Turkey hunting tips

[dixiearcher]

Does anyone have any tips for trad turkey hunting? I have hunted several years with a shotgun but never with a bow...

[Charlie Lamb]

Buy a pop up blind and decoy.
   

[Charlie Lamb]

Oh yeah!! A string tracker too.

[Bill Skinner]

If you haven't already, learn to shoot sitting down, If possible, use a short recurve, something like a SuperMag 48 is a great turkey bow, if you can shoot it accurately.  Have good camy on your hands and face.  Know where to hit the turkey, see the sticky up top.  If possible, have someone else do the calling.  Bill

[Bowmania]

Sorry Bill, No one can shoot a short bow as accurately as a longer one.  (Page 10 or 12 in Vipers book "shooting the stickbow)  And accuracy is most important even on a short turkey shot, because the kill zone is so small.  So sit in a chair and use your longest bow that will fit in your blind.  I put a hen decoy at 3 yds and one or 2 (hen and/or hen and jake) at 5 yds.  If you can let them get closer than 10 yards before you shoot, your better than I am.  Put your decoys at 20 yds and you'll get a 22 yd shot.  MOST IMPORTANT - use a string tracker and a 160 gr Snuffer.  Quote after my hunting buddy saw my turkey last year, "How can an 1 1/2 inch broadhead make a 4 inch hole."  Next time I see Roger or Ryan I'll have to ask them, cause I have no idea.

Oh yea, and don't call too much.  Last year I shot that turkey and had not called in about 2 hours.

Bowmania

[Charlie Lamb]

No more than ten feet from the blind... had something else in my hand when the gobblers showed up.
     

String Tracker can save a heart ache...
     

[treetoppredator]

That string tracker seems like it would be a headache.  Never used one though.  What happens if your arrow goes through the bird?

[Gary Logsdon]

Wear a Shaggie Suit and carry a big club:^) Joking aside, I reached down to pick up  a "dead" turkey last season that proceded to come ALIVE. Somehow his 1 1/2" spurs became twisted into the bottom of my Shaggie and the rodeo was ON!

[huntnfool62]

Paitience!!!
Be where the turkeys want to be !
shot placement Wingbutt or top of the drumstick if hes quartering away "Break em down"
I knew a turkey hunter from Arkansas and he was dumbfounded by the amount of calling we were doing in north dakota according to him in Arkansas call very sparingly if at all
Here in Mich. on public land Decoys are becoming a thing of the past At least where I hunt they see the Dekes and expect dekes to come to them

[hardwaymike]

LMAO! Sorry to laugh Gary, but I would have loved to have seen that! If anyone has an extra slate call laying around and would like to get rid of it, please let me know. I have never used one before and would like to give one a try without spending a whole bunch. Thanks, Mike.

[Crash]

If you want to do it without a blind, there are 3 things to remember:

1.  make sure you take the time to find a good setup with cover
2.  call sparingly, move less
3.  leave early enough to get to the grocery store to pick up your bird

[Dirtybird]

Don't miss when the opportunity presents itself.

[stevewills]

when you think its safe to get out of your blind stay 5 mins.cause sure enough thats when a gobbler will show right when you want to leave

[Charlie Lamb]

Treetoppredator... the string tracker isn't a headache at all. Just put it away (has a cap that secures everything)when you leave your set up.
 "What happens if the arrow passes through?" ... two strings to follow.

Huntnfool62... there is a great pictorial of shot placement at the top of the page.

[treetoppredator]

How does the string tie to the arrow?

[Gary Logsdon]

Those big old Easterns are hard to wrestle John:^)!  Some of you are talking shot placement.  My favorite shot method is launching an arrow up the anal opening (AKA: "Texas Heart Shot").  I hunt quite a bit wearing a Shaggie while sitting on a folding seat using a full mounted super jake decoy.  I got the mount from my taxidermist.  They are DEADLY on wary Easterns. DEADLY. My mounted decoy has lost so many feathers and is so disfigured that he is known in these parts as "Frankenturkey".  Once a big bird gets between "Frank" and my arrow - AND FANS, I'm free to draw and slip an arrow up the old WAZOO!

[Gary Logsdon]

FYI: The turkey on the cover of the current (April/May)issue of Traditional Bowhunter Magazine was taken by me last year using a Shaggie and mounted decoy.

[Charlie Lamb]

String on the tracker attaches behind the point. No drag on the arrow to speak of. I'd shoot to 20 yards with confidence... if I just had to. I like 'em close.

[Dirtybird]

Charlie do you use Velcro to attach the string?

[dixiearcher]

What type of decoy works best? hen or jake? brand?...I have never used one before