You've spent countless hours getting ready for turkey season. You've scouted a great location with plenty of gobblers. But what about your turkey gun?

There are some very important aspects of shooting a turkey gun accurately that need your attention before the season rolls around. After you've found a load that patterns well-one that will put over 100 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards -it's time to do some fine tuning.

When you're shooting a tight-patterning shotgun at a small target-like a gobbler's head and neck-you have to be sure the core of the load is hitting precisely where you aim.

Just like when shooting a rifle, changing loads from one brand to the next can change the point of impact downrange. Switching choke tubes can change point of impact, too.

I have found that 40 yards is the optimal range for testing the performance of turkey loads. A range setup comprised of a sturdy bench or other rest and a target frame about three feet square is essential. Several years ago the Winchester ammunition company offered a patterning target with several overlapping 30-inch circles printed around a drawing of a gobbler's head and neck. Though they are hard to find these days, these targets are the best I've ever seen for the primary stages of shotgun pattern testing. If you can't find the Winchester targets begin you shooting session by taping two full sheets of newspaper together to give you an area that will allow you to draw a 30-inch circle. Whichever target you use, the results will be the same. With the target in place mark a center aiming point; take careful aim and fire.

Shooting at a large target will tell you more about where your gun is shooting than smaller targets can reveal. Targets such as the National Wild Turkey Federation's official Still-Target work well for fine tuning, but are not large enough to register the entire pattern. Seeing where the entire pattern strikes is essential to telling if your gun and load combination is putting every shot where you aim. Multiple shots at new targets will minimize any human error in your testing.

Prior to the convenience of a backyard range, I frequented a public range on the Sumter National Forest near Edgefield, South Carolina. A new Browning turkey gun arrived for testing a few days prior to turkey season, so I was obliged to join several other turkey hunters as they patterned their gun at the range. One chap, who was suffering from the recoil produced by his Mossberg 835 12 gauge, decided that shooting from one of the available benches was more than he could endure. After the first shot he stood and fired his gun offhand to pattern and sight in his shotgun. To his chagrin, he did little more than put shots all over the paper. I learned the hard way that shooting from a bench is not the only way to test a heavy kicking gun. A tall camera tripod is the next best thing to a benchrest. I tape a piece of foam padding to the tripod head to cushion the gun and shoot from a standing position. Recoil is more tolerable when shooting from a standing position. Taking pity on the fellow turkey hunter, I walked to my truck and returned with my slightly modified camera tripod. I loaned the fellow my "standing bench" and he finished his patterning and sighting-in session with success.

Over the past several years I have found that about half of the turkey guns I fire don't place the center of the better-patterning loads where the gun is aimed. Determining where the fault lies starts with your shooting form.

Consistency is the key, so if your turkey gun has bead sights, make sure you go through a mental checklist every time yon get ready to shoot:

Essentially, your eye is the back sight when using bead sights, so checking the gun the same way every time is just as important for turkey hunters and Olympic trap competitors alike. Following this regimen will give you quicker, more successful results when collecting shooting data, too.

The last steps in your preparation should include a shooting session where you are dressed in the garb and gear you plan to use on a hunt. Wear hunting clothes to make sure the gun fits the same way it does in the field. Also, if you plan to wear a face mask, shoot with in place, too. Try a few shots from a sitting position with the gun propped on your knee to make sure your eye your rear sight-is lining up the same as it did from a shooting bench.

Turkey hunters wishing to raise the performance of their favorite turkey gun have a long list of optional after-market accessories, or more sophisticated tune-ups better left to a qualified gunsmith. Some of these gunsmithing techniques include altering the internal dimensions of factory barrels to improve pattern performance. Choke tube selection is the simplest and most often tried method for tightening shot patterns by the do-it-yourself crowd.