Turkey Hunting with Airguns

On Saturday March 25th Tom Costan and I headed out from the American Air Arms facility in Acton California where we would drive 6 hours North to hunt Turkey. Several years ago I came across a post on the GTA Airgun forum by a guy named Glenn Elliott, he had posted one of his video’s of a Turkey hunt he recently had. Glenn received a good amount of heckling that unfortunately I chose to participate in, one comment I made really as a joke was taken very seriously by Glenn. Glenn ended up contacting me over the phone and expressed his disappointment in the comments I made and I gladly apologized with sincerity. Over a good talk on the phone we became friends and had even planned to hunt together one day that sounded to me like a great adventure. Several weeks ago I got a call from Glenn asking if I had planned to attend the Placerville Airgun Expo that was very near his ranch, if so it would be nice to visit him and join him for a Turkey hunt. Well I immediately contacted Tom Costan and he excitedly made arrangements for us to attend the show and set some extra time aside to hunt with Glenn the following Monday March 27th.

After attending the two day Airgun Expo that will be included in another article we set out an hour West to Davis where we would stay at Glenn’s beautiful horse ranch that gave a very mid-western feel to it. The recent rains have given this areas fields miles of luscious green grass that was simply breathtaking.

Glenn Elliott has hunted Turkey’s exclusively with Airguns since 2010. After his father’s death Glenn spent many hours in the woods with his Airgun as a way to connect with his father as it was always something they did together. Glenn has been an avid  bow-hunter for many years where he hunted whitetail deer and eventually Turkey. Glenn eventually made a move to California and continued bow-hunting Turkey and after many years of hunting them with a bow Glenn decided to try something different. Glenn ultimately decided to give Airguns a try since they were now legal to hunt Turkey’s with in California. After taking his first Turkey in 2010 with a Nitro Piston Airgun and dropping it in its tracks, he was very successful and decided to continue hunting them with Airguns. Eventually through his many successful Turkey hunts Crosman Corporation decided to sponsor Glenn and make him a Prostaff member that allowed Glenn access to many of they’re Airguns.

Photo American Airgunner TV (left) Glenn Elliott (right) Rossi Morreale

Glenn believes that Airguns offer less of a chance of wounding a Turkey when compared to both bow and shotgun if done properly by taking head-shots within range. Waiting for a good close head-shot makes Airguns one of the most rewarding tools for Turkey hunting. Glenn’s hunts can be seen on his  YouTube channel “The Airgun Hunter“. He has hunted with many well known celebrities as well as long time Airgunners such as Jim Chapman. He has appeared on the TV show American Airgunner where he hunted with Rossi Morreale and always has freely given his vast knowledge of Turkey hunting to anyone who asks. Glenn would eventually love to host his own TV show that would be focused exclusively on hunting with Airguns for different species all over the United States.

Upon our arrival Glenn invited me into his awesome “Man Cave” where I was greeted with a little surprise that I gladly played along with. As mentioned before I had posted a comment on a popular forum that Quoted “I can tell you I sure wont be running out to buy the NP2 for turkey unless of coarse it comes with a case of Mountain Dew.”  Well, Glenn did it and made me swallow my words. Those that know me know that I can take a joke, this one was picture perfect!

Glenn is an absolute pleasure to talk to and is in fact a very professional “real world” hunter that became obvious from his wall of mounted trophy whitetails and Turkey’s. Tom and I were very excited and honored that he not only invited us to stay on his beautiful 26 acre ranch but allowed us the opportunity for our very first Turkey hunt. Glenn gave us some time that evening to sight our new American Air Arms EVOL .30s between 5 and 30 yards, not the type of short range hunting either of us were very familiar with.

After sighting in our guns we had a nice dinner with Glenn and his family, we got to sleep as we would be starting our Monday’s hunt by 5:45 am.

Tom and I got up around 5:00 am and proceeded to ready our gear for the days Turkey hunt as well as having our morning cup of Joe that Glenn thankfully provided. We got into our vehicles and took a short ride down the road to one of the areas Glenn had hoped to be very active with Turkeys. After we arrived we followed Glenn in the dark on foot several hundred yards into a big field where he set up some decoys as well as the blind we would be sitting in for most of the morning.

In the direction we set up the blind was a road that ran parallel with a ravine followed by some wooded areas on the other side where Glenn said the Turkey’s roost during the night. After setting up the decoys and getting ourselves adjusted inside the blind with Glenn and I on opposite corners to man the cameras, Tom being in the middle using the shooting sticks.

The blind was good size for one or two people but three made it quite difficult to move around in, especially when trying to make a small adjustment or reach for something. I felt bad because as Glenn was loading his Marauder magazine we noticed that his breech oring had fallen out and upon trying to reinstall it got lost on the ground. Within about 15 minutes we started hearing the distant gobbling and clucking of Turkey’s, pretty exciting as this was my first Turkey hunt. Glenn had hoped that the Turkeys would make way out of the woods and down the road seeing the decoys that were set around 15 yards away leaving us some good close shots. After a bit of waiting Glenn used his Turkey caller that soon gave us sight of a good size Tom that was moving in the woods at near 60 yards, obstructed by tall grass and branches.

The Turkey’s moved to the to the right through the woods and around us where they walked along a road towards a large open field. Unfortunately we had several obstructions such as a gate, embankment and a ravine that limited any good shots. We waited keeping our eyes on all sides of the blind in hopes that some hens would return followed by several Jake’s and eventually the large bearded Toms that we were after. The decoys that Glenn set up were fairly realistic and placed in a very natural pose that surly may invoke some excitement from any Turkey’s that may pass by.

Soon Glenn had spotted several hens returning from down the road that were to soon be followed by a good sized Gobbler, the largest one I had seen this day.

This large Tom was at near 60 yards away and the fence in front was frustrating because it would occasionally obstruct making a good head-shot, especially as the Turkey would not stay still. This may have been the best opportunity for a shot we would have all day but simply was not worth the risk in failure, spooking all the rest away. As frustrating as it was we decided to wait and hope for a closer, more clear head-shot. As the morning progressed we were visited by several Jackrabbits that were taunting all of us with great shot opportunity but we simply could not risk hunting them as that would ruin our goal of bagging a Turkey.

By this time we had been in the blind for nearly 3 hours and getting quite yancy so Glenn decided to become a bit more aggressive with the Turkey calls. We would see them moving back and fourth in the woods but none of them would come out enough for us to make any clear shots. This was frustrating but I was still just happy to be with friends and get to learn so much being this was my first Turkey hunt. Glenn helped pass the time by telling us a few stories and giving us some insight on some of his past hunting experience. Luckily all three of us had reached that level of hunting to where we simply didn’t care about success but for us was more about just enjoying it for what it was.

With it being close to 11:00 am we unfortunately had to think about calling it a day as our many hours of driving was ahead of us. We decided to wait several more minutes as several Jackrabbits were moving about and frequently would sit on the road in front of us. Soon enough a good sized one came about and Tom had his sights on it.

Tom took several moments and made his shot that sent the .30 44 grain JSB right into his chest sending him down the other side into the woods.

After several minutes we exited the blind to make our way across the ravine to locate the Jackrabbit.

We made our way across a small metal bridge that gave us entrance into a large eucalyptus forest where we attempted to find the expired Jackrabbit. We searched and after several minutes I found a very large pool of blood and a trail of blood that seemed to vanish with no trace. Tom and I had noticed prior to his shot that a Hawk had been circling the area and even landed in a tree close before the shot, I think the Hawk may have swooped down and taken the Jackrabbit before we had a chance to recover it. This to me seemed the only logical explanation as that amount of blood loss would make it impossible for the Jackrabbit to continue more than several yards. Through our walk back I ended up spooking several Turkeys that were in the far portion of the woods, amazing how fast those birds can move through the tall grass. We made our way back to the blind to start packing everything up and into the vehicles where we would head back to Glenn’s ranch.

As Tom and I packed up our vehicle with the remaining equipment at Glenn’s ranch he offered to let us have some fun with his Pioneer Airbow, a new product from Crosman Corporation. This Airbow is very similar to the Benjamin Bulldog but in fact shoots arrows or broad-heads. The gun fills to 3000 psi and gets loaded by inserting the airbolts into the front of the rifle  where it puts out near 160 fpe with 375 grain arrows at 450 fps for 8 shots.

This Airbow is pretty easy to load and cocks very easily with the weight being about 7 lbs. All three of us were able to hit bulls-eyes at 40 yards very easily. The gun is fairly loud but was still very enjoyable to shoot, no doubt being a very capable hunting weapon.

Tom and I will remember this hunt for a lifetime as it not only was our first Turkey hunt but one that we had the honor of sharing with someone as reputable as Glenn Elliott. We both learned so much and will be able to take that knowledge with us on future hunts and through some of my writing here. I can’t thank Glenn enough for opening his home and extending the hand of friendship to fellow Airgunners. Glenn is a great example to future hunters and has a ton to offer the Airgun community as he has helped to progress our sport. The experience will never be forgotten and can only hope to extend the honor of taking Glenn for a hunt in some of my locations here in Southern California in the future.