Where To Shoot Turkey With A Crossbow

If you are a passionate hunter, there is a pretty good chance that you would want to expand the types of wildlife you hunt. A lot of hunters stick exclusively to whitetail, but there is still an enormous world of hunting that you may not have discovered yet.

Spring turkey hunt with a crossbow is amongst the most exciting and nerve-wracking forms of sports as the birds are quite challenging to kill. But hunters must never forget that this is an extremely risky form of hunting. As they are typically wrapped from top to bottom in camouflage clothing while cautiously hiding in the woods.

Anyone with experience of chasing a deer in the past can imagine how excited you get when you see a large shooter buck-passing by. You can feel this same exhilaration when you hear a turkey calling near you while hunting.

These birds, however, have exceptional eyesight and hearing which helps them to escape if they catch sight or scent from you, making it harder to hunt these gobblers than anticipated.

Too many turkeys are improperly shot with a crossbow and wounded every spring either because of a lack of practice or not properly following the rules.  As hunters, we owe it to ourselves to practice for a clean and humane kill. It is quite discouraging to fail a hunting session just because of a wrongly placed shot after spending a lot of time practicing for one perfect shot.

The vitals of a turkey aren’t any bigger than a large softball, so it’s all about proper shot placement and accuracy. Below are some guidelines on where to shoot a turkey with a crossbow to ensure a successful and humane kill every time. Let’s begin!

Here are several best crossbows for hunting to choose from that can help you accurately and effectively shoot a turkey:

Standing Straight While Facing Away:

A standing bird facing away is one of the finest shots to take. The spine shot instantly immobilizes the bird, and it will die fast. For this shot opportunity you must wait until the bird stands upright, with its back facing you.

Mostly the bird is feeding and wandering with its head down, you may speak to a gobbler sweetly about raising its head with a couple of quick but silent, putts or clucks.

Broadside:

The vitals of a turkey are more towards the farther back and higher than others. The best spot to aim on a broadside bird is where the wing’s rear connects with the body of the turkey. This almost ensures a humane killing as your crossbow broadhead is likely to tear both wings and impale the heart or lungs while passing through the gobbler.

Standing Straight While Facing Straight At You:

Position your arrow between both the neck and beard base, if you want to shoot a turkey while he’s facing you straight. If you can precisely and successfully hit this area, the crossbow arrow will break his back and reach the vitals that will lead to a humane kill.

 Strutting While Facing Away:

If the turkey is walking away in absolute strut, this is a huge aiming opportunity for the hunters. The fans are going to block his rear view so you can easily aim for the base of its tail with your sharp penetrating broadhead.

Strutting While Facing Towards You:

For a gobbler facing directly at you, aim slightly below the starting point of its beard. Most certainly this shot would break its back and damage the vitals. Always use a broadhead with a large cutting-diameter for shots like this.

Head And Neck Shot:

A clean shot on the head or neck will yield deadly results. The best approach is to call the birds in close proximity and shoot the arrow while it’s relatively static. Although be aware that this is a challenging shot as turkey movements are always unpredictable.

Some Additional Crossbow Turkey Hunting Tips

Hit the Vitals:

With any living organism, there exist certain areas that host vital organs. Hitting these areas such as the head or neck, during a shoot will ensure that Turkey will be quickly killed. Targeting other areas would kill Turkey but might become time and effort consuming.

Size and Weight of Broadhead:

Choose a broadhead with respect to the momentum required to perfectly pierce the Turkey’s armor and also be convenient to pull out after the kill. Lighter options tend to get feathers of the Turkey stuck up in their broadhead. Try using heavier broadheads for better penetration and humane killing.

Use Heavy Crossbow Bolts:

Choosing the right bolt can have a massive impact on how quickly your game finishes once you pull the trigger. Heavier bolts ensure greater penetration and faster kill by piercing efficiently yet quickly through the target. Bolts having metal surfaces are preferable because of lesser friction experienced while penetrating a prey.

Practice on a Bogey Target:

Turkey is incredibly exciting to hunt, and the rush of adrenaline can sometimes lead a hunter to make bad choices. For your own convenience, choose a Bogey Turkey Target to make your aim of its essential organs perfect prior to the actual hunt. You can start off by targeting it from a close range and then subsequently increasing the distance.

Use Lighted Nocks:

In case of hunting during low light conditions, adding a lighted nock to the bolt will be of great convenience. A turkey, after being hit, will run for the nearest bushes. The lighted nock will help the hunter find the debris in considerably less time.  It’s advisable to try a variety of colors before hunting to see what color shows up the most in dark. Thus, go out in the dark and place your lighted Nocks in the woods. You can soon see which color of nocks emits the most noticeable light for successful chasing.

Shoot Twice:

Sometimes a single shot is not enough to finish a turkey. In case the first hit has not finished off Turkey, it would be better to target the bird again. This is important because turkeys can make a run for it if they observe a human come close to them, even while they’re critically wounded.

Sites to Find Turkey:

Turkeys prefer roosting places that they can easily access and provide shelter from the environment as well as predators. While out in woods, keep your eyes and ears open to find wild turkey in these potential roosting sites.

Near to water

• Thicker and denser trees
• Open areas
• Shelter places in windy weather

Conclusion

Nothing can match the thrill of crossbow turkey hunting in the wilderness; it offers an adrenaline rush unlike any other hunting equipment. If you follow all the guidelines and turkey hunting with crossbow tips, the chances of bagging a gobbler this spring will be extremely high. Use your brain, think like a wild turkey, shoot a turkey at its vitals and always go for an ethical and clean kill.