It's Almost Turkey Time!

CrimsonArrow

Very Active Member
Feb 21, 2011
857
363
Minnesota
I'll be bringing my boys (8 & 11) out again this year. Hope to repeat last year's success with 2 filled tags. Turkey hunting is a great family activity, and I always look forward to spending time in the woods with my boys. Good luck to all you guys and have a safe hunt.
 

libidilatimmy

Veteran member
Oct 22, 2013
1,140
3
Wyoming
I just use normal broadheads. It's hard enough to hit them square and not end up with feather soup with good flying arrows. I never could get the behemoth of a head that I tried (forget the name now) to fly anywhere close to consistent.
 

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
I want to use my bow, I've seen diff heads used for turkeys, what's recommended by you guys?
I really like expandables for turkeys. But really anything that shoots well out of your bow will work. Remember that you're aiming for a really small target. My favorite shot is broadside, aim right for the base of the wing. Head on, in full strut, shoot him right in the beard. Some guys like to shoot them right up the tailpipe. I've never done it, but I suppose its effective.

Or, if your name is Robin Hood, you could shoot him in his melon, but that shot is a whole lot harder than it looks.
 

Reflex

Active Member
Apr 21, 2011
210
5
Lincoln, NE
I look forward to getting out turkey hunting every year. I definitely am more "laid-back" when turkey hunting. I have a three year old that I plan on getting out a few times. I took her out last year and had a group of toms coming into the decoy. They came in from behind the blind, so when they finally came into view, my daughter yells out, "Dad, there's a turkey!". It was pretty funny.
 

swampokie

Veteran member
Jul 29, 2013
1,166
93
46
Haworth Oklahoma
That's what its all about!!!!
I look forward to getting out turkey hunting every year. I definitely am more "laid-back" when turkey hunting. I have a three year old that I plan on getting out a few times. I took her out last year and had a group of toms coming into the decoy. They came in from behind the blind, so when they finally came into view, my daughter yells out, "Dad, there's a turkey!". It was pretty funny.
 

tim

Veteran member
Jun 4, 2011
2,420
1,067
north idaho
I know cat food works great as bait. A tom kept eating our cats food. He would come up to the front door and eat the food out of the cat dish.
Here in north Idaho we are allowed 5 a year with otc tags.
 

packingin

New Member
Jan 3, 2014
15
0
iowa
I think the head shots are the way to go, the bird either drops dead or you miss clean. As far as kill zone size, head shots are just as easy to make considering the diameter of the broadhead. Downfall is you need to tune your bow with a stiffer spined arrow for large diameter turkey broadheads.
 

25contender

Veteran member
Mar 20, 2013
1,638
90
I just use my Slick trick 125s with a small washer behind them. This slows the penetration down but doesn't effect the flight of the arrow much. At least on all the bows I have shot. I have never shot at a turkey with a bow over 25 yds.
 

packer58

Very Active Member
Aug 24, 2011
916
0
Loma Rica, Ca.
I want to use my bow, I've seen diff heads used for turkeys, what's recommended by you guys?
I shoot a Rage 2 blade 125, they are devastating on gobblers with their small vitals area. My favorite shot is quartering away and put it just above the thigh, the tom in the pick didn't go anywhere. I shoot 67 lbs with a 430 gr arrow and two or three of the toms I've killed looked just like this one.......no pass thru and stone dead. Anyway, you might want to give em a try, they are good gobbler medicine.

IMG_0054.jpg
 

lostriverproductions

Active Member
Dec 27, 2011
475
67
Goshen IN
We learned to never take your eyes off the bird after the shot, even if it drops "dead". Couple years ago my buddy shoots one at 15 yards flops over "dead", I'm filming it, were celebrating in the blind an the main camera is left on still on the bird. We start sending text out and 3 min's later the bird that was dead as a rock jumps up and walks away, luckily he walked 30 yards away and flopped over behind a pine tree dead. Weirdest thing I have ever seen.
 

Wyoming Hart

Very Active Member
Oct 10, 2014
853
163
Spring Run, PA
We learned to never take your eyes off the bird after the shot, even if it drops "dead". Couple years ago my buddy shoots one at 15 yards flops over "dead", I'm filming it, were celebrating in the blind an the main camera is left on still on the bird. We start sending text out and 3 min's later the bird that was dead as a rock jumps up and walks away, luckily he walked 30 yards away and flopped over behind a pine tree dead. Weirdest thing I have ever seen.
Yep, anytime a bird is shot, we get on them ASAP. We hunt them on the side of mountains most of the time and all it takes is a couple flops of the wings and they can be down over the side a couple hundred yards. Have gotten lucky a couple of times to find them. They are tough buggers.
 

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
I just use my Slick trick 125s with a small washer behind them. This slows the penetration down but doesn't effect the flight of the arrow much. At least on all the bows I have shot. I have never shot at a turkey with a bow over 25 yds.
I've shot them from 8 yards out to 50, and the only pass through I've ever had was a bird I shot through the neck. With the ribs so close together, body shots never seem to go all the way through, and expandables are a nightmare to pull out.
 

dead river

Member
Mar 20, 2011
82
0
NC
I use any expandable that shoots really well for my bow, then i hit the blades with a file to dull them on purpose. one thing to keep in mind when turkey hunting with a bow, try to not shoot one in areas where you have thick timber within about 100 yrds. A lot of birds shot with the bow will fly off for a short distance, their leg will be hanging if they are mortally wounded and you have to try to watch them till they go down. I grew up in a state with 5 tags and pretty much tagged out every year and then went to adjacent states to shoot a few. 20 yrs ago, i wanted to start bowhunting them and i had good success on a few then lost 2 in a row. I put my bow up for a few years after losing 2 old mature toms. That said, i prefer archery over guns for about any animal, but there is a reality of not recovering bow shot turkeys if they fly off into a swamp 40 yrds away. In more recent years, i went back to my preferred bowhunting but i limit myself to not shooting in areas that i cant find the bird if it goes 100 yrds. Some will never go anywhere, and others will fly off if your shot is just an inch or 2 off....i also try to always shoot at birds standing sideways to pin the wings and i no longer shoot when they strut so that i can better see the true body outline.
 

ivorytip

Veteran member
Mar 24, 2012
3,768
50
44
SE Idaho
thanks guys, im pretty excited, and im hunting 68a2, along snake river in south east Idaho, ill prob be hunting outside of Blackfoot or over near American falls res. we cant use expandables here in Idaho, unless that's just for big game we cant, ill have to double check. with those other heads they make for turkeys how in the crap would you even sight bow in for them? wouldn't they rip apart in a BH target?? maybe ill just stick with my elk BH'S. a good friend of mine that I work with claims to be an exceptional caller so he wanted to call for me, we will see how it goes. all new to me.