When hunting with a shotgun, precision is usually not a concern. Pointing at your target, leading, and shooting gets the job done in the event that all those tasks are done correctly. But when it comes to turkey hunting, this is not the case. Aiming down the barrel at a turkey works, but if for whatever reason you weren’t down on your gun enough it can result in missing the bird. Thankfully there is a solution to this problem by using red dot sights.
Picking Your Dot
Choosing the right red dot for turkey hunting starts with considering your dot style and mounting options. Each dot style such as an open or closed emitter have their benefits, but this mostly comes down to personal preference based on application. For mounting, each shotgun is unique in their own way, they all have slight variations in how you can mount optics to them.
When picking your dot, you’ve got a few options to choose from regarding style. You can go with an open emitter style like the 3 Tactix® PRD or MPRD 3, or a closed emitter style like the 3 Tactix EED. Lastly, a full size dot like the 1 Tactix ARD, it has the advantages of the closed emitter style but the downsides of being larger than the other dots mentioned.
Open emitter red dots give you a clear view of your target down range and little bulkiness added to your firearm. One down side of the open emitter dot is that the emitter is exposed to the elements like mud and water. Closed emitter dots solve this problem by enclosing the emitter and protecting it. They do tend to be slightly bulkier than the open emitter design though.
Mounting Your Dot
Since each of these dots have different footprints you will need the correct hardware to mount them to a shotgun. Most semiautomatic and pump shotguns are tapped for a picatinny rail. This makes mounting your dot relatively straight forward as we provide a pic adapter either included in the box of your dot or for purchase with all our red dots.
Below is a mounting guide to help you pick the red dot of your choice with the mounting solution you need.
Riton 1 and 3 Tactix® EED
- Pic Mount – Riton PIC to ACRO Mount
- Riton PIC to ACRO Mount included with the purchase of a 3 Tactix® EED for a limited time.
Riton 3 Tactix® PRD and MPRD
- Pic Mount – Included in purchase of each red dot
Riton 1 Tactix® ARD
- Pic Mount – High and Low Mount included in purchase of red dot
Sighting in your Dot
Sighting your dot in for turkey hunting is slightly different than if you were to do it with a pistol or rifle. The reason being is you don’t have just one impact on the target to adjust for. With turkey loads you have hundreds of impacts on paper with just one pull of the trigger.
When you’re on the range, place your target at 25 yards. This distance is perfect for turkey hunting as most shot opportunities won’t be much further out. Shoot for the center of your target. Now that you have a bunch of holes everywhere in the target, you may wonder how to make an adjustment. Find the area on the target where these holes seem to be condensed. This is the center of your pattern. Adjust your red dot to where you would like the center of your pattern to be. Take a few more shots and confirm you are happy with your zero. Once sighted in you’re ready to take down a gobbler.
Get Out and Hunt
Now that you’ve got your red dot sighted in for taking down a turkey it’s time to get out there and get one. If you have your blind set up already and a few big toms on your list that’s great! If you’re just starting out and need to do a bit of research, check out our latest blog on understanding turkey behavior so you can make this turkey season a successful one.
