It’s a “no-brainer,” Anslo Fowler says. “I wouldn’t hunt wild turkeys with anything but an over-and-under shotgun.” The North Carolina native has been chasing gobblers since the mid-nineties, when the state’s first modern wild turkey seasons opened. Like many, he started off with autoloading shotguns, which seemed like the way to go with their quick follow-up shot capacities. But a couple of times while crawling through brush, he accidentally bumped the shot actions open just a bit, leading to misfires. And he missed a couple of turkeys that snuck in on him at around fifteen yards away. A single-barreled semiauto fitted with an extra full choke leaves little margin for error at close range.
An avid quail hunter and dog trainer, Fowler picked up his 12-gauge over-and-under for a turkey hunt one spring morning, and he’s been hooked ever since. The two barrels allow him to shoot a tight choke up top and an open choke in the lower barrel, broadening his shooting options. “I can still reach out there with that top barrel,” he explains. “But for the slick birds that want to sneak in on me at close range, I’m shooting a pattern big as a washtub. They don’t get away. It’s like having two guns in one.”
Fowler also values an over-and-under’s inherent safety features. He volunteers with a local land trust to take inner-city kids hunting, and he says there’s no firearm safer than an over-and-under. When the breech is open, the gun can’t fire, and you can see in an instant if there are shells in the chamber. “Try telling a kid to unload an autoloader,” he says. “It’s too complicated. The over-and-under is the perfect turkey gun for a lot of reasons, and I’m never going back.”
Shotgun manufacturers have gotten the message. While there’s no shortage of turkey-specific models in pump-action and autoloading platforms, a recent focus on gobbler-oriented over-and-unders is giving hunters broader choices.
Consider Browning’s Cynergy Ultimate Turkey. With its all-camo cladding, composite stock, and Picatinny rail suited for optics, it’s no English double gun. It looks more like the turkey gun Mad Max would take to the gobbler swamps. The Cynergy sports a low-profile receiver that reduces bulk and helps improve balance. To take the edge off hot turkey loads, it’s outfitted with an adjustable comb and Browning’s Inflex recoil pad, which deflects recoil away from the shooter’s face. And a modern version of a peep sight, paired with a fiber-optic front sight, helps keep shots on target even beyond typical field-goal range.
The Cynergy makes a statement, though, and some hunters might prefer a slightly more subtle offering. CZ’s Reaper Magnum fits that bill. Like the Cynergy, it boasts three-and-a-half-inch chambers, shorter barrels, and a Picatinny rail. It, too, comes with a polymer stock, camo finish, and turkey-oriented chokes, with a price tag less than half that of the Browning.
For a hunter like Fowler who prizes simplicity, Mossberg International’s Silver Reserve Eventide Turkey gun could hit the sweet spot. It’s chambered for three-and-a-half-inch shells in the 12-gauge version (a 20- and 28-gauge are also available), with a front fiber-optic sight, installed sling swivel studs, and short twenty-inch barrels. And at under a thousand dollars, it’s a gun for foul weather and fair.
Not that a bespoke over-and-under quail gun can’t fell a turkey, but these purpose-built shotguns give hunters additional range and accuracy and hold up to the abuse a turkey gun can undergo. “My gun has battle scars from fights with barbed wire,” Fowler says, laughing. “The stock is caked in mud, and it looks like it’s been dragged behind the truck, because people like me crawl on the ground and do whatever it takes to get to that turkey.”
