turkey with bow

[wv bow hunter]

for those of you that turkey hunt with your bow im thinking of getting into doing it and was wondering if you crank the draw weight dow so you move a little less and draw alot easier from sitting on the ground. i shoot 65 pounds for deer so what would be a good weight for turkey...thanks

[bullmoose38]

I shoot 65 also. I leave it for that for turkeys also.

[MeanV2]

I have done it both ways. This Spring I plan on cranking myGeneral down to 50# to hunt Turkeys

Dan

[MichaelHunsucker]

I just leave it how it is....at 70#

[GeneRagulsky]

I don't change anything. I am confident with what I have been shooting all year and any change may effect that. That being said, it is better to have the broadhead stay in the bird. It will do more cutting while the bird is flopping.

Like anything else, if you hit them right, they will go down quickly. On a turkey, if you are off a half inch, they may never go down.

[Roskoe]

X2. I can't believe how hard sometimesa turkey is to bow kill with a body shot. If you elect to keep the poundage up above 50 lbs, try some sort of device to control penetration - like an Adder washer orGrasshopper insert. I have even seen #6 short shanked fish hooks lashed to the end of the arrow shaft - facing forward. I think they used three of them.

AndI have heard that you need to get down to about 45 lbs. and shoot a wide cut broadhead to get the arrow to stay in a bird without the washer or some other penetration control device.

[Rob/PA Bowyer]

Don't have alot of experience with it. I've shot two, both body shots, both birds dead in sight. I used my whitetail setup, Allegiance set at 70 lbs, ACCs and Rocky Mountain Snypers.

[Snood Slapper]

I don't change anything either. I would say you should look at lowering your draw weight if you cannot hold at full draw for a long period of time and cannot draw in a furtive manner or slowly without any exaggerated movement. However, you should be able to do this no matter what game you are hunting. In other words, if you do choose to do this, you should probably be using your turkey setup for deer; not your deer setup for turkey.

[jackflap]

Most (not all) of you guys are missing the intent of reducing poundage. Its not for ease of shooting or holding. For crying out loud, with 65-80% let offs, that should not be the issue.

The intent is to keep the arrow in the bird, not necessarily for more damage, but for easier recovery. You are going to have little if any blood trail, but if you have an arrow in the bird flight is limited as well as running through brush.

This is arrogant sounding, but from a guy who has shot lots of turkeys with a bow, when someone tells me they are going to use their whitetail set up on turkeys, what they are telling me is they don't know much about "shooting and recovering turkeys" with a bow.

As mentioned, even at lower poundage, you need to use an adder point or a blunt ended mechanical such as the Gobbler Getter to help slow the arrow down and hopefully keep it in the bird.

Can you successfully kill and recover a turkey with a 70# draw and a fixed broadhead? Certainly, but why not put the odds in your favor by implementing the proper set up that has proven to be most effective over many years.

[Howler]

Ahh, I use the same poundage and it's not because I "don't know much about shooting and recovering turkeys". It's because I aim to shoot and remove thier head from thier body with a 4" cut broadhead. Recovery has never been a problem!