Bow hunting turkeys

[kodiakjack]

Any turkey bow hunters out there?

I'm planning to do some turkey bow hunting in the spring. I'm new to both bows AND turkeys. Any tips, advice and stories are very welcome

I've got permission to hunt a little bush lot with bow only (noise concerns). I got out there to do a little deer hunting on New Year's Eve and was treated to 60 to 80 turkeys crashing in all around me. Several wandered by well within my comfort range, despite not even calling.

I'm specifically curious about which method to use... Broadhead to the vitals, or guillotine to the neck.

I get the feeling that the trend is towards guillotines, but is that a fad? Or the new reality? I wouldn't expect a guillotine to the vitals would be a very good idea, right?

Thanks!

 

[hoytcanon]

Broadhead to the vitals... don't get too excited about seeing 60-80 turkeys at this time of year... they gather in wintering areas... there may only be half a dozen in the spring, perhaps even none... I have seen that in many spots. Have you ever taken a turkey? If not, you might want to concentrate your efforts with a shotgun in other areas until you get your feet wet... or use your first tag on a shotgun bird and then try your bow spot. When you make the shot, don't sit around and wait like you would with big game, hot foot it after it and keep the bird in sight until it goes down. Learn anatomy from various angles and concentrate on a very small target spot... the tendency is to generally center the bird... a sure recipe for a miss. Bowhunting turkeys can be done and is very rewarding... when you feel ready give it a go.

 

[vpsalin]

I've only taken birds with a shotgun, but when the time comes, my go-to head for my first turkey would be an expandable 85GR head followed by a 15GR adder (arrow stopper) for body shots.

 

[yorgi]

I've only taken birds with a shotgun, but when the time comes, my go-to head for my first turkey would be an expandable 85GR head followed by a 15GR adder (arrow stopper) for body shots.

Holy chit! That looks like a medieval torture contraption, if it works go for it!

 

[hunter148]

What many don't realize is exactly where a turkey's vitals are located. High and between the wing butts are the heart and lungs.
Therefore, your best shots are the good old "Texas head shot" when strutting, about an inch above the bulls eye,
second, tail down facing away, directly between the wing butts,
third, broadside and high to the wing butts,(personally don't like this one as you have about a 1 inch margin of error)
fourth, head on and to the base of the beard, not where it meets the feathers about 1.5 inches higher.
The reason I point this out I have shot no less than 5 different birds that were shot with a bow directly through the breast and every one except for one looked perfectly healthy. That is until you get close and they are literally green with infection.
100 grn Rage broadhead in any of the above locations will do the deed.

 

[Superbrad]

I prefer to stick to head shots myself.... Those vitals are a very small target.... When I bow hunt them, I typically use Magnus Bullheads, they are designed for head and neck shots with a bow

 

[yorgi]

I prefer to stick to head shots myself.... Those vitals are a very small target.... When I bow hunt them, I typically use Magnus Bullheads, they are designed for head and neck shots with a bow

Can't argue with success! A friend-of-a-friend from the London area uses them to great effect, tried posting one of his YouTube vids but can' t get it to work...

 

[pbonura]

Not that easy trust me I have tried and missed. Just use your deer equipment and watch some youtube
videos on shot placement. They are not easy to kill in the spring but if they are wintering there and the winter is kind then I would give it a go. Last year I hunted archery and we had two mature gobblers out at 50 yards for an hour who would not commit. Frustrating trust me.

 

[Superbrad]

Not that easy trust me I have tried and missed. Just use your deer equipment and watch some youtube
videos on shot placement. They are not easy to kill in the spring but if they are wintering there and the winter is kind then I would give it a go. Last year I hunted archery and we had two mature gobblers out at 50 yards for an hour who would not commit. Frustrating trust me.

Lol.... If you blow up my avatar pic, you will see a shotgun in there..... Now is a great challenge for turkeys though.... But it's a "been there done that" kind of thing now...... I run and gun mostly and it's hard enough to improvise a setup for a bird, let alone do a quick setup for a bow..... Not to mention the cost of lost or broken arrows and broadheads....

 

[kodiakjack]

Broadhead to the vitals... don't get too excited about seeing 60-80 turkeys at this time of year... they gather in wintering areas... there may only be half a dozen in the spring, perhaps even none... I have seen that in many spots. Have you ever taken a turkey? If not, you might want to concentrate your efforts with a shotgun in other areas until you get your feet wet... or use your first tag on a shotgun bird and then try your bow spot. When you make the shot, don't sit around and wait like you would with big game, hot foot it after it and keep the bird in sight until it goes down. Learn anatomy from various angles and concentrate on a very small target spot... the tendency is to generally center the bird... a sure recipe for a miss. Bowhunting turkeys can be done and is very rewarding... when you feel ready give it a go.

Good advice on the "60 birds becoming 1 or less" in the spring. But I'll still take it as an encouraging sign Hope springs eternal, lol.

As for shotgunning, I really don't have anywhere else close to home to hunt, so this is it. And to be honest, even if I did, I'm just not interested in shotgun turkeys. I could have gotten into turkey hunting years (decades?) ago, but it just never piqued my interest until I got the bow. I guess it always just seemed kind of silly to me to have to take a course and buy a tag for what is essentially just small game. But when I got the bow and started watching some videos... I got the turkey bug

 

[kodiakjack]

I've only taken birds with a shotgun, but when the time comes, my go-to head for my first turkey would be an expandable 85GR head followed by a 15GR adder (arrow stopper) for body shots.

I looked into the Adder. I couldn't find many guys that recommended it for turkey. Squirrels and bunnies, yes, but many complained of a lack of penetration on turkeys and lost birds. Obviously I have no personal experience to add though :-S

 

[kodiakjack]

What many don't realize is exactly where a turkey's vitals are located. High and between the wing butts are the heart and lungs.
Therefore, your best shots are the good old "Texas head shot" when strutting, about an inch above the bulls eye,
second, tail down facing away, directly between the wing butts,
third, broadside and high to the wing butts,(personally don't like this one as you have about a 1 inch margin of error)
fourth, head on and to the base of the beard, not where it meets the feathers about 1.5 inches higher.
The reason I point this out I have shot no less than 5 different birds that were shot with a bow directly through the breast and every one except for one looked perfectly healthy. That is until you get close and they are literally green with infection.
100 grn Rage broadhead in any of the above locations will do the deed.

Can you expand on what you mean by this exactly? I don't quite follow...

Edit: Oohhhh... Do you mean you shot 5 birds that were "survivors" of other people's breast shots?

 

[kodiakjack]

I prefer to stick to head shots myself.... Those vitals are a very small target.... When I bow hunt them, I typically use Magnus Bullheads, they are designed for head and neck shots with a bow

I've got both Magnus Bullheads and G5 Montecs. I like the idea of the bullheads... The idea of either having a clean kill or a clean miss without much room between the two options.

How do you practice with your bullheads? To be honest I've only shot mine a handful of times into my foam target. It makes an awful THWACK and I feel like I'm going to snap a blade off either on the way in or on the way back out. It seemed to be accurate enough, but I haven't shot it enough to really know yet. What type of target do you use?

 

[kodiakjack]

Last year I hunted archery and we had two mature gobblers out at 50 yards for an hour who would not commit. Frustrating trust me.

Lol. Sounds like a blast. That's the best kind of hunting... Knowing the game is just beyond your reach... Adrenaline pumping... Heart thumping in your ears...

 

[The Baron]

Two very different schools of thought on this one. Either try lopping their walnut off with one of the guillotine type heads or put a good sharp broad head through their vitals. The head is pretty easy to find (if not, maybe you shouldn't leave the safety of your local Starbucks - LOL) but the location of the vitals can be deceiving. General rule is draw a line from base of the waddles to the processed corn dispenser and another straight up the leg then aim for where they intersect. hunter148 described it well in his post and the attached pic might be of some help with burning in that mental image.

I'm not sure I would trust a mechanical broad head on turkeys, but that's just based on personal prejudice and preference for traditional cut-on-contact fixed blades. I've killed a few dozen gobblers, a good portion of that with a flintlock at 10-15 yards, but haven't put an arrow into one yet with my longbow. I hope to have more time to try the bow this year and have some lovely Simmons Tree Shark broad heads lined up for the task. I would definitely give a guillotine head a try but the longbow shoots pretty darn slow compared to the bows with training wheels and that speed is really needed for the loppin'.

It's hard to beat a good spring gobbler hunt for excitement. Happy hunting!

 

[hunter148]

Been turkey hunting for almost 20 years this spring and yes the birds did initially survive the breast shot but as I say every one was a case of walking gangrene. Two on one farm(had a guy on the next farm tell me he had bow shot 3 he never recovered) and the others in different areas but a thru and thru breast shot is easy to tell from spur gouges. Even shot one with a stick embedded about 2 inches into the breast and had grown over. These birds are a lot tougher than most think but an arrow through the meaty part of the breast is guaranteed a slow lingering death

 

[Superbrad]

I've got both Magnus Bullheads and G5 Montecs. I like the idea of the bullheads... The idea of either having a clean kill or a clean miss without much room between the two options.

How do you practice with your bullheads? To be honest I've only shot mine a handful of times into my foam target. It makes an awful THWACK and I feel like I'm going to snap a blade off either on the way in or on the way back out. It seemed to be accurate enough, but I haven't shot it enough to really know yet. What type of target do you use?

I never practice with them.... I practice only with field points.... I use one of the three that came with a set as my sight in head and use hay bales to back up a paper target for this....

 

[vpsalin]

I looked into the Adder. I couldn't find many guys that recommended it for turkey. Squirrels and bunnies, yes, but many complained of a lack of penetration on turkeys and lost birds. Obviously I have no personal experience to add though :-S

Becareful not to compare the results from a 55LBS compound bow to those from a 270LBS+ Excalibur crossbow. I forgot to mention that I'm using a crossbow setup.

There's also something new which is called an 'all-blade'. You place it behind your practice point and it is avertised as being deadly even on deer. It seems like the trick to turkey hunting is a combination of blunt force trauma with some tissue cutting in there too. This all-blade looks promising for turkey.

 

[hunter148]

Not sure of location but the heads above would be illegal in Ontario as you are not allowed to bowhunt with a serrated blade. Not saying it wouldn't devastate a bird but just pointing out that the CO may have something to say if encountered in ON

Becareful not to compare the results from a 55LBS compound bow to those from a 270LBS+ Excalibur crossbow. I forgot to mention that I'm using a crossbow setup.

There's also something new which is called an 'all-blade'. You place it behind your practice point and it is avertised as being deadly even on deer. It seems like the trick to turkey hunting is a combination of blunt force trauma with some tissue cutting in there too. This all-blade looks promising for turkey.

 

[kodiakjack]

I never practice with them.... I practice only with field points.... I use one of the three that came with a set as my sight in head and use hay bales to back up a paper target for this....

I saw a fellow online using a few pillows hanging from a tree branch. Seemed to work well enough to stop he arrows without damaging them.