I am tryin to decide whether I should shoot for the vitals or the head with my bow? I have a pretty good idea where the vitals are but I feel the head/neck will be an easier aiming point. I'm afraid of a miss on the head and I'm afraid of the turkey running or flying off with a body shot. Which one should I choose!!?? Hurry my season is approaching fast!
I have always shot for vitals and have been successful. A lot more movement shooting at the head but a lot of people are successful doing that .
I would take a miss on a head shot any day of the week over wounding and losing a bird with a body shot. Head and neck offer a LARGER kill zone than a body shot and it is a more clearly defined target. It actually is a very EASY shot to make. It is generally a shot that leads to a tracking job measured in inches rather than yards. And there is zero meat damage to the bird. Take the head shot ...
After taking a body shot last week at a strutting bird and losing it I will be set up for head shots from now on. He was in full strut pointing straight away from me at 20 yards. I put a great shot and had a passthrough and the bird managed to run 30 yards and pitch off a ravine. I flew (dead in the air) I believe to the neighbors woods and I looked for 2 hours with no luck. From now on my thought is a clean miss at the head is better than what I went through.
I will never take a body vital shot. This area is small and you will lose birds. If you want to put bird down(other then a head shot) you follow their legs up (broadside shot) on a vertical line and blow out their hips. This is lethal the die quickly. Most importantly they can't run which means they can not fly. You also have the added benefit of not tearing up breast meat. I don't eat the nasty tough drumsticks so I could careless about their legs. Learn this and you will never lose a bird.
I hear lots of people lose birds over body shots. Never heard of a head shot getting away. I always try to get people to just get confident enough for a head shot. Its not that hard if you practice.
You want to put it where their socket would be or in other words center punch the top (the part with all the meat) of the drumstick. There is a pretty good margin for error. Both legs will be floppin after the kill on a perfectly placed shot.
for me it depends on the broadhead. when i don't shoot the head lopping variety, i shoot, hoping to "skewer" through the vitals. apparently this works especially well with a slower bow. this gives ample time to snap/chop the neck yourself should the vitals have been missed.
For those of you that take head shots. Do you use the broad heads for the head shots....or something else like rage or slick trick, etc.?
You can if you are a really good shot! :p Or you can get Magnus Bull Heads and cut their heads clean off with the rest of us. :p Bullheads - Magnus Broadheads
