with a bow?

mauser06 · 01-02-2007, 08:42 PM

alright all you bow turkey hunters...fill me full of your knowledge. ive rocked a few with the 12ga. but i started bowhunting deer this fall and love it. still not opposed to gun hunting...but i wanna give turkey hunting with the bow a try. i bought a "outhouse" blind at walmart the other day. couldnt pass it up for under 20$!! it may not be the best...but it should work. i sat in it and drew my bow back and i should beable to do it in the woods. ill definently be practicing from it before then..but what tips and knowledge do you guys have?? i think a spring gobbler with the bow would be awesome..thought i know its probably going to be the biggest challenge ive ever tackled..though thats why i love turkey hunting. so lets hear it...fill me with knowledge!!

bullmoose38 · 01-03-2007, 08:30 AM

Man you will be hooked once you hunt them with the bow. Set your decoys 5 yards away from the blind. Make sure they are facing away from you. Every turkey i shot came into the decoy and circled the jake from behind. Use a mechanical head I would suggest NAP spitffire gobbler getters. Also I like to set up in the middle of fields where I know they strut and no one will be able to get to the birds. Good luck!!!!!!!!

huntingson · 01-03-2007, 10:18 AM

Got my first one with a bow this year. What I learned was that I never want to use a normal broadhead and shoot the body again. That thing stunk to high heaven and was a mess to clean. I would go with the huge expandables and try a head shot. I can stomach gut shots no problem on deer and the like, but this turkey smelled so bad I truly had to take breaks cleaning it to breath fresh air. Honestly, after cleaning that bird I swore to never shoot one with a bow again. It is much cleaner with a shotgun. Obviously just my opinion so take it for what it is worth.

icedern · 01-03-2007, 11:06 AM

I'm going to try with bow this year, but I'm going to use those guillotines and go for a head shot. I've never turkey hunted before, so I figured what the heck..might as well go all out and try with a bow

RDHunter · 01-05-2007, 01:17 PM

Boy are you in for a real treat ... your gonna love it and your right it is alot more challening than deer hunting.
Like Bullmoose said set your decoys close to your blind , I use a bobble head feeding hen with an intruder jake .
Here's a picture from last spring of my Double Bull T5 and my decoys.

mauser06 · 01-05-2007, 04:57 PM

thanx guys...guess there aint all toooo much diffrent from gun hunting to do...except get em in CLOSE. no more 35yd shot coz he aint gettin no closer or you got excited and couldnt wait lol. im pretty excited..i think that would be awesome.

huntingson...turkeys ALWAYS stink. i couldnt imagine one with its insides cut up by a BH...i dont know WHY birds stink. cleaning grouse last week was nasty...cleaning pheasants is always nasty..turkeys are bigger and even nastier lol.

one day soon im going to setup my blind and see if i can shoot from it. i fear i may have clearance problems..though i may not..it may be tight..i drew in it and was ok..but we will see. i only got 19$ into a 60$ blind. sell it on ebay for 50 and buy a bigger blind if i dont have enough room. we will see....

thanx guys...

ash2042 · 01-07-2007, 06:05 PM

Good luck Mauser, I am going to try turkey with a bow this year as well.

botechboy · 01-12-2007, 03:43 PM

Me and my buddy are going to bow hunt them his yr any body wanting to try it with us who wants to drive to raleigh co wva is welcome i do the calling you do the shooting .first then its my turn all is welcome have lots of turks and lots of places private and public with very low pressure cya

IL-Cornfed · 01-14-2007, 12:28 PM

Nothing more exciting than bowhunting Gobblers! I absolutely love the challenge! As you've mentioned, it's not so much different than gun hunting other than needing to be closer. It WILL teach you to become a better turkey hunter by forcing you to limit your shots you'll be forced to actually observe the birds more and this fact alone will teach more in one season that what many will learn in several gun seasons. Bowhunting will also teach you to rely on effective scouting, blind placement, decoy placement and even your better calling and most importantly...... patience. Best of luck to ya and enjoy this Spring!

Troutman10 · 01-14-2007, 08:49 PM

I'm just starting out with a bow this winter/spring. Going to most likely try with my bow on Turkeys for the first time too. Should be interesting. I can't wait to get out there and do it. I got a blind for christmas and have been doing a few things to my land to hopefully attract a few more turkeys than I saw last year. Good luck to all.