10 Best Shotgun Scopes for Turkey Hunting in 2023 – Expert’s Review & Guide

Reason for Using a Scope with Turkey Shotgun

You may think that why should we use the scope for turkey shotguns, but the actual thing is having a good scope enhances your hunting on the field. 

Many of them think that having a turkey shotgun scope is a silly thing as it can be viewed clearly with the naked eyes. 

Generally, the turkeys can be viewed easily, even if it is a fast-moving object, but it is hard to target them. That is why most hunters use shotgun scopes while hunting turkeys. The crosshairs present in scope helps you to point out the target accurately. 

The magnification range of the scope allows you to view the targets more clear but not the larger image of the target. With a good shotgun scope, you can do the successful turkey hunting. 

The scope also helps to focus on the targets that are far from you. Moreover, the scope comes with lots of essential features to provide great performance in the hunting field. If you have a scope, you will experience great hunting adventures.

Types of Red Dot Sights used for Turkey Shotgun

For the precise aiming, most experts and well-experienced individuals in the turkey hunting industry prefer the Red Dot Sight, which is referred to by the word “umbrella“. 

The term umbrella refers not only to red dot sight but also to any target device that utilizes an LED that focuses the target on the user with an illuminating dot. Different types of scopes are also categorized, including various specifications, under the category of red dot sights.

Generally, red dot sights are classified under three main categories, which are: Prism Type, Reflex Type, Holographic Sight. Here we’ve briefly explained these three types of a red dot sight, let us look at that.

The first type of dot sight is Prism Red Dot Sight, in which the dot sight consists of a minimal magnification range; therefore you can clearly view the target at a short-range. Besides, this dot sight provides color illumination from the user’s eye to the objective lens through a prism. Due to the illuminated aiming point, this sight gets the name of the red dot.

The next one is the reflex type dot sight, this type of red dot sight is presumably used by most of the users because of its ease of use and convenience. The sight is designed with a petite window-like structure that permits/projects the red dot from the posterior. Fortunately, in some situations, this dot sight comes with a tube-like design and two lenses.

The final type is the holographic sight, which is associated with a reflex sight because it is similar to the reflex type sight in both appearance and mechanism but differs in meaning. 

These holographic sights are owned by the American company EOTech. Two glass optical windows are placed in the sight, and it is between these glass windows that the image of the target is exaggerated. Also, the illumination is provided because of the laser diode attached to it.

Initially, a great rifle scope or red dot sight should be built with premium-grade materials, standard alloy housing, O-ring sealed, and argon purged aspect.

And those materials and internal components must have multi-proof abilities such as water-proof, shock-proof, scratch-proof, and fog-proof to withstand various weather and terrain conditions, and need to protect the device from bangs, shocks, drops & bumps.

With the help of O-ring sealed, and argon purged features you can get flawless performance even in bad peripheral conditions. As well as scope with water-resistance and fog proof will provide detailed output even if you’re targeting a rainy day.

And the scope you select should provide crisp and clear images without any damages in quality. For this, it should be configured with multi-coated lenses. A top-notch scope needs a minimum of 8 levels of brightness settings to render bright images even in low visibility or low-lighting situations.

These are major things to make a great shotgun scope for turkey hunting and they deliver more than what we expect.

Suitable Magnification for You?

Choosing the shotgun scope with an appropriate magnification will make your turkey hunting experience an adventure and you can get uninterrupted performance.

What I mean, if you want to hunt turkey at a short distance then you need to go for the scope with a low magnification range (fixed type), which is sufficient.

Or else, if you want to shoot the target at long distance you should buy a long-distance scope with a high magnification range. If you are a person who uses Shotgun for many purposes, you should go for the scope of having a variable magnification limit.

Choosing the magnification limit is dependent on your purpose of hunting and your preferences. You need to be clear whether you are going for a fixed magnification or for a variable magnification.

Rifle Scope vs Shotgun Scope

There are some basic differences between the riflescope and shotgun scope. In this section, we’ve explained them in detail.

Magnification Range

The magnification range and price of the scope vary from one to another. Many rifle scopes have a higher magnification range to aim and acquire the small targets from a long-range distance. The shotgun scope contains a low magnification range since it is ideal for short distances. 

Distance Range

The distance range is one of the most important differences between the riflescope and shotgun scope. Generally, the riflescopes are preferred for acquiring long-range targets, and the shotgun scopes are preferred for shooting the short-range targets. 

Thus, the shotgun scope can have the capacity to shoot below 100 yards, and it is designed only for that range. The riflescope is mainly designed to make shots up 100 yards and more with excellent accuracy.

Reticle

When it comes to making accurate shots, the position of the reticle is also important. There are lots of reticle shapes and colors available on the market for shooting. 

The rifle scope provides you the exact hitting point and other evaluations to make perfect shots. Based on the quality, many rifle scopes contain wind flow, range of the target, etc, to increase the chances of successful shots. 

On the other hand, the shotgun scope only provides the shooting points, and it doesn’t provide other calculation features like a rifle scope. Moreover, the calculation feature is not required in shotgun scope since it focuses only the short-range targets.

Eye Relief

While discussing about the eye relief, the shotgun scope provides great eye relief, and it is easy to zero easily since it provides less recoil, so you can easily handle the scope. 

The rifle scope is suitable for long-range shooting, and it is not easy to hold the rifle scope while operating. Moreover, the recoil of this scope is based on the magnification that you choose for your needs.

If you’ve more confusion between these scopes, then you should think about which scope is suitable for the gun you have. Before choosing the scope, you should know your requirements and choose the one based on that.

Factors to Consider when Buying a Scope for Turkey Hunting Scope

There are plenty of brands and models of Red Dot Sights are available on the market today, those are specifically designed for Turkey Hunting.

But it’s doubtful that all of them are great for your rifles in terms of performance, output, durability, affordability, and some more. There are fewer products that are dealing with those aspects and come with your budget.

At this point, you need to analyze some factors and then choose the product for your rifle.

Magnification Range

Magnification Range is the primary thing you should consider while buying a shotgun scope for turkey hunting. There are two options available in magnification as fixed and variable.

Don’t look for the target shooting sight with long-range magnification if you’re not utilizing it for long-distance targeting. To resolve this dilemma, you need to decide in advance whether you are going to use the scope for long-range or short-range purposes.

Brightness Settings

It’s too hard to work in the dark peripheral conditions and bad weather conditions. These types of external conditions make it difficult to target because of low visibility.

In this condition, the user needs brighter visuals, so the scope you choose must be able to provide a minimum of 8 brightness level settings. By this brightness, you can receive clear and bright pictures with ample details. So be wise in choosing the scope with the brightness factor.

Standard Eye Relief

A standard eye relief is the next important factor to consider while searching for the shotgun scopes for turkey hunting. Do you know how eye relief is helpful for us?

Because generally, shotguns come with heavy recoil, in this situation, one quality eye relief will protect your eyes and eyebrows against injury. To avoid getting injured, you need to go for the scope that offers ideal eye relief thus you can enhance the protection.

Crosshair

While purchasing a turkey shotgun scope, looking at the crosshair is also important. It helps you to fix the specific point of your target accurately, and you can shoot them quickly. 

Having a scope with crosshair is very useful for turkey hunting to cover the target since turkeys move very fast. Crosshair helps you to save the time taking to shoot the turkeys.

Sleek Design

Scopes with the massive design do not provide proper performance so you need to go for the scope that is designed with sleek and provides elegant appeal.

The basic and simple design will reveal the quality of the scope and those have been constructed with lightweight materials to provide an ultra-lightweight feel to the user’s hand. By choosing an elegant scope you will eliminate some complications in settings.

Multi-Proof Technology

No one knows what will happen when hunting, and no one can predict it. I mean due to some external forces you may slip your scope, or the scope may fall down from the significant height, or it may get scratched due to the elements that you handle, anything will happen in the field of shooting, hunting, and tactical.

At these times, the multi-proof (moisture-proof, shockproof, scratchproof, fog-proof, frozen-proof) technology will help to safeguard the scope from the damages caused by bangs, shock, drops, recoil, bumps. Choose a scope that has the major resistant features as waterproof and shockproof.

Durability

Another important factor to look down when purchasing your shotgun scope is its durability.

Durability determines the lifetime of the product. Much as possible, buy a scope that is constructed with aircraft-grade aluminum because they have the capability to withstand any weather conditions and provide heavy-duty performance.

Always keep in mind that durability is one of the most important aspects when looking for a scope that can be used in different terrain and hunting conditions.

Final Words

The top 10 products listed above are the worthwhile shotgun scopes for turkey hunting, however, we personally recommend that the Bushnell Trophy TRS-25 Red Dot Sight is the best red dot for shotgun.

They provide great functionality to the user and include various innovative features. All products have received satisfied feedback and positive reviews from most users. In addition, these are manufactured by reliable and widely known manufacturers.

There are many important things and factors you should consider in the challenging quest to find the best shotgun purpose for turkey hunting.

Our proper review and comprehensive guide will surely lead you to choose the appropriate Shotgun Scopes for Turkey Hunting.

Buy the Best Turkey Shotgun Scope Today!