How To: Practice for Turkey Season

Grab a Grown-Up

You should never, ever handle a shotgun without a grown-up’s permission and guidance. Turkey hunting requires the right equipment. Ask an experienced hunter to help you set up a shotgun, choose the right shells, and show you how to handle the gun safely.

Find a Safe Place to Shoot

To find a nearby Conservation Department shooting range, visit short.mdc.mo.gov/Z9W. If you’d rather practice on your own land, pay attention to what’s behind the target. Shotgun pellets can travel nearly 300 yards, and they don’t stop once they hit a paper target.

Get Some Targets

Download a turkey target from short.mdc.mo.gov/ZqS. If you don’t want to print targets, simply use a black marker to draw a 1-inch-wide dot on several sheets of typing paper.

Step Off

Hang the target so the head (or dot) is about 3 feet off the ground — about the same height as a real-life gobbler. Practice shooting from 40, 30, and 20 yards away. (A grown-up’s step is about a yard.) Forty yards is the longest shot you should attempt on a turkey, but it’s important to also practice shooting at close range. Shotguns used for turkeys fire a baseball-sized cloud of pellets for the first 20 yards. The cloud gets bigger the farther it goes. This means you have to aim better when the target is closer.

Take Your Shot

Sit in the same position you would in the turkey woods: on the ground, feet flat, knees bent, arms resting on your knees to steady the shotgun. You can also rest the gun on a tripod or monopod. Put the butt of the gun firmly in the crook of your shoulder, rest your cheek tightly against the stock, look down the center of the barrel, and put the bead on the target’s black dot.

Check Your Shot

After each shot, look at the target to see where the pellets hit. Did they land above the black dot? Aim lower next time. Did they land too far to the right? Aim a little to the left next time. Keep practicing at each distance until most of the pellets are grouped around the black dot. Only then will you be ready for a real turkey.

The 2025 youth spring turkey season — for hunters who are 6 to 15 years old — is April 12–13. The regular spring season runs from April 21 through May 11. For details on turkey hunting permits and rules, visit mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping.