Thread: .17HRM 17gr Vmax on Peafowl

I have been asked to assist with a bit of a peafowl issue on a mixed (grass scrub and bush) block near Whanganui.

Planning on using the 17HMR which doesn’t like much else than 17vmax.


Keen to hear what experience anyone has had using these on the big birds. I know it should easily punch through into the chest cavity from a frontal angle. Does it have enough to get through the heavier wing feathers etc if the bird is facing away?, or should I only take headshots in those circumstances.

dont try head shots unless close base of wings thru back bone is the shot on them peahens very good eating young peacocks okay but avoid the old buggers

Yeah, thinking the head shot / neck shot would be a dice roll. Just worried that as with most birds, those inner wing feathers and front side of the wings can get fairly thick. The little 17gr projectile might struggle to get through. Thinking I would need to be shooting on a bit of a downward angle to get ahead of all that with a bird that is facing away.

Chest shot on Pukeko absolutely nails them dead. Has also proven to kill 99% of the time through the wing in a vitals shot. You can trust it as long as you are not taking crazy distance shots. Within 100 mtrs no issues. Clear shots, the little projectiles don't much like flora and fauna on the way there.

Shoot them in the back. A birds vitals are behind the big chest muscles. But there's nothing much behind the vitals. That's why some shooters say they have better luck shooting geese etc flying away. They usually state it's because the pellets get under the feathers. There maybe some truth to that. But biggest reason is the pellets don't have to punch there way through the heavy breast mascles to reach the vitals, They are just under the lite back bone/ rib cage and feathers

@longshot shot plenty of peacocks with a 17hmr (body shots) pretty good kill rates. then 410 when they are roosting at night

Find there roasting spot. Shoot em at night with whatever...including the 17....

Originally Posted by tiroahunta

Find there roasting spot. Shoot em at night with whatever...including the 17....

That is plan A, and has worked well thus far. But also wanting to get a few during the daylight hours, hence thinking of using the 17 for that aspect of it.

I’ve seen video of my old mate, rounding them up in flounder nets , there were hundreds of them.
I’ve shot Canadian geese with mt 17hmr, body shots worked well

Thanks all for the advice. Looks like using the 17 will be a viable option inside sensible distances.

There are a ton of those birds down your way.
I have a mate that is an expert on shooting these things, uses a .22lr with suppressor and subsonics, will easily shoot 100 birds in one night.
Go under the trees at night with your spotlight when they are roosting, chest shots close range does the trick.
Waste of time trying to go for the head.

Originally Posted by Old_School

There are a ton of those birds down your way.
I have a mate that is an expert on shooting these things, uses a .22lr with suppressor and subsonics, will easily shoot 100 birds in one night.
Go under the trees at night with your spotlight when they are roosting, chest shots close range does the trick.
Waste of time trying to go for the head.

Yeah shooting them in their roosts with the.22 is plan A, and what I have been doing too.
Using the.17 during the day is phase 2.

I cleaned up a few geese the other day, using the 17HMR 20gr HP as I was worried about the solid wings/breasts as well.
Side shots, turns out it was more than needed as I was getting pass throughs, the geese dropped where the were.

The shot from behind makes a lot of sense, and the 17gr vmax should be fine

Ended up shooting 14 out of different trees on Saturday night just using .22, which was plenty of punch.
Shot one with the .17 on Sunday, turns out they are very hard to see/shoot in the day time.

They are great fun shot over dogs, flushing like overgrown pheasants