each did a five round shoot on the trap line at 16 yds. Ties were broke by coin toss to pick distance for shoot off taking turns picking distance until some on missed.
I also shot a turkey shoot at a rifle pistol club where they had different types of shoots for different guns. 22 pistols at the chicken pig ram thing at 25,50,75 and 100 yds off hand. 5 shots groups with center fire rifle. I won a turkey at that shoot with a scoped Ruger MKI T.

I haven't seen much of the turkey shoots in a long time.

[ioon44]

My American Legion Post used to have Turkey shoots with X's on paper as well clay targets, good times sure do miss them.

[FISH4BUGS]

Here in NH, when I first came in 1970, I used to attend Turkey Shoots held by various F&G Clubs.
The shooters threw in a buck each, used deer targets at 50 yards, you could shoot off hand muzzle loader, rifle or handgun class, and high score for three shots won the pot.
I think the hosting club took a few bucks from each pot as part of their fund raiser.
No turkeys or hams....just cash.
Haven't seen them in a long time.

[Rickf1985]

Used to go to them around here all the time back in the 80's till it was found out that a lot of them were rigged in favor of club members or favorite people. At one shoot one of the guys took notice with a good spotting scope that certain shells were putting down more pellets than others. Those shells were only being used by club members and the general public was getting shells from other boxes. This guy suggested that a comparison be done with a standard factory #8 shot shell, of which he had a box of in his truck, to what was being used at the shoot. Naturally all the club members rejected that idea wholeheartedly but there were a lot more general public there than club people so they relented. Several large sheets of cardboard were posted and using only one gun he took two shots from each of the factory rounds, the box the club members were using and the box the general public were given. It was found that the club members had more pellets than a factory round and the stuff they loaded for the public had far less. They reimbursed all of the entrance fees for the day and that was the last shoot there for many, many years. It was found that practice was pretty common and a lot of the local shoots ended because of it. I have not gone to one since that day almost 40 years ago.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The one I used to attend shot trap. You paid the fee and got to shoot at 10 airborne clay birds. High score got a frozen turkey, with three winners. Then, the event gradually got larger and they wanted to encourage ladies and youth and have more winners, so they went to frozen chickens. Currently, considering that inflation makes everything smaller, they'll likely start awarding Cornish game hens, or maybe coupons. ;)

DG

[contender1]

Like so many others,, I too recall the country turkey shoots. Some,, like above were "closest pellet to the center" winners,, and others were "most pellets in a circle winner" type.

And prizes were frozen turkeys, or a ham or even a few packs of bacon.

And of course,, there were the gamers & the cheaters. Cheaters, when discovered,, were barred & word was spread. Gamers,, well,, those folks were a bit harder to overcome. They often had a normal looking shotgun, and would use the provided shells. But they had spent money getting custom work done on a gun. Backboring, internal choking, or whatever they could try to make their gun shoot tighter than others.
Some folks had custom barrels made for certain guns, and others would have a gun just worked over real well. All while making it look "factory."

Other shoots also included a different type of competition. Using a .22 LR rifle. Open sights, standing not propped up, and shoot 3 rounds at a NRA target. Count score to see who had the highest. 30 points was perfect. Custom rifles not allowed. Factory configurations only. And to make it challenging,, the targets were placed at 40 yds. And they supplied the ammo. I used to use a Ruger M77/22 bolt gun and would manage a few wins. There was a teenage girl shooting a Browning bolt .22 that would beat me some. She shot on her school rimfire team.

And just for the guy with custom stuff,, after the main turkey shoot,, some guys would have a "side match." Place $5 in the pot,, and shoot your custom shotgun at 40 yds, and count the pellets in the circle. Winner takes the pot. I have a custom barrel,, off an 870,, that will remove the center of the circle with a wad of shot,, if I do my part. I swapped a guy out of it one day at one of the shoots. He was wanting a new H&R Topper I'd won. He wanted to "build a custom" and the Rem bbl, was "too obvious" as a custom. I swapped him,, then later in the day, first time I ever shot it,, I won the first money shoot. Made most of my boot money I'd spent. That barrel has made me more in side matches than I ever spent in shoots. He regretted swapping me that gun right after he did,, and until he passed. Apparently,, the sights on it are not "perfectly aligned" and I know where to hold it. At 60 yds,, it STILL holds a very tight wad of shot,, that can destroy a center area,, IF,, you know where to hold the sights.
I had a guy one day,, after taking (2) pots,, challenge me to a $20, long distance shot. We shot at 60 yds, and he wanted each of us to shoot the other guy's gun. I already knew his gun shot a bit "low." He did not know about my sights. I took his $20.

I NEVER tried to take the custom barreled 870 to a normal shoot. But it sure made a lot of folks want it,, when I'd side match it.

[Texas by God]

The ones I attended at the VFW involved pellet(s) closest to the X. They provided shells(AA#8) and your choice of three Remington 1100 12 gauge shotguns.
Myself,my 12 year old son, and my 86 year old mother in law all won a turkey or ham at one of these. The guys that believed that skill was the ticket were mistaken- the hits were always random as far as the X was concerned.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[gwpercle]

We’re having one in downtown Appling next year just before Thanksgiving.

Dang .....I wish I lived closer ... it would be a lot of fun not only to attend but I would have to take a shot or two ,
I'm going to do some checking around on the inter web and see if any are planned within driving distance of my house ... who knows what I'll find .
Gary

[Jim22]

I remember back in the 60's and 70's a local bar owner in Alaska called 'Scattter' would put on a turkey shoot once in a while. I won a ham once. I wish we could do it again. He also had paper targets and scoring was whoever managed to get one pellet closest to the aim point.

Jim

[WRideout]

The one I used to attend shot trap. You paid the fee and got to shoot at 10 airborne clay birds. High score got a frozen turkey, with three winners. Then, the event gradually got larger and they wanted to encourage ladies and youth and have more winners, so they went to frozen chickens. Currently, considering that inflation makes everything smaller, they'll likely start awarding Cornish game hens, or maybe coupons. ;)

DG

Or maybe frozen chicken nuggets.

Wayne

[dale2242]

I attended turkey shoots back in the early 60s, maybe sooner.
I graduated high school in 1960 and remember going to them while in school.
One of the matches remembered was to shoot 2 shots and person with the 2 bullets closest together won.
Entry fees were $1 each as I recall. With 5 entries the prize was a turkey.
More than 5 and the prize was a ham.
Other turkey shoots were typical trap shoots.
The shooter breaking the most targets won.
One of the shoots was called Annie Oakley.
Two shooters were involved.
If the first shooter missed the clay bird the second shooter got a shot.
If the first shooter hit the bird and the backup shooter fired it was called a miss.
I remember winning my share of the turkeys and hams as a kid shooting against the adults.
Those were good times.

[GregLaROCHE]

I always remember the one in Sergeant York. I’m sure it’s not done like that anymore. The animal activists would probably freak out today if you did.

[gwpercle]

The last Turkey shoot I attended was by accident , about 1985 , Me , the wife and two kids driving way out in the country ...middle o nowhere piney woods and we come upon a VFW Hall or maybey it was a Baptist Church (memory fades) Turkey Shoot Fundraiser , people and cars everywhere , selling soft drinks , snowballs etc . so we stop . Sitting on the table next to the shooting table was a cage with the biggest live turkey in it I've ever seen ...the kids were all around that Godzilla Bird looking in amazement ...How often you see large Tom Turkeys up close . So I decide to contribute to the fund and let my 8 year old boy shoot too ...learning experience . We both shoot and I win squat but the kid ... wins a Turkey ...one pellet dead center of the turkey head target with bullseye target on it !

The man at the prize table pulls out an ice chest with frozen birds and tells my boy to pick one ...
... But Joe ...he don't want no frozen turkey he tells the man he wants the Live one !!!
I don't know , I wasn't sure I was up to killing and cleaning that big rascal ... He looked mean too .
But Joe had other ideas ...he wanted to keep it as a pet ... Oh Man I didn't know what to say ...
about then the man behind the table told Joe that the live turkey was his and his name was Tom lived on his farm and was just for show not a prize , he said if Tom didn't come home his granddaughter would be sad ... so Joe agreed to take a frozen turkey ...
I was soooo glad that fellow got me out of that ... I was the kind of father who had trouble saying no,
much to my wife's consternation ... and if he hadn't had that excuse ... me and joe would probably have came home with a big pet Turkey and no place to keep it .
That was my last turkey shoot ... I need to do it again ...they was fun !
Gary

[Thin Man]

We had regular annual Turkey Shoots in East TN., about Thanksgiving time until the Covid 19 changed that for all of us. The shoots here are usually presented by a VFW or American Legion, then occasionally a local church would hold one. I'm really looking forward to next year's Thanksgiving season and have all intentions of going to a shoot. During the last shoot I attended I was firing a Winchester model 12 in 12 gauge with full choke. My target showed that the shotgun had a serious full choke as the target paper was littered with holes from shot, just none of then were close to the center of the target. This was not a true "blown pattern", just what their cartridge gave me with my shotgun. Next time out I may try aiming slightly right or left of the center of the target and hope for the best.

[brassrat]

My club has had ham and turkey shoots for 50 yrs. Its open to the public and really draws the townfolk and kids in. We had fresh turkeys to hand out the last couple yrs.

[wch]

We had dynamite shoots; 1/4 stick taped to a welding rod and fired at offhand at 50 yards if iron sights, 100 yards if a scoped rifle.
Most men shot small caliber but the guy to watch out for was the one with only one gun, he would be the one who most often took home his choice of a turkey or a ham.
There was no doubt of a "win" by the way!

[M-Tecs]

My home trap club holds an annual turkey shoot. You would win either hams or frozen turkeys. They play several different games. The most common was a standard 5-man squad each firing 5 rounds at the 16-yard line. Normally if you dropped a bird there you were out. The shooters tied for high score would began a game of sudden death "follow the leader". If the station one shooter was in the shoot off they would pick anywhere they wanted to shoot from as long as it was safe. That could be on top of the trap house or on top of the outhouse. Normally it would be well behind the 27-yard line. One that string fired one shot the shooter on the next station picked the spot to shoot from. This would continue till all shooters were eliminated via sudden dead.

Next game was a variant of above. It was called "backup". It was a two-person team. If the first missed the second could take the shot however if both shot and the first hit it was a miss. When your shooting from about the 35-yard line it takes a long time for the shot to get there so is was common that the second shooter would fire.

While that was going on the would also have various types of splatter boards. One version was a white paper plate with a bunch of very small dots. Yopu would put your name on as many dots as you wanted to pay for. Someone would shoot the plate and the closest hole to the dot won. Other versions were an X on full sheet of paper again the closest to the X won. Each shooter shot their own but the game players killed it off.