Archery recovery distance

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.