I occasionally get the opportunity to review some great products that are sent to me by sponsors of the Skinny Moose (Outside Hub) Network.  Other times my product reviews are just great products that I use and think everybody else should be aware of.  This is a case of the former.

Specifications: Nikon TurkeyPro BTR
Black Matte finish
1.65-5×36 Magnification
5″ of constant eye relief
92% light transmission
Non-glare coating
Waterproof, shockproof, fogproof

For those who know me well, I turkey hunt but I’m not a turkey hunter.  I deer hunt but I am a deer hunter.  See the difference.  For that reason, this product review was a bit different for me.

The key feature of the turkey hunting scope are the dimensions of the reticles compared to the anatomy of a turkey head.  To see if this was as good as advertised I had to improvise because turkey season is obviously not in yet.  I got a full scale turkey head target normally used for patterning shotguns to verify Nikon’s claim.

Here’s how it works…

…and indeed, it does work.  The outer reticle framed the turkey’s head nicely when fully zoomed in at 40 yards and the inner reticle performed the exact same function when zoomed out at the full 1.65x magnification.  Definitely a valuable tool for any turkey hunter’s arsenal.

I didn’t take the scope out in normal hunting conditions, but I can testify that if this scope is built up to normal Nikon standards you will not have any issues with durability of the product.  Even if you do, there’s Nikon’s Lifetime Warranty to fall back on.

Other points to ponder:

*Compared to other turkey scopes (red dot, compact shotgun scopes), this scope is BIG.  To me that could be a deal breaker when you consider that a good turkey gun can be heavy on its own even without optics attached.

*The eye relief was pretty awesome and it would definitely save plenty of folks a good cut between the eyebrows when that 3.5″ magnum turkey load goes off.

*When you consider that most turkey hunters are perfectly content to carry shotguns with fiber optic open sights, I think the $249.95 price tag is going to scare a lot of folks off (extra for camo finish).

To wrap up, Nikon always has and continues to make a solid, dependable product.  The scope eliminates the need for a rangefinder and with a little more experimentation I’m sure someone could figure out how to accurately estimate more distant ranges as well.  Factoring in the size/weight and cost with the great eye relief and “on-board rangefinder”, I give the product a B+.

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