Turkey passthrough ?

[Kurt Miller]

How often do you get pass through on Turkeys? Is it common and if so how many use stoppers such as Zwickey Scorpios that slide down shaft slowing penetration.  Can string tracker and scorpio be combined? or is it too easy for string to tangle with scorpio and get cut/snapped during penetration, thus negating tracker option?

[straitera]

All good points. Turkeys aren't difficult to completely shoot through. That's when they run off & you can't find them for lack of a bloodtrail. Makes 3-blades & backup adapters good to keep the arrow inside. Stringtrackers worry me.

[raideranch]

In my experience its harder to get a complete pass through on a turkey than a deer.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

The only turkeys I ever shot through were broadside and were not recovered.  When I started shooting my birds lengthwise (ie head-on or tail-on) or a hard quartering angle either front or back I 1. stopped shooting through them and 2. stopped having problems recovering them.

Just my 2 cents.

R

[katie]

I had a pass through on a turkey a few months back with a 3 blade woodsman out od a 40# bow.  Ripped a great hole and I had a nice blood trail.  Was on snow and I had no trouble finding her.

[joe skipp]

I use the large 160 Snuffers because I don't want to passthru. Turkeys are tough, I want to hit them hard and have that arrow in them. Keeps them on the ground much longer...

[LongStick64]

I ve heard some place a washer behind the broadhead to slow the penetration.

[Charlie Lamb]

My experience is similar to Ryan's.

[David McLendon]

Like Joe Skipp the 160 Snuffer works well for me. I also shoot a much lighter bow 51# for turkeys to hopefully avoid pass throughs.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I've only shot one turkey, but hope to change that in a couple month. At any rate, it was broadside, through both lungs, and fell dead in ten steps. I don't think the arrow slowed down going through the bird.

[Neutron]

Turkeys cannot fly off if shot thru wingbutts nor can they if you take out both legs at the socket or close to it in the hip. They cannot get a running start or jump up to take off.  I hit one in the upper wing cutting the bone and entering the chest it did not pass thru and I heard it thunk.  He jumped up and down a couple of times and could not go anywhere then his buddies came over and kicked him while he was down.  I discovered the leg thing accidentally with a muzzleloader one year.  It was pretty lethal too.  I do not intend to try the leg shot but if I missed my mark broadside I would rather it go there than below the lungs.  From a treestand I did put an arrow thru a small turkey quartering too me. It went thru the collar bone and which came out the other side just in front of the hip.  Took a step and started wobbling and took a couple of stumbing steps and went down within 2 feet.

[Orion]

I think it's harder to get a pass through on a turkey than on a deer.  To start with, their feathers absorb a lot of the arrow's energy.  Second, there's just not much body mass there.  They tend to move with the arrow with the impact of the shot, retarding penetration.  In short, don't worry about shooting through them.  It usually won't be a problem.

[raideranch]

If you got a pass through on a turkey and couldn’t find it it’s because you passed through some feathers.

[joebuck]

If the string tracker and /or scorpio affect the accuracy of your arrow by even 1 inch at 20 yards, I would not use them. Shoot your most accurate Broadhead/arrow combination. Bowhunting is a shoot thru sport. IMO...2 holes leak blood better than one. drive that BH thru the bird and cut and bust as much tissue and bone as you can.....in short shoot your most accurate BH ,and the rest will happen...good luck

[Steel]

I would bet on a pass through on a 200lb wild hog Vs a wild turkey the way things have played out for me turkey hunting the last few years. I shoot about 50lbs@27" draw and have seen arrows make it 1" to 2" or less into a turkey on a wing side shot.I no longer take side shots most every bird I had a problem finding was a side shot. My favorite is facing away then a front chest shot head on or a slight angle. I just have had a way better recovery at those angles myself. I normally shot a 1.5" head for deer but on turkeys I went to a long lean 2 blade 1 1/8th to 1 3/16th wide I normally have arrow sticking out on two ends after impact. I love hunting turkey with bow I harvested two toms last year but it isn't easy.

[Earthdog]

I've shot dozens of them,but never had a complete pass through.

Plenty of holes on both sides,but never picked up the arrow from the ground after it's zipped clean through.

ED.

[joebuck]

How much bow weight/arrow weight are ya'll ( no pass through crowd) shooting? I have had exactly the opposite results on the birds i have killed..pass throughs everytime..head to butt , facing, side ways..whatever...pass throughs...i have had also 2 turkeys fly off with an arrow stuck in it (lost)...you ever seen that?....one difference maybe i do not change my setup from deer to turkey...same bow ,same arrow ,same weight, same broadhead...same mojo...same accuracy...66# 680 grain arrow.....again pass through always.......this is interesting

[Earthdog]

Joebuck,what do you call a pass through.

If 2 birds flew away with the arrow still stuck in them,it was handly a pass through was it?

Hey,You did say "everytime" didn't you ?

[joebuck]

I'm calling a pass through BH exits other side. Complete pass through, arrow stuck or laying in the ground...most were complete and few others pass through only because i had a scorpio on the other end..When second bird flew off with a Simmons Tree Shark stuck hard qrt .in it's back with a 2317 serving as a FM antenna....i then quit using anything that dampens penetration...i do not know if two birds flew off were pass through because i did not find them.......but for the record...i have witnessed first hand sadly multiple times birds flying and or running off with arrows stuck in them.....never to be found....i am not proud of that but i have to chaulk it up to experience i guess since i have been bowhunting them almost 20 years.

Earthdog so whats your setup that you have never shot a complete pass through?

[sw]

We raise bronze turkeys and the ones i have shot with bow i have never once gotten a pass through. I swear there are tough and what would otherwise go through a hog or deer - not a turkey.

I have found about the best place and way to shoot them is facing away or dead in the wing at a quartering away angle - both will tend to shut the bird down as far as running/flying away. I have never had one "jump the string" facing me when i shot - but again they see me everyday and are not exactly wild birds, not sure what a wild one would do as their sight is very keen as is thier hearing.