I kill all my turks beyond 150 yrds with an bazzoka or under 2 paces with a pea shooter. Also, I must be standing on my head with my hands tied behind my back while whistling the intro to MASH. If it don't fall into these categories, I let it walk.
But seriously, last year I was visiting family and hunting birds in FL, and I had a most unpleasent experience with a long shot enthusiest. We were set up in the bald open in a clump of palmetto bushes at a popular crossing spot along a fence line. We were on private land but did not have exclusive access. We sat all morning and enjoyed right up until 11 a beautiful and warm day in the turkey woods. A group of 4-5 hens and 2 long beards materialized from across the way and slipped under the fence at 70 yards. They struted and fed in the field infront of us for about and hour, ignoring our calls and dekes, and generally made miserable. What made it worse was the new guy that snuck from behind us in an open field using a slight hill between him and the birds. The problem was he was less than 40 yrds from us and closer to 80 to the birds. We watched as he on multiple occassions glanced right at us, and waved at him frantically, trying to get the fella to back off. He later claimed he didn't see us, as our all natural blind was "too good". evetually in his frustration he lined up a shot at on of the long beards and let fly. Of course, birds flew every where, and I threw lead at a passing wing shot more in furstration than anything. The other fella was very much sheepish when he realized what had happened and was fast and furiosu with the excuses. When we asked him why he choose to such a long shot, he arrogantly pointed out that his gun could take birds out to 70 yards and he had done it several times. You can guess how we recieved such a response.
The point is, know your limitations. I'm certain there are guns and loads and chokes that in the right combination will create a pattern that has a better than 50/50 chance of killing birds at 70 + yrds. I am also certain that the majority of us here on the forum don't own them. I have no qualms using my gun out to 50 yards, but I worry about it much beyond that. I do prefer a closer shot, but sometimes that not an option. If a bird is 60 yards away, I'll hunt him another day. Each person and each setup is unique, learn your gun and yourself and stick with what your comfortable with.
