Turkey Anatomy and Shot Placement

[bill langer]

Great job Curt.

My 2 cents-hit em high! The angle in my opinion, is not as important as trying to hit that wing butt or that same level depending on which way the bird is facing, taking out the ability to fly and his vitals.

Years ago I had problems with arrows blowing right through birds and losing them. I tried "stoppers" behind the broadheads, BIG MISTAKE. No penetration-more lost birds.

Shoot a straight forward hunting arrow with ultra sharp head and "HIT THEM HIGH"

Good luck boy's, Bill

[mnbearbaiter]

Awesome, curts turkeys looked like they were struck with an axe! Gotta love the snuffers!

[Guru]

Thanks again fellas...

This is another great pic that I've had for a while, just dug it out of an old file.  Really shows the bone structure well...

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The next gobbler is a good example of what happens when you break their back and get through the vitals...

This is the biggest gobbler I've killed to date with my bow.  He came strutting into my dekes just before noon time(quitting time here in NY). I spotted him and a hen earlier from a hill, moved in as close as I dared and set up. Over an hour later as time was running out here he came, without uttering a peep!

Shot him quartering away, strutting, just before he reached my jake deke...
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 As you can see he went nowhere, and was dead within seconds. A minute later his hen came in to see what was going on. She stayed around a minute, then just wandered off...
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I got out and snapped some pix of the set-up...
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Just as he layed as I walked up to him...
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Entrance very high up and quartering down and in...
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BH just made it out the other side. The backbone took a lot of steam off the arrow...
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[Dirtybird]

I can't say anything but AWESOME!  Thanks Curt.

[twitchstick]

Good stuff.      

[KSdan]

Excellent Curt.  Thanks for taking the time.

[Steven_CO]

Those are good anatomical photos.  They are tough birds.

The tom I shot last fall had it's back to me at 20 yds.  

That made it easier for me to guess where to shoot.

[Missouri CK]

Thanks Curt.  I needed this one if only for the green pictures.  Its currently raining here and we have 4 inches of snow on the ground.  Hope springs enternal, for the turkeys and for nicer weather.

[kongo]

Very informative . I didn't know that a turkeys vitals were in the upper part of their body .

[Guru]

"Hope springs eternal"...you bet buddy      

Thank you guys, I'm glad I can help. It really is amazing how different turkeys are put together compared to most critters we usually hunt.

This next turkey is one I killed in Georgia with a friend.  As you'll see in the video, he came in and circled around behind the decoy.

 I shot as he quartered toward me. The Woodsman tipped woodie entered, up high, just in front of the wing butt.
 Went through heart, lungs, liver, and exited out the back of the opposite thigh...
 http://www.tradgang.com/videos/curtturkey.wmv

As you'll hear, my buuddy Germain was a little excited after the shot, he was flippin' out!I mean crazy!! I actually had to tell him to shut up as the bird was coming in...he was losing his mind with excitement!

Again, quartering angle doesn't really matter, front-to- back, back-to-front...the important thing is to keep your shots HIGH! In the upper 1/3 of the body and you'll be just fine.

One other thing about wing butt shots, I know it's a shot a lot of folks like. But my personal experience is that it's not reliable.

A direct hit on the butt of the wing, right on the ball and socket will lead to unpredictable results.  That is, without a doubt, the hardest to penetrate spot on a turkey!

I shoot pretty substantial gear, and I have had two arrows stopped cold on direct hits. One with a WW tipped 600gr. woodie out of my 63# KS, and the other was a Snuffer tipped 580gr carbon out of my 58# KS.

It took me a while to learn for myself. When I started to bowhunt for turks it seemed thats where everyone reccommended shooting turkeys.

But now I really don't see the need to shoot for the wing butt, as the vast majority of the vitals are more rearward anyway.

 Yes, you might break a wing, but I know for a fact that if your arrow stops right at the socket of the wing after breaking it, the gobbler can still easily get away!

Up next, my only try at a straight-on shot...

[tradtusker]

Awesome Curt Awesome
Thanks for putting that together

[snow leopard]

thank you for posting this thread, guru.  i've learned a lot!!    

[Friend]

Guru- I must thank you again for such an explicit display of the targetted area. My most confindent target areas are quatering facing, side shots and targetting ~1" above the leg, and rear shots. I do ,however take the very 1st shot which presnts a lethal mark once the tom breaks my self imposed 15 yard barrier.

I have taken them in nearly all angles with exception of a rear shot while in strut. The frontal shot reguires a little fire power. I was fortunate to one-cluck in a bird from ~150 yards and drilled him  ~1 1/2"s above the beard and just made it thru the breast bone. The bird just faell back with his wings wide open and never twitched. I may have been lucky,

[Shane H]

This is good info, I wish I would have had this years ago!

[Bill Turner]

Great thread Curt. Never seen this on turkeys. Whitetais "yes", turkeys "no". Very educational.  

[PSPOORSHOOTER]

This was a super infomative thread. This will be my first year trad hunting turkeys and I've been practicing all wrong. Shot plenty with a shotgun,but they were all head shots. Thank you very much for the great pics.

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by PSPOORSHOOTER:
This was a super infomative thread. This will be my first year trad hunting turkeys and I've been practicing all wrong. Shot plenty with a shotgun,but they were all head shots. Thank you very much for the great pics.

Yep same here.  This is one of the best threads ever!  Thanks for taking the time Curt!          

[Huntrdfk]

Great thread Curt!!!!!  I can vouch for low shots not being good, I hit one with a 160 grain snuffer two year ago just forward and low of the wing butt.  I was able to get that bird due to two things, one is that the snuffer put a huge hole through and through, the second was the string tracker I used following your directions....

Two feet of snow on the ground here, and on the way to work this morning I saw two jakes strutting and gobbling for a lone hen in a field by my office!!!  It will be here soon!

David

[stykbow67]

Excellent shot placement thread Curt, I've hunted turkey's for several years with trad gear and have strictly been a head shooter, I either kill'em dead or they walk away unscathed( usually the later)LOL!

[Rod in SC]

Curt,

Would it be possible for you to post pictures of turkeys in different positions and put a photoshopped spot on where you would aim?
  Ive only killed a couple with my bow and I did lose one as well.  I think if I saw where I should pick a spot at different angles I could memorize those photos and I would never miss again!  The game dept might have to shorten the season!8^)

Thanks,
Rod