Just got into a debate with the older brother (wheel bow shooter.......first time was today at the range. I'll convert him).  

Back on subject.....the only broadhead I know of is the guillotine, a bradhead designed to shoot for the turkey's head with a 4in diameter.

What other broadheads can be used on turkeys? Don't hunters want to reduce pass thrus on turkeys?

turkey terras,magnus bullheads, i think spitfire makes a round tip broadhead for turkey.im sure theres more im just not thinking of them right now.

i also like taking a broadhead thats sharp and shoot them into foam a few times to dull them just a little also!

Any broadheads that work for deer will do just fine on turkeys. The hen I shot yesterday morning with an Ace Standard folded up in around thirty yards. The others I've killed with the same head made it less than ten yards each. With respect to limiting penetration, that's something I've never understood. Broadheads kill by cutting, so it seems counter intuitive to me to do anything limiting the depth of that cut.

Personally prefer the widest 3 blade possible.

** The most expedient manner for immobilizing a turkey is my preference **

A pass thru with the large 3 blade on turkeys would lead to me to believe that I made a poor shot. The bird being knocked off its feet and the feathers absorb much energy.

Even Big Jim wih his 80# @ 30 bow and 780 gn arrow failed to pass thru a turkey last spring. That was one extremely potent set-up even for the largest game in North America.

QuoteOriginally posted by Friend:

A pass thru with traditional equipment on turkeys would lead to me to believe that I made a poor shot. The bird being knocked off its feet and the feathers absorb much energy.

Even Big Jim wih his 80# @ 30 bow and 780 gn arrow failed to pass thru a turkey last spring. That was one extremely potent set-up even for the largest game in North America.

Interesting. Admittedly, I haven't killed many turkeys. But so far I'm 4-for-4, all pass throughs, and all through the heart/lung area.

Hey Robinhood1389,
I have been researching different trad turkey setups on these forums and I have found a lot of good threads. I did a couple searches for "turkey broadheads" and got lots of good results. There is a whole list of broadheads and everybody explaining why they think one is better than the other.

A lot of people recommend the big 160 gr 3 blade Snuffers which seem to have about one of the widest cutting diameters of any equivalent cut on contact head.

It seems that not too many trad guys use the REALLy wide BHs like the Guillotine and the Bullheads or whatever.

here is a good thread on the subject:  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=098491#000000

It also seems that most people prefer not impeding penetration at all. But there are still people who think the arrow being stuck in the bird can immobilize them more. It seems to be an ongoing debate, but it sounds like it is hard to get total pass thru anyway..

Here is another good thread:  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=042292#000000

Guru talks a lot about Trad setups for turkey and has posted a lot of good info about shot placement, vitals locations, BH selection, string trackers etc.

Good luck with them turkeys!

I`ve killed a few Turkeys and only had 2 pass thru. I believe in a very large broadhead. Mostly Simmons. I`m not much for the head shot broadheads because I shoot thru the net in my pop up blind....plus a pig could be coming by as well.RC

I'm with RC for a change. I feel like I need to be ready to slay a pig at all times so I use my same set-up for everything 8-)

145 gr. Steel Force Hellfire backed up with a Zwickey Scorpio.

p.s. - I tried playing around with some Bullheads. They were noisy and flew like crap. I think you need at least 300 fps. to make those things work.

** A big turkey fan here –Ha Ha—

Not trying to pirate this thread however I have been pondering this for the past couple of years.
My arrows are typically of Ultra-EFOC design and employ large 3 blade BH's. Getting thru turkeys is not the norm since much impact is absorbed by the birds being typically knocked off their feet and by the additional impact momentum absorption of the feathers.

Is it conceivable that the penetration, in this situation, could be enhanced by using a moderately lighter set-up with the same 3 blade head and shooting 190 fps vs 170 fps?  If is possible, there would have to be some balancing of the set-up.

I may just have to set up some tall light foam blocks or some other type of simulation to satisfy my own curiosity.(a 20# suspended foam block may even be better)

I haven't harvested one yet with the bow. Keep missing for some reason. Anyways back to the subject. I work with turkey feathers on a daily basis and let me tell you those things are tuff! Especially on a mature Tom. They will dull the sharpest razor blade in a quick fashion. I only hunt them with the sharpest heads I can get! The quills can be tuff as nails and will impeef penetration quickly. IMO.

great read thanks
just learned a bunch more
turkey 101
you guys got all the answers
b44mag

Sharp broadheads no matter what I'm hunting.  But I do prefer big 3 blades for turkeys.

QuoteOriginally posted by Smithhammer:

p.s. - I tried playing around with some Bullheads. They were noisy and flew like crap. I think you need at least 300 fps. to make those things work.

Haven't had any trouble getting them to fly & haven't noticed any noise.Don't need 300 FPS either...


That being said,they aren't my favorite & are far from being a kill or a missed bird  but they do have their place & like any head will do the job if you do yours..

QuoteOriginally posted by bluegrassbowhunter:

but they do have their place & like any head will do the job if you do yours..

I couldn't seem to get them to fly as well as a typical broadhead, at least not for very far.

Any tuning tips?

with my longbow im going to have to look around. thinking about using snuffers