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Well, seeing as how it’s March 1st and it was almost 50 degrees here in NE Tennessee, the turkey fever just got turned up a notch. I really got fired up when I saw a gobbler strutting last week in the snow. Anyway, does everyone use the same arrows they use for deer, elk, etc. for turkeys? I’m thinking of building a few lighter shafts with less weight up front for birds to inhibit penetration. Just wondering everyone’s thoughts on this.
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Was a nice day… now rain for several, then back pretty chilly so I hear.
Shot you a PM… always looking to meet archers here in my new home in TN
I have chosen to use the same arrows for everything… then my po’ ole brain doesn’t have to remember different trajectories for different set ups…
Having never gotten to shoot an arrow at a turkey, where I lived, this will be a new experience if I can find a target rich environment enough to try…what a way to lose an arrow, eh?
Pick a spot and kill the bird… !
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Hey, Grumpy,
You want to change your name to LUMPY from welts on yer noggin! Cut that out!!!:shock:
We do NOT need more snow…or super frigid weather… geeze!
I moved SOUTH and ended up last Thursday shoveling 6-7″ of WET, HEAVY snow…good thing it was week 6 post-surgery where I was to be able to get off “light duty”… 8):roll:
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Nah, no name yet! I’m right there with ya Doc, we ended up with about a foot after all was said and done. I’ve been parking on the road for two weeks because our driveway is so steep!
Our season starts in about a month so if I make so e new arrows, I need to get on it quick. Any other thoughts?
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cpbiv wrote: Well, seeing as how it’s March 1st and it was almost 50 degrees here in NE Tennessee, the turkey fever just got turned up a notch. I really got fired up when I saw a gobbler strutting last week in the snow. Anyway, does everyone use the same arrows they use for deer, elk, etc. for turkeys? I’m thinking of building a few lighter shafts with less weight up front for birds to inhibit penetration. Just wondering everyone’s thoughts on this.
Two things:
First, I shoot the exact same arrows for turkey hunting I use for any medium or large game. There is no substitute for accuracy, and I have a lot of experience and confidence with my present setup.
Second, I can’t quite say I’ve ever understood the rationale behind wanting to inhibit broadhead penetration on an animal. Broadheads kill by cutting, and you can’t cut what you don’t penetrate. I want my arrows in one side and out the other, which is exactly what has happened on every turkey I’ve shot.
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These thoughts are purely for entertainment purposes’…
I read a forum thread somewhere where a guy was saying that he preferred blunts for killing turkeys. I thought this was a bit out there, but or some reason remembered it.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago. We have some big Yellow Buff hens that are about 10lbs and about 6 years old. They are no longer paying rent, I mean laying eggs, and so it is time that they meet Mr. Freezer.
As it was time to make a stew I figured I go ahead and skip the freezer for one of them. I went out with the longbow and a blunt to just see what might happen.
At 15 yds I took a shot and hit the hen broadside about in the middle of the bird. It tipped over and never made another move. Stone cold dead right then and there. The arrow bounced off the bird.
I figured this was a fluke. So a week later I went out after the other old hen. Same story, same result.
These old birds are not as tough as a wild turkey I am sure. But still they are pretty darn tuff critters.
When I got them plucked and ready for the stew pot I took note of their internal condition. Couldn’t really say there was any internal evidence to explain what happened. But they died so fast they didn’t have time to bruise. So who knows.
I was using the ace blunts.
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You shoot chickens! Thats awesome! I just change my head from a grizzly to a muzzy phantom. Pretty darn close to the same weight just a little more cutting surface with the bleeders. My brain would not appreciate me changing my entire setup.
DK
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Hah! I’ll bet that was some good chicken stew!
I’ve never shot a turkey with a bow, but what I’ve read and heard is that you want the arrow to stay in the bird so it won’t fly off and end up an unconsumed (by humans) casualty. The last thing I want to do is climb a tree after a big gobbler. That being said, if you’ve had lots of luck with pass throughs J, I’ll certainly turn an ear your way and would like learn anything I can about birds with a bow. I’ve only turkey hunted 1 season, so I’m eager to learn.
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Steve, i would have figured you for head shots on chickens… Dc
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dwcphoto wrote: Steve, i would have figured you for head shots on chickens… Dc
😆 😆
If practice was all it took to be a good shot, I’d be the best 😳
But alas, I think there is some secret sauce I have not found yet 🙄
I can say our egg production went way up after the aforementioned events. So I guess the rest of the girls got the message 😀
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Sounds like the chickens know the answer to the age old question.
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Carl,
I’m curious. I’ve read/seen the same comment about keeping arrow in the bird “so it doesn’t fly/run off”.
On the other hand, I’ve seen plenty of turkey hunting videos with bow shot turkeys and indeed, the ones with arrow still in them, some ran/flew off and some did not. Some with pass thrus ran/ flew off, some didn’t.
Makes me wonder if this isn’t one of those “hunter legends” (like urban legend) whereby someone made poor shot placement and their bird flew/ran off and was lost, and so they “deduced” that if the arrow had stayed in the bird, they’d not have lost it?
Arrows kill by hemorrhage, right? So if you don’t shoot em where there are vitals, what difference is a 400, 500, or even 600 gr. arrow sticking in them going to matter to a 10-20# turkey???
Whatever animal we shoot, it it’s not a lethal hit, they’re likely to go some distance before they die.
Some of the hunters in varied videos with bow shot turkeys, recommend letting them be for a bit to bleed out, not chase them down. Another shotgun video on turkeys, the chap pointed out his mentors, 30 yrs prior, shot 2 3/4″ shells, 7.5 shot lead and it would often stun the bird, but not kill them and it would shake it off, get up and run off so that in the ‘old days’ you jumped up, ran down the bird and stood on their neck so when they came to and flopped, they’d break their own neck…
So… maybe it would be wiser to practice more hitting a turkey in the vitals from varied angles (a trick to learn me thinks) then changing up your arrow weight/specs and perhaps causing you to missssss :shock:entirely?
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Doc Nock wrote:
I’m curious. I’ve read/seen the same comment about keeping arrow in the bird “so it doesn’t fly/run off”.
I’ve always been curious about this notion as well. Turkeys are obviously pretty small animals, and a pass through isn’t difficult – so it seems to me that any arrow deliberately designed to “stay in the bird” would have to be an arrow with significantly degraded penetration qualities…which could just as easily be an arrow that doesn’t penetrate at all.
Though I suppose an arrow with something like a Zwickey Scorpio on it behind the head could still allow for good penetration and prevent a pass through.
But ultimately, I agree with your point, Doc – broadheads kill by hemorraging vitals. You either hit the vitals or you don’t, and you either have a bird on the ground or you don’t, accordingly.
But Steve’s “experiment” is certainly thought-provoking….:shock:
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I’m wondering about the Zwicky Scorpio things as well. I can say this, I’ve shot plenty of geese with a 12 gauge and 3.5″ mag shells as well as 3″ mags from very close (15yds) only to have them fly off and either be found later by me or the dog, or fly off seemingly unscathed. A big goose weighs 10lbs. If a turkey is half as tough as a goose and twice the size, I’ll be wanting all the help I can get 😆
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This is what I came up with for pheasants last year. I was able to take one bird with it:
(Not saying anyone should consider this setup for turkeys, by any means. This was a solution for pheasant hunting with a dog – I only posted it to show the Zwickey Scorpio)
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Tailfeather did a lot of research on this and spoke with some trad archers who had killed A LOT of turkeys. One of them said that he had never gotten a pass through on a turkey. Their feathers are much tougher to penetrate than you might imagine and their light weight bodies apparently “give” with the arrow which also reduces penetration.
My recommendation would only be to shoot big broad heads and learn where their vitals are from every angle. I plan to give it a try this year as well.
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Bruce,
surely didn’t mean to appear argumentative towards Steve’s input but the thought I had, was that a domestic fowl, of 8# (big danged chicken) is a long shot (no pun intended) from a wild turkey gobbler of say 16-20#…
Otherwise, thanks for the back up that to kill a bird, it has to hemorrhage… Cut em wide deep and frequent… I’ve heard tell of guys using string trackers, too… deer and turkey, whatever…
A good friend of mine is color blind in the red spectrum…can’t see red blood on green foliage… could not tell a ripe strawberry from dead green one either, so his Mamma tells it…boy was worthless to track shot deer or pick berries! 😆
In those videos I saw, the turkey often ran off, flapping but not getting air, and then rolled over and died 20-30, 50 yards away… but they’ll also crawl under a log and hide better’n a darned grouse!
Pick yer poison, Carl… ME, I’d shoot what I know…
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I was thinking it was so, so I just looked it up. In Texas when hunting with archery equipment for turkey and all game animals a broadhead of at least 7/8″ width must be used. There’s more to the rules but for we trad folk hunting in Texas that’s enough for this thread methinks.
It might be wise to double check the state regs where one plans on hunting turkeys.
You can put a turkey stopper behind the broadhead. I have one rigged up on a flu flu I’ll dig out and take pics of tomorrow and post.
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Thanks everyone! I’m just skeptical about shooting these 28% FOC arrows at a turkey and also probably would rather shoot three blade heads than my grizzlies. I may just put a lighter head on the same arrows and see how they fly…
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Makes sense, Carl…
I’d never thought about a turkey weighing even 20# (wouldn’t that be swell) rather easily getting knocked off it’s feet… all the video pics I’ve seen were done with those outrageous expandables which require a bit more resistance to open, so it would never have crossed my mind.
If you hit the bird right, the arrow going thru means nothing…it’s dead if you hit well! Might take a moment…
I guess it could depend if you hunt them in open strutting areas where you can see or in thick woods… the latter being more problematic with finding once they run a ways…
NOTE: from my experience, slight weight changes in front will reduce FOC quite a bit and adding weight to the rear of an arrow, (cap wrap, etc) will detract FOC super fast… less front weight should also effectively lighten spine.
Might need to shim out sideplate slightly to regain good flight.
Best of luck…
My arrows are in the same FOC range. I don’t care how far the arrow sticks in the dirt on the other side of what ever I shoot at, as long as placement is good, critter will DIE! Quickly, when in the pump house!
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Careful what ya wish for Grumps… you’ll have to mow and trim it soon enough…
I think that has to be from time gone by…what I hear is that around R2, it’s been snowing and misery…
We had 70* today, but tonite, into tomorrow, ice, sleet, freezing rain into snow…:shock: From 60’s and 70’s to that over night!:roll:
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Green grass??? We’re in an acute drought around here. 😀
Those are my “society garlic” plants, we call’em ‘social garlic’, that I bring in the garage every winter, I keep them in a wheel barrow, and try to keep them alive. They have a unique odor and they’re just some little guys that mean something to me.
In the summer they’re by my little barn and archery range. They have a natural bug repellant to them. They say8)8)?anyway.
By the way Grumpy, after tomorrow, 60’s, 70’s :wink::evil::D
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Thanks R2, I like the way that looks, I’ll keep that in mind!
Doc, welcome to east TN weather! They say if you don’t like the weather around here; wait 5 minutes! Hah!
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I remember seeing those “Turkey Stopper collars” some time b ack. Some guys were sharpening those prongs… Wicked looking…
Man, you hit one wrong with that it’d look like a ballistic tip bullet went thru the bird!
Carbon shafts are thin enough being around the OD of a 2018 that I think most of the sliding penetration limiters seemed to flop around on the shaft.
How those fit, Ralph?
I heard that living in MT about the weather… “wait 5 min”. I was sweating today doing a small chore out of the sun (70*) and tonite, it’s to snow, sleet and raise winter ruckus…yup, that be changeable!
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grumpy wrote: That “wait 5 min” quote was a Mark Twain original, and he was standing in Hartford, CT.
No joke!?!?
I knew I liked it for some reason! 😉
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