Jolly Rogers

What would be more preferable in your opinion? A heavy penetrating setup that should pass through the bird, or a lighter setup (possible mechanical head) that stays in the bird? My first year bowhunting for turkeys and I' m trying to decide whether to stay with my deer setup (90gr Muzzy, 63lb draw) or lighten up (mechanical head, 55 lb draw) and hope to anchor the bird with the arrow. The videos I see seem to be 50/50 with good results for each so I was hoping to garner some personal opinions from some of you who have the experience that I don' t. Thanks

slicendice

I' m new at bowhunting the turks, too, but if you look around this board, there are several threads on this type of topic. The overall consensus seems to be lighten up the poundage, and get a wide cutting (2" ) broadhead. Add ons that stop the arrow from penetrating completely (Zwickey Scorpio, Adders) seem to also be reccommended as well. The thinking seems to be that percentage wise, an arrow in the bird is better than the arrow through the bird.

Hope this helps. Try a search on this topic for additional info.

Slice

turkeyreaper

slicendice is correct, large cutting diameter is best. I am a Rocket man, but I switched to the NAP Gobbler Getter for turkeys because it has a blunt head. This means that you don' t have to lower your draw weight and grains, Most of all it will allow most of the energy produced by the arrow to be absorbed by the bird.
If posible you wan' t the arrow to stay in the bird, they don' t go to far than. You can also by attachments that slow down your arrow that goes on in-between the broadhead and the shaft. The only problem with this is that it will add weight to your broadhead thus throwing off your sight.

Also keep in mind of shot placement, this is very important. another good thing about the Gobbler Getter is that it has a shot placement card in the package.

Blinds are a big one and they very in price and size all I can tell you is you don' t want it to flap in the wind, it must be tite. birds don' t mind the blind but movement as you know, will kill you. you want one that takes down and puts up easy preferably one that you don' t have to stake down.

Bring your decoys in close and face them toward the blind, most birds will face the decoys bringing him in nice and close.

hopfully I didn' tblow you away with all the info

Good Luck!!!!!

GrumpyTom

Jolly Rogers the largest cut is the best. But in saying that you can still use your deer setup without changing anything. I would add something to stop the arrow in the turkey, this hits the turkey with all of the KE of the arrow. There are many ways of doing this, washers, o-rings, elastics, ect. I would not recomend any of the above mentioned. What I use is the Zwickey Scorpio which sits on the arrow shaft just behind the head. It does not effect the arrow flight but stops the arrow from passing through. What happens is that the wire fingers grip the bird on entry then applies friction to the shaft (as it slides back) to stop the arrow. You can buy these to fit your arrow size.

I truely believe that these are fabulous and all turkey hunters (bow) should use them. They do help in quicker recovery of the birds.

proturkeycaller

I made the mistake of shooting a turkey with a " regular" set-up once. The bird was facing me and I passed clean through the chest. I found the arrow and it was saturated in blood.

I never found that turkey though. The bird took off flying and with no blood trail to follow and thick Pennsylvania woods it was game over.

In my opinion, you need to not only shoot a set-up that will retard penetration, but you also need to aim for the wing base or hip. (The idea being an actual " breaking down" of the bird to keep it on the ground.)

The guys are right. Read the messages already here and you will get all the info you need. But, for the quick answer... Lighten up and shoot a monster broadhead.

MissouriTrapper

I would definately shoot mechanicals. Rocket makes a good broadhead that you can get with a 2" cutting diameter. I also like to bend a fish hook and screw it onto the end of the arrow so the arrow won' t penetrate. You want the arrow to stay in the turkey if possible. This really jars them when you hit em and many times if you make a bad shot you can run out and step on their head before they get away. Be very careful if you shoot one and the arrow is sticking out of the bird. I had a buddy that got cut by his own broadhead while tackling the bird. I really had to laugh, but now while he was looking. Ha ha!

DeerThug

Well after two years of going after a turk with the bow it all came together for me today. After calling in 5 birds I took the shot at the best angled bird.

The shot was 24 yards. The arrow did a pass through. I use the same set up as deer hunting. 125 Thunderheads, Goldtip Arrow, 70 LBs. pull on the bow.

The bird was broke down (could not go anywhere) as soon as the arrow hit. The bird actually flopped less than when I' ve seen them shot with a gun. It was over within a five second time spand from release to death (no movement). The shot was broad side, when the arrow exited it literally blew out the far side wing.

The remaining birds beat my bird up for the next 30 to 40 seconds while it laid lifless on the ground.

turkeyreaper

Good Job DeerThug!!!
Don' t ever want to go back to the shotgun do ya?

NorthernJake

We have to take a turkey hunting course before we can get our licences here and the " archery guru" they brought in says wait for them to turn their back in full strut and aim for the 10 ring at the base of the tail. The idea being to pass through the vitals and out the chest. Using his tail as a blind to hide you drawing the bow.
I am still hoping to test this theory.