By Julie Geiser
Getting your bow sighted in and choosing a good broadhead are important, but don’t forget shot placement when aiming at a turkey this season. A turkey’s body is covered with more than 4,000 feathers in multiple layers. Add muscle, cartilage and bone, and you’re contending with a thick shield of protection and a small kill zone the size of a softball. Archers will need to study shot placements in order to make a clean kill.
Shot Placement
A straight-on shot through the chest is a high percentage kill shot. If the turkey is facing you, place an arrow between the base of the neck and the beard. The feathers in this area typically form a vertical line that serve as an aiming point. The arrow should break the back as it exits the body, which will cause damage to the heart or lungs. Just be careful not to sever the beard.
Paragraph copyWhen a bird is standing with its back toward you and its head is up, aim for the spine between the wings; this shot will sever the spine and possibly hit the vitals. If the turkey is feeding or walking with its head down, don’t take the shot — be patient and wait for another shot or make a cluck call to encourage him to stand up.
A hit in the head or neck can drop a bird on the spot, especially if you use a broadhead meant for hitting this area, but it also presents a small target. For success, get the bird in close and make the shot while the turkey is still. This shot will either result in a good clean kill or a miss.
If the turkey is broadside, aim for the base of the turkey’s wing where the wing connects to the turkey’s body just below the spine. This is a relatively high position on the body, but the shot will pin the wing to the body or break it and hit vital organs.
If the bird is strutting broadside, draw a vertical line just in front of the bird’s legs and go up to the point where that line intersects a horizontal line drawn from about 2 inches below the fleshy skin at the base of the neck. Aim at the intersection, which is near the crease formed by the upper wing feathers. A shot in this region will penetrate the vital area for a quick and clean kill. (Shown in lead photo.)
A vent shot on a strutting gobbler facing straight away offers a presentable shot. Aim here and your broadhead is sure to hit vital organs and may sever the spine.
Taking a quartering shot will depend on how the bird is standing. For strutting or half struts, imagine a horizontal line going back from between the base of the neck and the beard, and a vertical line coming up from the back leg — this intersection marks the vital area. For a bird standing still upright, draw the horizontal line from the beard to meet with the vertical line from the back leg.
Now is the time to prepare for the March archery turkey season. Learn shot placements, practice and hopefully you’ll bag that gobbler this spring.