How often do you get pass through on Turkeys? Is it common and if so how many use stoppers such as Zwickey Scorpios that slide down shaft slowing penetration. Can string tracker and scorpio be combined? or is it too easy for string to tangle with scorpio and get cut/snapped during penetration, thus negating tracker option?
All good points. Turkeys aren't difficult to completely shoot through. That's when they run off & you can't find them for lack of a bloodtrail. Makes 3-blades & backup adapters good to keep the arrow inside. Stringtrackers worry me.
In my experience its harder to get a complete pass through on a turkey than a deer.
The only turkeys I ever shot through were broadside and were not recovered. When I started shooting my birds lengthwise (ie head-on or tail-on) or a hard quartering angle either front or back I 1. stopped shooting through them and 2. stopped having problems recovering them.
Just my 2 cents.
R
I had a pass through on a turkey a few months back with a 3 blade woodsman out od a 40# bow. Ripped a great hole and I had a nice blood trail. Was on snow and I had no trouble finding her.
I use the large 160 Snuffers because I don't want to passthru. Turkeys are tough, I want to hit them hard and have that arrow in them. Keeps them on the ground much longer...
I ve heard some place a washer behind the broadhead to slow the penetration.
My experience is similar to Ryan's.
Like Joe Skipp the 160 Snuffer works well for me. I also shoot a much lighter bow 51# for turkeys to hopefully avoid pass throughs.
I've only shot one turkey, but hope to change that in a couple month. At any rate, it was broadside, through both lungs, and fell dead in ten steps. I don't think the arrow slowed down going through the bird.
Turkeys cannot fly off if shot thru wingbutts nor can they if you take out both legs at the socket or close to it in the hip. They cannot get a running start or jump up to take off. I hit one in the upper wing cutting the bone and entering the chest it did not pass thru and I heard it thunk. He jumped up and down a couple of times and could not go anywhere then his buddies came over and kicked him while he was down. I discovered the leg thing accidentally with a muzzleloader one year. It was pretty lethal too. I do not intend to try the leg shot but if I missed my mark broadside I would rather it go there than below the lungs. From a treestand I did put an arrow thru a small turkey quartering too me. It went thru the collar bone and which came out the other side just in front of the hip. Took a step and started wobbling and took a couple of stumbing steps and went down within 2 feet.
I think it's harder to get a pass through on a turkey than on a deer. To start with, their feathers absorb a lot of the arrow's energy. Second, there's just not much body mass there. They tend to move with the arrow with the impact of the shot, retarding penetration. In short, don't worry about shooting through them. It usually won't be a problem.
If you got a pass through on a turkey and couldn't find it it's because you passed through some feathers.
If the string tracker and /or scorpio affect the accuracy of your arrow by even 1 inch at 20 yards, I would not use them. Shoot your most accurate Broadhead/arrow combination. Bowhunting is a shoot thru sport. IMO...2 holes leak blood better than one. drive that BH thru the bird and cut and bust as much tissue and bone as you can.....in short shoot your most accurate BH ,and the rest will happen...good luck
I would bet on a pass through on a 200lb wild hog Vs a wild turkey the way things have played out for me turkey hunting the last few years. I shoot about 50lbs@27" draw and have seen arrows make it 1" to 2" or less into a turkey on a wing side shot.I no longer take side shots most every bird I had a problem finding was a side shot. My favorite is facing away then a front chest shot head on or a slight angle. I just have had a way better recovery at those angles myself. I normally shot a 1.5" head for deer but on turkeys I went to a long lean 2 blade 1 1/8th to 1 3/16th wide I normally have arrow sticking out on two ends after impact. I love hunting turkey with bow I harvested two toms last year but it isn't easy.
I've shot dozens of them,but never had a complete pass through.
Plenty of holes on both sides,but never picked up the arrow from the ground after it's zipped clean through.
ED.
How much bow weight/arrow weight are ya'll ( no pass through crowd) shooting? I have had exactly the opposite results on the birds i have killed..pass throughs everytime..head to butt , facing, side ways..whatever...pass throughs...i have had also 2 turkeys fly off with an arrow stuck in it (lost)...you ever seen that?....one difference maybe i do not change my setup from deer to turkey...same bow ,same arrow ,same weight, same broadhead...same mojo...same accuracy...66# 680 grain arrow.....again pass through always.......this is interesting
Joebuck,what do you call a pass through.
If 2 birds flew away with the arrow still stuck in them,it was handly a pass through was it?
Hey,You did say "everytime" didn't you ?
I'm calling a pass through BH exits other side. Complete pass through, arrow stuck or laying in the ground...most were complete and few others pass through only because i had a scorpio on the other end..When second bird flew off with a Simmons Tree Shark stuck hard qrt .in it's back with a 2317 serving as a FM antenna....i then quit using anything that dampens penetration...i do not know if two birds flew off were pass through because i did not find them.......but for the record...i have witnessed first hand sadly multiple times birds flying and or running off with arrows stuck in them.....never to be found....i am not proud of that but i have to chaulk it up to experience i guess since i have been bowhunting them almost 20 years.
Earthdog so whats your setup that you have never shot a complete pass through?
We raise bronze turkeys and the ones i have shot with bow i have never once gotten a pass through. I swear there are tough and what would otherwise go through a hog or deer - not a turkey.
I have found about the best place and way to shoot them is facing away or dead in the wing at a quartering away angle - both will tend to shut the bird down as far as running/flying away. I have never had one "jump the string" facing me when i shot - but again they see me everyday and are not exactly wild birds, not sure what a wild one would do as their sight is very keen as is thier hearing.
Joe
I've got arrow holes on both sides pretty much every time with turks - I'm talking about blow through, out the other side, arrow skipping through the woods pass-thrus - just can't seem to recover those birds. Likely not fatal - I think many lost broadside pass-throughs are too far forward and low - through the air bag in front of the keel bone.
Hard for lots of guys (myself included when I started shooting turks) to get it thru their heads to shoot turkeys up and back of where the "10 ring" on the Mackenzie birds are. You put a Mackenzie "10 ring" on a broadside bird - good luck.
Yep, we've had 'em fly off with arrows a time or 3 as well. A couple I found because of string trackers that flew off. Dad had one fly off with a big Snuffer right through the wings side to side with 8-10 inches of arrow out each side. Unless you actually BREAK the wing bones they can fly. You can't "pin" the wings without breaking the bones. Ditto broken legs - they can still fly if they can flop up onto a bush or something to give them the elevation to take off --- I've seen that one too.
R
Oh, one more thing, remember - turkeys are more closely related to snakes and turtles than they are to deer. You can cut off a snapping turtle's head and he'll try to walk away from it. Turkeys don't have a "normal" nervous system - they take lots of killing. I read somewhere that an "animal" needs to lose like 30% of its blood to black out whereas a bird needs to lose something like 70%.
R
Turkey wing bones are tuff!! Even though they are hollow I have curled the tips on broad heads many times with that shot.
I shoot bows in the upper 50's and get complete pass throughs about half the time and the other half my broad heads have pass through and out the other side but still hanging in the bird. You hit the wing bone (Which you should broadside) and it kills your penetration.
I prefer strait on or strait away, The kill zone is bigger and you hit that spine and there down and dead fast.
Tracy
I've shot 11 gobblers with my selfbows.2 I did'nt recover.7 I had pass throughs.3of those were with knaped heads.Rest 2 blade zwicky.For some reason people think a arrow staying in the gobbler will stop it from flying away.[IT WON'T]Why,you wouldn't not want to get a pass through on a deer.I've gobbler hunted for over 30 years am I missing something.
DEAD IS DEAD NO MATTER HOW FAST YOUR ARROW GETS THERE
Out of the dozen I've shot only one was a passthrough and that one was through the guts. He went about a hundred yards being gutted by brush all the way, no blood trail needed. All the others the arrow stayed in the bird, shooting 58# with snuffers. I shoot to break the tops of the legs.
I have some special arrows that i practice with out of a blind all winter to get ready for spring turkey! I like a 23/64 cedar shaft with a 135gr Zwickey Delta! It weighs bout 560-575 finished and what works for me is to sharpen the main blades razor sharp and only touch the bleeders a little with a file! It gets great penetration into the bird but stays in the bird, adding to the damage inside as they run off! Penetration varies to shot angle! Works well!
I've bow killed about 50 now and I also shoot for the top of the leg broadside. I use my deer setup with one addition. I put a muzzy grasshopper behind the broadhead (5 grains). (You can't with a wood arrow) My bow is 60#. 600gr arrow. Any way I like to keep the arrow in the bird. I have lost a couple maybe 3 that I think died somewhere.. Not sure how to explain this but i think the bird, esp. Toms will submit better to a shot when the arrow is in them. Until they see me. So I try not to let them see me. I don't run after them. I have had alot just lay over too. I'll shoot again if needed or wait till they die. Jakes seem to run more or fly. My experience.
A string tracker is fine with this setup. I have used 1 a few times.
Doug
I've only shot/killed 1--this past deer season. I hit it broadside using a 4-bl. 150gr. Magnus Stinger and 610gr. arrow. I hit it broadside hitting tops of both legs and the upper section of 1 wing----it jumped up once and flopped down kicking up a storm for a minute; the arrow was still in him, but sticking out on both sides.
I just hinda figured the arrow hit the ground while passing through and couldn't get out completely, but my tip was OK--not curled or anything.