Compound bow gobbler

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Renegadehunter

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I went out a couple days after the opener, promptly called in a couple Toms and 6 hens, and then also promptly missed one of the Toms. My hat has a drop down face screen sewn into it and it is meant to be tied behind your neck, but the birds came in fast so I didn't bother to tie it. This resulted in my string catching it when I released and the arrow shot wide right and was a clean miss. I'd shot with it tied many times, but hadn't ever tried without it tied. Lesson learned.
I finally went out again last Friday. I again got on a Tom right at daylight and called him in, but the set up was poor. I don't use a blind and depend on trees/cover to get drawn or the bird strutting around the decoy so I can draw when his tail fan blocks his view. There was little cover and the Tom just didn't strut. He came to about 5 yards from the decoy and then just stood there for about 30 seconds. He then decided something wasn't quite right and wandered off to my right. A right handed archer has little range to swing to the right for a shot and I ended up having to just let him walk away. A decent bird with around an 8" beard.

I could faintly hear some more birds gobbling and headed their way. After getting closer I could hear that there was a dominant Tom with some hens and 3 more Toms around them, harassing them a lot like satellite bulls do during the elk rut. One of the "satellite" Toms was being very vocal and I moved in closer to him. There was a lot of trees and cover to work with so I was able to get within about 100 yards from him, couldn't see him so judging only by sound. I found a great set up spot, a small clearing to put the decoy in the middle of and a nice comfy stump for me to sit on with good cover behind it. There was a thick/close together amount of trees in the direction of the Tom, so I'd be able to catch glimpses of him coming but still have cover to draw. My first yelps resulted in all of the Tom's answering. Mr. Vocal would gobble every time before I could get the third yelp completed after that. A few minutes later I caught movement in the thick trees and saw him coming. When he went behind the last good cover I drew back. He popped out into the opening, saw the decoy, and puffed up right away. He was maybe 15 yards from me so I settled my top pin on his vitals and gave the wrist release trigger a squeeze. My old back up Alpine bow (current bow is set up for 3d shooting) sent the Goldtip carbon arrow tipped with a 3 blade fixed original Muzzy with an adder point added behind it (to help slow the arrow and add a bit of shock) through the bird. He somersaulted and started flopping, game over.
It had registered in my brain briefly that it was a jake, but I'm not very picky when trying for one with a bow without a blind. He'll taste great after going through the smoker. He had about 5/8" spurs (dull ones) and ZERO beard. There was a bare patch where a beard normally is, got it torn off somehow...probably fightin. Hope everyone else's season is open and going well. One of these days I'm going to get a smoothbore to play with for these fun to hunt birds.
bow turkey.jpg
 
That is awesome! Do you have a pic of the adder thing to slow the arrow down? I whacked one with a 3 blade a couple years ago and of coarse blew through him from one end to another. He folded on the spot, then jumped up and looked back at me, took 3 steps and flew off. Coyote food never to be seen again!
 
Very interesting! I've never seen those before. Do they tear the heck out of what your shooting(small Game)?
 
Very interesting! I've never seen those before. Do they tear the heck out of what your shooting(small Game)?
Not as bad as you'd think. Behind a BH it is a smaller diameter than the BH cutting diameter, but still helps to impart some of the kinetic energy into the bird rather than go through it like warm butter like you witnessed. Even better to get the arrow to stay in the bird, but tough to do with a bow that has 70 lbs limbs on it, even if turned down as far as you safely can. Most of us use our deer/elk set up for them, just way overkill for a turkey.
I use the adder points in September with just a field point for a grouse arrow too. It does make a bit of a hole through them, but the main benefit it serves is keeping the arrow from knifing under vegetation and being lost.
I bought some of the guillotine style heads a couple of years ago, but then watched the "included set up video" and never ended up even trying them. They require a very stiff spine arrow, left full length, 4" 4 fletch vanes are best, and tuning your bow to them as well. I simply don't want to completely retune my bow for a turkey hunting head.
I heard about another turkey head a couple years ago, but keep procrastinating on buying some. It is called a VPA Turkey Spur. It looks like a great turkey head and I've read that it hits like Thor's hammer. I will try these one of these years, I think it'll be the next best thing for shooting turkeys besides a guillotine style. I should buy some right now...
Here's a link to them:
https://www.vparchery.com/product-page/turkey-spur-125-grain
 
Not as bad as you'd think. Behind a BH it is a smaller diameter than the BH cutting diameter, but still helps to impart some of the kinetic energy into the bird rather than go through it like warm butter like you witnessed. Even better to get the arrow to stay in the bird, but tough to do with a bow that has 70 lbs limbs on it, even if turned down as far as you safely can. Most of us use our deer/elk set up for them, just way overkill for a turkey.
I use the adder points in September with just a field point for a grouse arrow too. It does make a bit of a hole through them, but the main benefit it serves is keeping the arrow from knifing under vegetation and being lost.
I bought some of the guillotine style heads a couple of years ago, but then watched the "included set up video" and never ended up even trying them. They require a very stiff spine arrow, left full length, 4" 4 fletch vanes are best, and tuning your bow to them as well. I simply don't want to completely retune my bow for a turkey hunting head.
I heard about another turkey head a couple years ago, but keep procrastinating on buying some. It is called a VPA Turkey Spur. It looks like a great turkey head and I've read that it hits like Thor's hammer. I will try these one of these years, I think it'll be the next best thing for shooting turkeys besides a guillotine style. I should buy some right now...
Here's a link to them:
https://www.vparchery.com/product-page/turkey-spur-125-grain

Do they crimp on after you slide them on?


Mike
 
AWESOME Job with your Bow, I have been wanting to do that for a Long time with my Bow, I needed to Quit Procrastinating and DO IT! CONGRATS On your Turkey RH :lewis:
 
Do they crimp on after you slide them on?


Mike

No, they have a hole in them for the back of the BH shaft/threads to go through and then they are simply squeezed between the head of the BH and the arrow insert. They don't even interfere with the rubber o-ring on the BH shaft, so you can still align a blade to the cock vane if you want.
 
AWESOME Job with your Bow, I have been wanting to do that for a Long time with my Bow, I needed to Quit Procrastinating and DO IT! CONGRATS On your Turkey RH :lewis:

Far and away the most important part is to make sure you have a good BH set up for them. Just a plain old fixed BH is about the worst head you can use unless you're good enough to hit their vitals every single time. It just smokes through them with little kinetic energy getting transferred into them and they will be next to impossible to find if they fly. An adder point added behind the BH, or even a washer, helps a lot. I really think those VPA Turkey Spurs will prove to be a great head for them. Being able to smack 'em hard still does the job if the vitals are missed.
There are times that they just never present a good chance to draw and shoot, but it isn't normally that hard to get a shot at one. My most successful scenarios are when just a single comes in, less eyeballs to fool, and they strut around the decoy. I get drawn on them 75% of the time when they are strutting and they turn so that their tail fan is completely blocking their head. I have tried targeting the wing butt when they are sideways, it works if you can break one of the wings, but miss and you are a bit low for the vitals and they fly away most of the time.
There is a saying for shooting them with a bow, "Shoot 'em high, watch 'em die, shoot 'em low, watch them go". I find that to be true, but the arrow head being used is the most important part of it.
 
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