First time turkey hunter.

[mtcur3]

My 15 year old has been wanting to hunt turkeys. This is the fist year that we have a chance to give it a try. I have a Benelli Nova 12 gage that he will be shooting.
What choke would you recommend?
What brand of shells and shot would you suggest?
Is it effective/useful to put a red dot optic on the shot gun? If so, what mounts and brand?
Thanks!

 

[ry_kj_an]

I have a cheap hastings super full (extended) choke for my SBE and it patterns well. I bought several boxes of winchester, federal and remington 3" and 3.5" in 4,5 and 6 and found the winchester 3.5" #5 to pattern the best for me. I recommend patterning several loads before you head out. I've never used a red dot, just make sure you have your head down on the stock / proper check weld. I don't recommend trying to shoot one past 35 yards. You can kill them past 35, but they are pretty tough birds.

Have fun. Turkey hunting is extremely addictive but can be quite frustrating. I put in about 4 years before I killed my first bird. They get a little easier after the first though...

 

[mtcur3]

Thanks for the advice. My son is really looking forward to this and I want to do everything I can to help him succeed. We planned on going last year and got some calls and decoys, but we were just going with the standard full choke.

 

[ry_kj_an]

One other tip that I learned the hard way is to sit 30 minutes longer than you want to after a calling sequence. My impatience has gotten the best of me way too many times.

Have fun.

 

[mtcur3]

I ordred a couple of Primos Jellyhead chokes for the Rem 870 youth guns. My daughter said she'd like to try too.
I'll try and update this post and let you know how everything went.