# Shot placement on turkeys



## buckyforever

Excellent post! This will help a lot of hunters, me included.


----------



## Nomad_Archer

Also if the bird is not at full strut and broadside you want to follow the legs straight up and shoot right in the the middle of the body.


----------



## abowhunr

Here is where I would want to shoot a standing turkey at the angle he is presenting to me in this picture. If you hit a turkey here with a Grim Reaper Razortip with the 1 3/4 inch cut he will not make it 20 yards worth of flopping. If you pay attention you will see the curvature of the wing butt just in front of the target dot. If you hit here you will take out the wings as well as the vitals and with that big cut Reaper you may even sever the spine on this shot. Pay attention to the location of the shadows for the wing butt instead of watching the legs as the legs can be forward or back just like in this picture, but the wing butts stay in place. Turkeys have all sorts of proper aiming points on them if you spend the time dissecting them and paying close attention. almost like they were tailor made for bowhunting. 

I am not a fan of shooting turkeys through the drumsticks to break them down. I prefer to try to flat out kill them quick. Of course lopping their heads off does that with great effect, but I still prefer to not use that broadhead myself. Just a personal thing. I have been fortunate enough to take a lot of turkeys including a single season Grand Slam a couple years back that I am pretty proud of.


----------



## Nomad_Archer

Thanks for the picture thats where I was trying to describe as the general area to aim but its a little difficult to describe with out the picture.


----------



## abowhunr

Yes, pictures are quite useful, at least to me they are. I hope everyone finds these helpful. Trust me that these spots are the deadliest on turkeys, and I want everyone to succeed when they finally get their chance to shoot an arrow.


----------



## Nomad_Archer

I agree thanks for the pics. Last year I had a bird come in and I let it walk because there was a pencil sized twig right where the green dot is on your last picture.


----------



## mike 66

*dont loose your bird...*

shoot the head, either a clean kill or clean miss nothing wounded no tracking.100% better recovery rate. feathers are like armor, head is not covered with feathers. dont believe what you see on tv. they fake it too much.:croc:


----------



## Nomad_Archer

mike 66 said:


> shoot the head, either a clean kill or clean miss nothing wounded no tracking.100% better recovery rate. feathers are like armor, head is not covered with feathers. dont believe what you see on tv. they fake it too much.:croc:


These are shot placements for hunting turkeys with a bow. The feathers stand no chance from a broadhead tipped arrow. With a gun yes aim for the head. With a bow use the spots in shown in the pictures above.


----------



## gindog1

Thanks Greg for the info



abowhunr said:


> This question comes up often so I thought I would write a little bit about exactly where to shoot a turkey when you are using your archery equipment. The green dots on the pictures are the proper shot locations to put the turkey down quick. With turkeys I highly recommend that you shoot a large diameter mechanical broadhead and I also very highly recommend the 1 3/4 inch Grim Reaper RazorTip. It is pure death on the gobblers.
> 
> 
> This is the typical sideways strutting gobbler shot. If you will pay close attention to this picture you will notice that the feathers make a football shaped patch high up on the gobblers back. This football shaped patch is exactly where you will want to place your arrow. The lungs on a gobbler sit right up against the backbone and are only about 1/2 inch wide x 2.5 inches long. A very small target. If you put your broadhead right through this football you will take the gobbler down very very fast. You can NOT hit the gobbler here and hit the gobbler too high to be deadly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a gobbler that is quartering towards you. If you look closely at a gobbler in this position you will notice that the feathers come together and make a Y shaped crease at the leading edge of the football shaped patch that we highlighted in the previous picture. The place where the Y makes this crease of feathers is your target for this type of shot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a picture of a gobbler that is facing you. Your target here will be right on top of the place where the beard is attached to the gobbler. You can hit the gobbler from the beard up to the neck and still have a very deadly shot. You do NOT want to hit the gobbler lower than the beard.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a quartering towards you shot with a slight angle. This one is nearly frontal but with the slight quarter you will adjust your shot to hit right between the Y crease for the quartering and the beard. If you will also look closely I have dotted the hens in the picture too for the walking away shot placement. If you will pay attention to the turkey as it is walking away from you then you will notice that the feathers on the turkey will change colors about mid back. This is your target zone. You will want to center your arrow directly on the color change of the feathers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the rear strutter gobbler and the shot here is made right where the tail feathers come together at the base. A shot placed here will anchor the turkey on the spot. DRT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine that you have an orange suspended within a basketball and you can't see the orange. This is what you are trying to hit when you are bowhunting turkeys. You have to be able to visualize this orange even though you can't see it. Then you have to pass your arrow right through the orange every time. If you guys have any questions about bowhunting turkeys or just bowhunting in general then ask away. I have been bowhunting for about 27 years so have gained a little knowledge that I can share.
> 
> Greg


----------



## TMall

ttt with this :thumbs_up
Thanks man


----------



## 05_sprcrw

Great info this will help me a ton for my first ever turkey hunt this weekend. :thumbs_up


----------



## ESMO-Joe

This is a great post with very good shot placement information. Thanks for the post.


----------



## Early Ice

*thanks*

thanks for all the advice. Killed this one and aimed at the wing butt, broke the wing and hit the offside leg. Couldn't run or fly. The bird didn't die, I had to walk up and put another arrow in him at 10 yards.


----------



## Big Ragu

*OH YEA good stuff*

Thanks for the brush up!!:shade::shade:


----------

