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Losing turkeys after the shot.

2K views 37 replies 25 participants last post by  turkeyinstinct 
#1 ·
I hit this turkey facing me at full strut twenty yards away and had blood all over my arrow, and he flew off in the thick woods. After an hour search in the jungle at night I gave up. Do any of ya'll make kill shots and lose them very often? They are one tough bird!
 
#5 ·
I have shot three birds in the body that got away and were never recovered. It stinks. Between the location of the vitals (high in the bird's body), the illusion of size in a full strut tom, and the very small amount of liquid blood in a turkey's body; they are pretty tough to kill with a body shot. And for some reason, the ones looking right at you are the toughest of all. Not only are they hard to kill, but they can actually see the arrow coming and dodge it!
 
#6 ·
It's harder to make a quick kill shot on a turkey than people think. That said, if they can, they will use their last few breaths to bury themselves in the thickest stuff they can find. Check under every ground-hugging limb, brush/log piles large and small, rock piles, etc. If it's big enough to hide a turkey, look in/under/behind it. More than once I've taken an hour or two to find a bird that was likely dead less than 20 seconds after the shot.
 
#7 ·
I haven't lost one yet(knock on wood) but have had to really look to find a few.. I never used them but string trackers were a good thing for turkey hunting. I know of a number of birds back when that would not have been recovered without it.

I use a head that has only the last half inch of each blade sharpened. Knocks the snot out of them and has stayed in the bird most the time .
 
#8 ·
I use expandable gobbler getter spitfires...luckily they anchor the bird each time I have used them. drops them where they stand....done and basically expired by the time I can get out of my blind and walk up to them
 
#9 ·
I have only lost one bird,thank goodness.My buddies and I call them robo birds,they are so hard to take out.
I swear by mechanicals for turkey,or at least the little gamegetter you put behind a broadhead.They have knock down power.I've actually had my best luck with Rocket Steelheads.Good penetration.With an arrow half way through them,they don't go far.
 
#10 ·
I have used Spitfires, Rages, Muzzys with the wire hooks, and Turkey Terrors. They all will work with a perfect shot. And none of them will work with a shot that goes a little low or a little forward.
 
#12 ·
I have SEEN many people lose birds with straight on shot... just not a good shot at all.... no offense to you but i have seen many birds shot straight on and they lose them...
the best shots are going away shots and broadside shots... hope this helps... stick with those rules of thumb and you will have much better luck!
 
#13 ·
I hear about the high success rate on the message boards and I'm sure most are telling the truth, but I know two very accomplished bowhunters in my area (one owns a pro shop and has killed more trophys than most could ever dream of) and both of them told me they were about 50% on recovering body-shot turkeys. One of the guys switched to the GG and changed his success rate dramatically. He's killed birds in 3 different states this year using the GG. Being from NE OK, you probably know who I'm talking about.
 
#14 ·
That's about where I am at - 50% recovery rate. One of my buddies is arguably the best bow shot in this area. He might be 60%. I was giving up on body shots this year and got some Magnus Bullheads. Spent a fair amount of time getting my Vectrix XL all dialed in to shoot these without changing the sights from my regular big game hunting shafts. Then put a couple of Turkey Terrors on regular shafts and stuck them in the quiver just in case. Wound up using one of these on a 40 yard going away shot. Perfect hit, with the head lodged in the heart/lung. Still almost lost the bird.
 
#15 ·
Your experience as well as thousands of other bowhunters of which I've experienced myself is what got me to inventing the Guillotine broadheads...you either lop its head off and kill it instantly...or you simply just missed. No lost birds, no wasted meat....no searching for hours a supremely camoflauged critter quite adept at hiding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYsK85Vdg-4

Have a look at this link....we invented and debuted this category of broadhead seven years ago...and this year debuted the next generation in the "Diamond Edition" version.
Any turkey bowhunting questions...feel free to PM us....we have learned a few things about getting it done first time....every time.
Want it Dead? Lop off its Head!
 
#20 ·
If your only getting 50% recovery rate on body shots-- Quit hunting and start practicing!! I've hunted turks for about 15 years, took body shots on all, i've lost one! Using fixed blade heads! I'm no great shot either! If you can't kill a turkey under 20 yds with a arrow.. Start practicing! If you can't get a bird into 20 yd.s or closer you need to brush up on your calling! :(
 
#21 ·
I hate to say anything but 50% ! I'd go back to shooting them with a shotgun then. That's a lot of dead birds laying out there. Randy
 
#22 ·
I agree, if I'm getting 50% wounding on the birds I'll use a shotgun. I've only shot 2 birds with a bow, both were recovered. I have too much respect for the bird than to leave half of them dead in the woods.
 
#23 ·
Running turkeys

It you bowhunt Turkey you will loose one eventually. I shot one big bird at 52 yards with a spitfire . I was shooting 80lbs and hit the bird good. The bird flipped and flopped and I took off after him and he ran to the edge of the woods and Im guessing he sailed off the steep ridge. That was the first blood trail I had on a Turkey. It was like shooting a deer. I have never in my life seen so much blood from a Turkey . I never found him. He was a monster.
 
#24 ·
It you bowhunt Turkey you will loose one eventually. I shot one big bird at 52 yards with a spitfire . I was shooting 80lbs and hit the bird good. The bird flipped and flopped and I took off after him and he ran to the edge of the woods and Im guessing he sailed off the steep ridge. That was the first blood trail I had on a Turkey. It was like shooting a deer. I have never in my life seen so much blood from a Turkey . I never found him. He was a monster.
That is true of every animal, if you bowhunt long enough you will lose one. But you can really up your odds of a successful harvest by taking only good shots. I have killed a bunch of deer and a few turkeys and never lost one, not because I'm a great hunter or shot but because I only take high percentage shots. A good percentage of lost animals are hit by long range or poor shots, IMO.
 
#27 ·
I found my turkey, a 1 1/2 days later. He had been eaten by the yotes. I still recovered his beard and spurs. At least I never quit looking and found him. 9 7/8" beard, almost 1 " spurs. He was shot straight through from front to back through the vitals no breast. He was almost 300 yards from the shot point in a jungle of woods.
 
#29 ·
If you look around the archery community, you will find a number of big name bowhunters who hunt just about every 4 legged critter with a bow - but pull out the shotgun for turkeys. I would venture that most of them tried it a couple of times with a bow, and didn't like wounding birds. Jim Dougherty said as much in an interview awhile back. I was about at that point this year. They are very tough to reliably kill with a bow if you take body shots.

I know this is the internet - where all game is hit perfectly every time and no hunter worth his salt would ever own up to anything less than perfection. Among the real world archers I know, wounding turkeys with body shots is a real problem. And I'll bet that there are scores of real world archers out there reading these posts thinking "no way am I going to admit to wounding almost as many birds as I kill and run the certainty of ridicule from the internet police". Just my .02 cents worth. I went to the Bullhead this year. It was that or the 12 guage.
 
#31 ·
I have shot bear, whitetails and moose with bow, but I use a shotgun for turkeys, and I limit my range to 40 yards. They are tough birds to put down, and I HATE to wound and lose any animal. I make it challenging by limiting myself to a cerain size limit or one particular bird, no blinds, no decoys, only shoot a bird that I have called in, no ambush, etc.. If I was losing 50% of the animals I shot with a bow, I would hang it up.
 
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