bow hunting turkeys

[adam16]

Im going to be turkey hunting with my bow this year and any tips people might have would be appreciated and when

should I go get the archery tag thanks

[Cooter]

My tip would be that if you are hunting out of a blind, especially on a field edge, to either have a rangefinder or mark a few distances before you hunt. I have a horrible time judging distances in one of those. Oh yeah, and make sure you can at least make some sort of turkey sounding noise with a mouth call

[outfishedagain]

If your looking for an added challange in turkey hunting, I would buy a tag. My recommendation would be to spend a little more time scouting. Finding the right cover and setup is key.

Make sure to you have clear shoot lanes!! Just from past experience.

[HateHumminbird]

Adam:

Hello, and welcome to the turkey page!

As for the tag, I believe you can purchase them now as they were supposed to be available after March 1st.

Regarding some tips for bowhunting turkeys, look back a page or four at some of the current posts in this forum for many general turkey hunting tips and strategies. Should you run across something that doesn't make sense, or should you have other more specific questions, I'm sure we all would be happy to help in whatever way we can.

Good luck, get that tag, you'll be happy you did!

Joel

[Powerstroke]

I hunted turkeys by bow last year and I waited till the week before the season since I wanted to buy my license for the zone I wanted to hunt it. By not having to commit to a zone like in the lottery, you have the ability to seek out hunting spots right up to your season starting and pick whichever zone you feel most confident about.

[adam16]

thanks guys i have a buddy hunting with me and

he's never hunted turkeys befor I have shot one

so im going to take him out hopfully get him one

adam

[river huntfish]

Turkey Hunting is difficult the first few years at least it was for me. I'm thinking of trying to arrow a nice gobbler sometime soon that would be a challenge though.

[Neiko]

If you have your bow cranked up you might want to drop it some. I had mine at 65lbs for bear when I went. I sent 2 arrows through a Tom and a jake and man did I feel bad. You may want to consider Gobbler Guittones also.

[sticknstring]

Give it a shot! Hunting the last two periods can be tough with lots of foliage and educated birds but if you do your homework you can make it a success. Get yourself a blind and practice shooting broadheads out of it, either from your knees or a stool. Find a spot the birds frequent and call sporadically and have patience. I've found 10am to be a magical time. Run & gun tactics typically don't work well for bowhunting turkeys. Bring a book and a few snacks. I don't feel there's any need to crank your bow weight down. Pass throughs are perfectly acceptable. I've been shooting the same head for 5 years and I get passthroughs half of the time. It takes a lot of kinetic energy to shoot a big expandable through a turkey. I'd go with the highest weight you can comfortably pull and hold from a blind position. The wing bone is very tough and I've seen guys bounce arrows off it many times. Feel free to ask more questions. The best of luck to you and your buddy on your hunt.

[HateHumminbird]

I'd like to add that pass-thru's might be acceptable, but not preferred, especially when shooting standard-fixed broadheads. The massive expandables will provide an incredible amount of shock and damage if they pass-thru completely, hopefully leading to decreased recovery time and distance.

So, perhaps depending on your broadhead, you might think of cranking the bow-weight down, remembering that this will also affect your aiming point and trajectory.

Stick - good advice on staying patient with bow-in-hand. The temptation to crawl out of that blind and get after them is a strong one, esp. when you start hunting them with a gun I've spooked many birds and killed none while trying to get the drop on them outside of the blind!

Joel

[harvey lee]

I will agree with the poundage turned down. No need to blow the arrow through the bird. Let the arrow plow into the bird and stay so when he flops around it will do more damage. You do not want to chase the bird across the next 40. They are tough critters.