This whole turkey thing also reminds me…read an interesting article some while ago about what a strange lot turkey (and to some degree waterfowl) hunters are.
The 3.5 inch heavy turkey loads are about the stoutest 12 guage loadings on earth, up to 2 oz payloads. And pump action shotguns aren't typically very heavy at all, and don't take the edge off recoil like a semi does. Many turkey hunters use 12 guage pumps with said loadings as evidenced by sales volumes if nothing else. The author did the math on a recoil calculator…and discovered that the typical light weight 12 guage shooting these super turkey loads generates more free recoil and at a greater recoil velocity than the typical safari weight rifle in 458 win mag shooting 500 grain bullets!
The conclusion was that die-hard turkey hunters are an odd bunch indeed, taking more punishment to hunt a bird that isn't even that good at flying than they'd take to hunt the largest land animal on this planet!
