Turkey bow hunt -- it bounced off him!!

[mazzgolf]

Welp, THAT didn't go as planned! 

I'll make this short, because I'm still kinda depressed and don't want to write a book this time.

Got into my blind and before shooting time, had a bird gobbling less than 100 yards in front of me. THIS is the morning, I was thinking. Trying for my first turkey with a bow.

Had a Jake, laydown hen, and standing hen decoys 10 yards in front of me. A live hen brings in a little Jake with a mature Tom following. That mature  Tom was either Smart with a capital S or a coward. He was gobbling up a storm but would not come into the decoys - even though the hen was standing in the middle of my decoys and the Jake was strutting and eventually trying to mount my standalone hen decoy. I'm thinking, "Get in there! BE A MAN! That little BOY is having his way with your LADY! PROTECT HER HONOR!" But nope... that little Jake was harassing my hen decoy but that big Tom would not come in and give me a shot. He would just gobble and stay off to my right, went into a little grove of pine trees, went behind me - all within 15 yards of me, but gave me no shot at all at any time. Gobbled like crazy and strutted the whole time - that part was awesome... Like I say, he was either smart or a coward  I couldn't believe he wouldn't at least come in and bully that live Jake off the hen decoy - he didn't even care about the laydown hen that he had to have seen.
Anyway, I decided - enough is enough. I was going to take the Jake. Pulled back the bow, waited for his head to stretch up and...... this happened.

Damn if that arrow didn't bounce right off the bird!! At first I thought I completely whiffed. The bird jumped a bit, quickly walked about 30 yards away, and looped around in front of me - walked back into an open area and hung out for a little bit before going back to where he came from. He looked perfectly fine.  But after I packed up to leave a little later, I saw all those feathers and wondered where in the world I hit him. I aimed just above the base of his neck - I guess I aimed too low. I was trying to go just above where the feathers stop and the bald skin of the neck start - just above that point. But I guess I need to aim higher than that. First time I shot at a turkey with these Magnus broadheads. I hate having to learn lessons like this (the hard way!).

The mature Tom had no idea anything happened. He was still walking around doing his thing - he wasn't near the Jake when I shot. I'm hoping he'll be there tomorrow.

BAH!! I'm kicking myself! Much harder hunting with a bow! Gotta get 'em in close and make the shot count when they do!

Other than that - it was an awesome morning just for the action that mature Tom was giving me. He was strutting and gobbling for over an hour... half that time he was 40 yards and closer to me. He just never came and gave me the shot I wanted.

[hunterbob1]

Cool hunt. What broadhead

[mazzgolf]

20 minutes ago, hunterbob1 said:

What broadhead

Magnus Bullhead with their companion arrow:

* https://www.magnusbroadheads.com/products/Bullhead-100-grain-3-blade-2-3quarter-cutting-diam-Broadhead-3-Pack.html

* https://www.magnusbroadheads.com/products/Bullhead-300-4-4-inch-orange-and-brown-feathers-Victory-Arrow-for-bow-weights-60-to-70.html

[Cripple Shot]

My guess...

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by Cripple Shot
Sorry Mazzgolf answered

[electricstart]

Exciting hunt ,  Tough with the bow . Shot has to be perfect especially head . 

[hunterbob1]

Just now, mazzgolf said:

Magnus Bullhead with their companion arrow:

* https://www.magnusbroadheads.com/products/Bullhead-100-grain-3-blade-2-3quarter-cutting-diam-Broadhead-3-Pack.html

* https://www.magnusbroadheads.com/products/Bullhead-300-4-4-inch-orange-and-brown-feathers-Victory-Arrow-for-bow-weights-60-to-70.html

That's a Bigga broadhead.I've killed em neck shot with  thunder heads, they didn't have mechanicals then, I got lucky. Takin them with a shot to the boiler room so what if the breast meat gets a little slice. I have to say I don't believe that you've been hunting that long took it up in a later age but damn you sure caught on fast

 

[hunterbob1]

11 minutes ago, Cripple Shot said:

My guess...

 

Damn if I got shot with that in the neck I'd be flopping.lol

[mazzgolf]

2 minutes ago, electricstart said:

Tough with the bow . Shot has to be perfect especially head . 

This is my first season trying with a bow - and the first time I flung an arrow at a real turkey. Lesson learned... need to aim higher up on the head/neck area to compensate perhaps for the broadhead to drop a little lower than expected. I am guessing that is what happened. I practiced with this broadhead and thought I had it dialed in - but I guess it needs to be perfect-perfect.

It's all a blur - I focus so hard on my point of aim, I can't even remember if the bird was standing broadside or facing me - I either hit his back or chest.. I don't even know. Almost all of those feathers look like they came from the chest, so I'm guessing I hit low into the chest feathers.

[hunterbob1]

1 minute ago, mazzgolf said:

This is my first season trying with a bow - and the first time I flung an arrow at a real turkey. Lesson learned... need to aim higher up on the head/neck area to compensate perhaps for the broadhead to drop a little lower than expected. I am guessing that is what happened. I practiced with this broadhead and thought I had it dialed in - but I guess it needs to be perfect-perfect.

It's all a blur - I focus so hard on my point of aim, I can't even remember if the bird was standing broadside or facing me - I either hit his back or chest.. I don't even know. Almost all of those feathers look like they came from the chest, so I'm guessing I hit low into the chest feathers.

Too bad you didn't have a head cam to go back to the videotape

[mazzgolf]

3 minutes ago, hunterbob1 said:

I don't believe that you've been hunting that long took it up in a later age but damn you sure caught on fast

 It helps when you have friends with private land that let you hunt it. This particular spot is just me hunting the area. So that makes it much easier - not having to compete with other public land hunters, and the birds are less pressured and less skittish (well, NOW they might be skittish! LOL) . Funny thing is - my first two days of A-week this season and I bagged two birds - both were public land birds. Go figure.

[hunterbob1]

1 minute ago, mazzgolf said:

 It helps when you have friends with private land that let you hunt it. This particular spot is just me hunting the area. So that makes it much easier - not having to compete with other public land hunters, and the birds are less pressured and less skittish (well, NOW they might be skittish! LOL) . Funny thing is - my first two days of A-week this season and I bagged two birds - both were public land birds. Go figure.

You do your homework and you put your time in

That's why you're Successful

[Buck154]

Where's the arrow? Did id it go beyond where the bird was. Bounce off or just cut the feathers? Still sounds like a great day in the woods.

[Shootstraight]

It certainly a challenge with the bow but fun. My buddy Nick and I use to kill them with the bow year after year and found shooting them in the body did the trick. We used an expandable Grim Reaper and as the saying goes, hit them high watch'em die, hit them low watch'em go. But the expendables ensured a quick clean kill.

 

It is late in the season and the gobblers for the most part are not responding to the decoys as in the beginning of the season when they are amped up and ready to fight.  At least you have a couple more days to let another one fly and hope you get another opportunity

 

Good luck!

 

SS!

 

[mazzgolf]

55 minutes ago, Buck154 said:

Where's the arrow? Did id it go beyond where the bird was. Bounce off or just cut the feathers? Still sounds like a great day in the woods.

That's a good question! The arrow landed a little further back (beyond) from where the Jake was standing and it was pointing basically left-to-right (so essentially landed perpendicular to the arrow flight).

After it all happened, I scanned the area and finally saw where it was laying while I was still in my blind trying to rewind what just happened and couldn't figure out how the arrow landed where it did.

So--- based on that, I can't believe it hit dead-straight onto the bird's chest (otherwise, how could it have landed beyond where the bird was standing?). Perhaps it more grazed the bird than a direct hit? I was aiming for the neck, not the body - so... I dunno. Maybe it grazed his back?

It is amazing how something like that can be just a blur. I really didn't see the arrow in-flight -- I'm so focused on my point of aim that when the arrow flies it takes me a second to refocus on everything else - I really don't know what happened!

It really was a fun day in the woods - ended in a bit of disappointment for sure, but... 100% better than watching the grass grow. The other 2 days I was here I was watching that hen for hours without a sniff of seeing a male bird, so this was definitely better than that, too.

[chenrossi]

20 minutes ago, Shootstraight said:

It certainly a challenge with the bow but fun. My buddy Nick and I use to kill them with the bow year after year and found shooting them in the body did the trick. We used an expandable Grim Reaper and as the saying goes, hit them high watch'em die, hit them low watch'em go. But the expendables ensured a quick clean kill.

 

It is late in the season and the gobblers for the most part are not responding to the decoys as in the beginning of the season when they are amped up and ready to fight.  At least you have a couple more days to let another one fly and hope you get another opportunity

 

Good luck!

 

SS!

 

Beat me to it. I was going to suggest go for the body. Pump house behind the breast meat and break wing out the opposite side. That's the ticket.