Well, I shot my first turkey tonight. Came in to the hen decoys out in front of the double bull in full strut. Waited until he was out in front of the blind, about 15 yards away broadside, and shot for the spot more or less illustrated in the lower left picture from the previous post. From the legs I brought the sight pin up till it was slightly above the middle of the bird. I may have hit and inch or so lower than the aimed spot.

My buddy saw the arrow go through the bird. Tom flipped up in the air at the shot - landed more or less on his feet and stood there for a couple of seconds - listing badly to the left - looked severely wounded. We thought he would just fall over; but within a few more seconds he started heading off to the right and disappeared in the tamarisk. Two hours of intensive searching resulted in no bird. It got dark and started hailing.

About an hour into the search, I cell phoned one of my long time friends who has killed a lot of turkeys with a bow. He said I likely gut shot the bird - should have aimed much further forward - like the place where the wing attaches to the body - or even where the neck opens up to the front of the body.

Just thought I would share this experience, and throw it out there for general comment. Despite the lack of photo ops at the end, it was a great experience. I have never before in my life been that close to a wild bird.