I remember my first archery turkey hunt. It was 11 years ago and a buddy and I had become consumed with archery hunting. We shot everything we could with our bows and had become very confident with them. We both decided it was time to time to take our bows and chase Longbeards!
We had bought a new blind and had a perfect place to set up to ambush a couple birds. The morning was one of those perfect days in the woods we watched as the sky started to brighten minute by minute a owl sounded off and was quickly drowned out by 4 different gobbles all from the same tree. As hard as the owl tried to talk over them the longbeards refused to allow it. We made a few soft tree calls and the birds responded back to each and every call we made we knew it was going to happen. I made a couple fly down cackles and took my hat and flapped it against my leg to mimic the sounds of turkeys flying down. Soon after we heard the gobblers fly down. They hit the ground and instantly came running to the decoys we had setup. I could not believe how well it worked. I picked out the biggest bird drew my bow and settled the pin on his wing joint he was a mere 10 yards from the blind. I had no worries at all he was a dead bird! I released the arrow it hit perfect and was a great pass through shot! I was high fiving and celebrating my first bow kill on a turkey. I just happened to look out the window of the blind to watch him run I was looking for him to drop BUT he didn’t DROP he instead FLEW!!!!!!! He took flight and I watched him fly off into the horizon! My dead bird was gone. I was sick I mean everything worked perfect the shot was spot on what happened why did my bird take off??
Since that day I have taken 22 birds with my bow which brings me to my reason for this post. BROADHEADS!!!! You see I had just taken my hunting bow and my G5 striker broadheads and went hunting. Now I am not saying you cannot kill birds with your fixed blade heads but I am saying in my experience you can increase your success with a head that transfers the kinetic energy of your arrow into the body of the bird knocking it off its feet long enough for you to get to it. There are several heads made with turkey hunting in mind. Some are fix blades with a drag blade, some are mechanical but either way they do just what I mentioned above and they take the energy from your arrow into the bird. I really like the NAP Gobbler Getters. These mechanical heads have a blunt tip that hits the bird hard knocking him silly from the shock. Look into the heads that are specifically designed to hunt turkeys with.
Now a little about shot placement. I know a bunch of bowhunters who kill turkeys every year and the one saying that is always shared is “Shoot ’em high watch em die shoot ’em low watch’em go!” Basically you need to get your shot into the chest of the bird no matter what angle he is facing. Aim at the wing joint from the side, if he is facing you aim for the tip of the beard, if he is facing away take the Texas heart shot ( right up the butt) these shots will put your arrow in the chest cavity where the vitals are. Don’t take the shot if you can’t get the arrow in the chest. If you are using a fixed blade I suggest a head shot on the bird if you hit he is dead if you miss he is un harmed in my opinion that is the most ethical shot with a fixed blade. Turkeys are very tough birds and can live for a long time if wounded before they die or are finally caught by a predator. We owe it to the bird to take the best shot we can and make it count.
I really think if you change your broadheads to something that will transfer the energy you will have greater success putting a longbeard in the freezer with your bow!! Good Luck from all of us at victory outdoors and by all means please share pictures of your successful hunts with us! The time is here now get out there and enjoy Gods creation God Bless!!
Image by Bowhunting.com
