DeerT

Well, everything was great. I went out to the stand saw about a dozen does. I decided since it was my first morning I would hold off. That afternoon in walks about a dozen turkeys. The hens actually sat aboout 3 feet from me(I was in the Ameristep Penthouse blind). The toms kept staying back. I have been hitting 3-5 inch groups at 40 yards consistently and conditions were perfect. The adreniline was rushing but I had time to calm down so I decided I would take a shot at the big tom. I lasered him with the yardage pro at 42 yards... he took about four steps at an angle which I had lasered off at 40 yards. I let the arrow fly...I stuck him. The arrow was sticking out both sides of him and he started running. I watched him for as long as I could, packed my stuff up, and headed after him. All I could find was a couple of cut feathers and a blood trail for about 30 yards. With myself and 3 other guys looking the total time was about 3 hours. We found him(what was left anyways) the next morning almost 600 yards from where he was hit[]. Well that is the last time I take more than a 20 yard shot(although I don' t know if that would have made a difference). I knew those birds were tough but this one went over 400 yards before going over two fences then another 200 yards all while having an arrow out both sides of him. I made a good shot(at least I thought it was) and got screwed. I felt and still do feel bad but I guess it happens. I guess I' ll have to try head shots from now on.[:' (]

MA Jay

1 option when you see a bird running away with an arrow through him is to plan on immediately chasing after him trying to keep him in sight. If they can' t fly, while they can run faster than you .. they can' t run THAT much faster and as long as you keep them in sight you can find them.

Sorry to hear you lost the bird .. on the flip side you made 1 very happy coyote.

I like shooting them from tree stands as it helps to anchor them to the ground.

Rangeball

After you found him, could you tell where you arrow went through? Was the arrow still in him? Turkey lungs/heart area is awful small, would take pulling off an almost perfect shot at 40 yards, more so than a 3-5" average group could handle, I suspect...

Assuming you didn' t hit anything vital, he probably never stopped moving until you found him. They are tough tough animals.

mez

DeerT, what kind of broadhead were you using? I had the same trouble as you with thunderheads. I never had one run off with the arrow stuck in it but I was shooting through them and they would run off like nothing was wrong. I lost 1 out of 4 birds but had to chase them all quite a ways. I switched to gobble stoppers and what a difference. The blunt tip knocks them down hard! I have taken two with these and my brother one and they all three went straight down and didn' t get up. I' m sure any expandable with a large cutting diameter would do about the same, I like the blunt tip for shock value.

DeerT

Yep MA Jay, I will be running after the next one...afterwards I was thinking I should have after the debacle. Oh yeah and it was one happy coyote..there wasn' t much left.

Rangeball, I wish I would have video taped the hunt(I even had it with me I just didn' t do it) so I could replay it. I' m guessing that I hit it low. It looked like it was a shot that would have broke the wing and spine or hit lungs or heart but that was in the heat of the moment so I' m guessing it was a little low. There wasn' t enough of the bird left to tell where the arrow hit but the arrow was about 10ft from the turkey so he ran with it the whole time.

Mez, I' m using Magnus Stingers. The bad thing is I have two arrows in my quiver rigged up with the turkey stoppers but I had one of the deer arrows in my rest at the time. I could have changed is the bad thing...I had plenty of time.

The good thing is we have a ton of turkeys so I' m pretty much gauranteed another chance.

Two Beards

DeerT-sorry you lost your turkey. They are tough birds
for sure[>:]. Each of the last 2 springs I' ve had
gobblers fly off with my arrows. Both birds were
shot with Spitfires (1 1/2" cut), though I' ve had success
with them on other hunts. Both times I couldn' t believe
what I was seeing as I thought I had made good hits.

Last spring I hammered a big gobbler with a Rocket
Sledgehammer (3 1/2" cut) at 12 yards. He ran 250-
300 yards with my arrow sticking out of him??? Luckily
my brother was in his blind over the hill and saw my
gobbler run into the timber.

If arrows and BH' s were free, I would definitely take
only headshots.

Dave Solgat

A perfect double lung on a deer would be a breast meat only hit on a turkey and would make him easy prey for preditors. They need a perfect shot closer to the spine to take with an arrow. Do you think you might have just caught breast?