Gobbler hunting with a bow

Kay Richey with a jake gobbler she shot with bow and arrow.

 

There are any number of ways to hunt these sharp-eyed birds, but one thing is a constant. Hunters must have some way of concealing the movements necessary when drawing a bow on a strutting gobbler.

Trust me, it's not easy. Turkeys see well, hear well, and there often is enough of them around a gobbler that coming to full draw isn't easy.

One way of doing it, and the most effective way, is to use a pop-up ground blind of camouflage material. These blinds take hardly any time to set up, and a bit of natural grasses or broken tree branches can allow a hunter and his blind to blend right in.

One way to do it is to locate a gobbler or two the night before, watch them fly up to roost, and return the next morning well before dawn. Set up the blind in the dark as quietly as possible, climb inside, sit down and stay quiet.

Sometimes gobblers will gobble first, but often small birds will be chirping and then the crows start to fly. The cawing of crows often triggers a spirited gobble.

Don't get impatient and hurry a bow shot before it's time.

 

I prefer to let the birds gobble two or three times before making a soft and short yelp. That's it, just one very soft call. Gobblers aren't deaf, and if they hear it and haven't been spooked, they will answer.

Just sit tight. It's not necessary to answer every gobble. In fact, let them gobble one or two more times, and make one more soft tree yelp. Listen for the birds to gobble from the roost, and then beat old turkey wing feathers against tree branches like a hen flying to the ground.

The gobblers will hear that, and often gobble again, and one more soft yelp is usually all it takes. If you are using decoys, there are different schools of thought on decoy placement.

I like to use two hen decoys and one jake decoy. I like the jake decoy facing the blind and the hens five or six yards farther out. When the gobblers come to the decoys, it's best to place the jake about 18 to 20 yards away and facing the pop-up blind. This will normally put the live gobbler between the jake decoy and you.

Gobblers almost always will head for the jake decoy, and I've watched adult gobblers jump up on the jake decoy, knock it over, and start putting the spurs to the decoy.

Shooting the gobbler is pretty easy with a shotgun, but it is much more difficult with a bow. Gobblers can stand still for long minutes, but when they come to the call and decoys, they are moving around.

Two certain shots are possible. A shot taken at a gobbler facing directly at the hunter is fairly easy but I know many people who wind up killing the bird but slicing off the beard in the process.

Wait for the bird to drop his wing-tips, spread his tail feathers, and prance around. Once the bird stops, aim for a spot just below where the beard comes out of the chest, lower the sight three or four inches, and try to hit just to one side or other of the beard. Done properly, this will kill the bird quickly.

The other way is to wait for the bird to start strutting, and let the gobbler turn all the way around to face the jake decoy. Aim for the center where all the tail-feather quills go into the back end of the turkey, and take a well-aimed shot.

Place the jake decoy in front of you and shoot when the gobbler goes to it.

 

A mortally wounded turkey will almost always shoot 10 to 12 feet straight up into the air, and fall back dead. I strongly suggest using a Game Tracker unit, because if the bird is not mortally wounded, it will fly or run off. The bird may not travel too far, but if it goes out of sight, they can become nearly impossible to find. A  string tracker can be a big help in recovering the bird.

Do not take side shots at a gobbler. The wing bones and feathers are heavy, and it's difficult to place an arrow through the wing feathers. I've talked to a few turkey hunters who say they shoot their bird at the juncture of the head and neck with an arrow, but it would be a difficult shot because a gobbler's head is always moving.

Of utmost importance is to position the blind so a shot can be taken sitting down. If the tent has horizontal and vertical windows, position a vertical window in front of you. Sit back, with full camouflage on, and wait for the bird to get into the proper position for a shot.

My wife has shot two gobblers with a bow.

 

My wife has shot two nice gobblers with her bow, and everything must into place in order to be successful. It is even more of a heart-pounder if a longbeard is taken with stick and string.

Turkey hunting with a bow is a major challenge. It's not easy with a bow, but when it works, it offers a surge of adrenaline that will be hard to forget.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors