[gharner]

I was just wondering with proper shot placement, how far will a bird usually make it after being shot with an arrow? Anyone have any stories of both short and long recovery? One property I will be hunting is very small and I would like to make sure that if I use a bow, I set up in an area that isn't too close to any of the property lines just in case.

 

[sparkchaser]

Both of the birds that I shot ran less than 20 yds. They were both shot at the wing joint where it meets the body. One was with a Grim Reaper and the other with a Montec G5.

 

[dpms]

I have killed three with the bow.

One was shot broadside. Hit just in front of wing butt and never took another step.

Second was shot head on at the base of the beard. Never took another step.

Third was shot head on at base of beard. Traveled 10 yards.

 

[Asajoe1]

My buddy has shot several that went hardly anywhere but I was with him once when the bird made it airborne, locked it's wings and glided along ways. It was dead when it hit the ground but took awhile to find.

 

[Kip Feroce]

Have shot several with archery equipment. Large toms' need good shot placement for a short flop. Have had them sail big after a shot, and like was said above, found dead a few hundred yds away. Always just used my thunderhead razors.
Most of them flopped within 25yds or so from impact.
Good Luck!

 

[Muppet]

I have shot 5 with a bow...all with deer hunting equipment. Longest one was this year and he went 50 yards. I hit him so dead center I shaved a chunk out of the beard.

 

[David Rearick]

Just depends on the turkey and the penetration. I have had them run 35 yards or fall over in their tracks.

Always hit a turkey high, about 2/3 up the body on a non-strutting bird. If they are standing upright aim straight up the leg right above the copper-colored bar on the wing. When in strut, again straight up the leg and above the copper bar but note that is about dead center of the body when they are fanned out. The Merriam I shot last week I shot in strut up the vent. Didn't hit any meat and took out every vital. It went 0 yards.

Regardless of your opinions on expandables like Rage for deer, on turkey, the 2" diameter cut of an expandable is a great asset.

 

[Hookspur]

Man, it just depends on where ya hit him! I've had 'em pile up and never move an inch, and I've had 'em fly off and drop out of the sky 150 yards away, and I've had 'em walk away as if nothing happened and then fall over stone dead. The first tom I shot with the bow was gone from sight as soon as I released the arrow (he'd come over the top of a hill at 15 yards), and when I got to where he'd been....no turkey. I got down on my hands and knees and started blood trailing the tiny droplets he'd left along his path, and after 400 yards I found him dead as a wedge. Another tom ran off and bled unbelievably good, but I lost him in a multiflower rose patch after 500 yards. With the amount of blood that bird was losing, I expected at any moment to recover him, but he was gone. Came back with a buddy for additional manpower, and searched for 2 days, but we never did find that tom. That was very disheartening. Now, I try to shoot them in line with the legs and about 3 inches below the backbone. That puts the arrow in the boilerroom, and if you're high, you hit backbone. If low, you take out the legs and he can't fly away. Left or right a little and you're still gonna kill him. The only problem (in my eyes) with shooting at the "traditionally acknowledged" wing-butt area, is if you shoot a little too far forward. Then, your arrow will cut through the breast meat, and there's a good chance that you won't kill the bird.

 

[bigbear]

I lost a fall hen once with a bow, and vowed it would never happen with a spring gobbler. Too many places here in the big woods for them to sail off into to never be found and just be coyote bait IMHO.