BowHuntingFool

Hey folks, sorry for the long story. I have a question about a shot I put on a Turkey with my Longbow. I am pulling 50#, 600+ grain arrow tipped with a 125gr snuffer w/ 50gr insert.

I was out hunting/camping for the past 10 days! During the morning/evening I would hunt deer and during the day I would hunt for Turkeys! I missed a big ole Tom with my Longbow at 12 yards, I short drew and missed in the heat of the moment! A few days later I am glassing a bean field and spot some Birds feeding slightly towards me, I decide to go after them. I stalk within 21 yards in some tall grass and wait. I pick out the biggest Hen out of the 10 or so birds, concentrate, pick my spot, concentrate, she picks her head up to look into the field, I slowly stand up, draw and release the most perfect arrow I EVER loosed. SMACK, it hit her square in the chest at the base of her neck. Sounded like I smacked her with a baseball bat, she is flopping around, flopping around. I quickly run over to her to grab her and get within 3 feet, the other birds fly away, she flips over and runs on me. I chase her into the tall grass and loose sight of her. I go back to where I hit her, blood and feathers everywhere. My arrow looked like it went thru a deer, blood covered, good blood on the ground at the hit as well, but no blood trail??? I looked for the rest of the day until dark, about 6+ hours until dark. I went back in the morning and looked another 6 hours or so, nothing, grid search, nothing! I tried to find a local tracking dog, I talked to 2 guys with dogs, nothing but deer trackers!

Sorry so long but I am still bummed about not finding my bird, this would of been my 1st kill with my Longbow and a nice big Hen!

Here is my question for you, was my shot placement good or a bad choice?? I hit her at the base of her neck square in the chest. I think she should of been dead on the spot!

ltpelham

well i dont know if they have the same for wood arrows but they make a blade called the giliten"spelling" and its perfect for turkeys but other than that sounded like you made a good shot. maybe the truck flew away and died

Schultzy

I don't know what to tell ya Joe. I'm not too much of a turkey hunter yet. I haven't hunted them yet but from the sounds of it there one tough bird I guess.

BobCo19-65

So close!
Just wasn't meant to be I guess.

BowHuntingFool

Yeah I know Bob, this was by far the coolest thing I have done in my hunting career. Watching my arrow smack that bird was amazing, I just wished the outcome would of been better. I know she is dead but I am surprised she ran off with that kind of a shot, I thought it would of been a good choice!

Bowman4440

I shot a turkey last year with a buddy of mine ( i hade a broken shoulder blade so i could only get one shot before struggling to pump. So me and my buddy are in the tent and a tom comes in from the right about 15 yards. I rolled him flat on his back, he gets up and starts to run my buddy shoots over him then nails him and he hits the dirt again, gets up and flys about 150 yards into the edge of the woods. We walk over ther and he went about another 50 yards into the woods then died.2 shots in the bird that were deffinate hits one being from 15 yards with a 3.5" turkey load. Turkeys are an amazingly tough bird, Also it sounded like your shot placement was perfect jsut wasn't your day.

Critr-Gitr

So she was facing you? Standing upright? If so you may have been just a little high. A turkey is a tough bird, no doubt, and the vital zone is small. Don't know what to say, that would have been cool with a longbow. That snuffer should have smoked her.

I shot one in the chest like that with my compound, less than 10 yards. It came running down the trail I was on, and I was kneeling at full draw when it came past a bend at about 7-8 yards. Hit it with a thunderhead and it ran about 10-15 yards. I do carry a couple of expandables in my quiver for turkeys now, 'cause I think they dump more energy on those birds.

I have a good spot to try one if I get good enough with my recurve this year, butI bet it will be next year before I am ready to try that.

castuckey

Seems like what I've read and seen in videos your shot placement was wrong. If you believe what they say on TV they say to shoot for the thigh area. Keep them from walking and jumping into flight.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I need to go by what your saying. I assume she was facing you? I know this is a Tom but it wouldn't be different for a hen, minus the beard and slightly smaller stature.



It's obvious since she ran off you didn't snap or cut the spinal cord and likely not the spine at all. Knowing that, you couldn't have hit her "square" middle of the chest because you wouldn't have been able to miss the spine. If she was turned in the slightest you could slip a broadhead past the spine. What we also have to remember is how small the bird is under all those feathers. The impact through the chest meat could easily knock here down and even stun her and still not actually kill her. Perhaps the arrow passed between her body cavity and wings resulting in extreme blood. The vitals as you can see are lower than you think on an upright bird.

My shear guess is that you flesh wounded her but even if you did indeed kill her (I don't know how much blood was actually on the ground), turkeys have a tendency to bury themselves in leaves/brush etc.. Like deer, they are hearty animals.

I'm sorry about the recovery BHF, that's a tough one and it's possible she's alive. If your familiar with the area, she'll probably turn up one way or another. I don't know if any of that helped but the daigram may be of some assistance.

davidmil

Not an expert by any means, but I think at that angle you're suppose to shoot right at the base of the beard. You shot higher and probably heard the arrow smack her back bone/skeleton or something but not the actual spine itself. She probably crawled under a blowdown or pine bows or just in a glob of grass in that field. I'd say she will if she isn't alread a dead bird.