Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Favorite broadhead for turkey

I picked up a youth turkey permit for my son and was wondering what might be the best broadheads to use. Not sure if it would be best to have him try for a head lopper or a body shot either so any input from you cold blooded turkey slayers would be appreciated too!

Your regular broadheads should work OK, I use toxics and shoot for the base of the neck. My spring turkey busted my arrow into 4 pieces but the broadheads followed the backbone and not a thing was runied on the bird. The arrow....well I still have the broadheads.

I've done a fair amount of research and put in a lot of effort into this.

To this point, nothing can touch a rage turkey broad head. If you cannot find the specific turkey version the hypodermic is as good, just more expensive tougher construction.

Anatomy is critical on a turkey everything vital is behind the drumstick. Not in front or above it.

Thanks JJ - that's just bizarre on the vitals!

Here is a good diagram of turkey vitals.
http://www.idahosportsman.com/Artic...mID=92&rcid=65&pcid=7&cid=65
I have found the best aiming point on a broadside turkey to be straight up the leg to the half way point up the body. Go forward of that and your only hope is to break the wing but then you still have to chase it down unless you get lucky and spine it. The base of the neck would be a good shot too.

A turkey needs to use its legs for launch to fly. Breaking a leg holds them in place. Breaking a wing lets them run out of sight.

They have not been typical bleeders. They simply vanish, tracking small feathers that fall out has been as likely as blood.

Create a giant gash and they die, shoot one even with a great standard broad head and there are still things that seem to go wrong. After killing and seeing killed 100 turkeys with archery they are more difficult them large mammals to collect after the shot.

Archery is brilliant in that you can usually shoot two at one stand. The others don't bolt or launch instantly. They often come for a closer look at the dead one.

I've shot them with all different types of broadheads and found expandables to typically do the job in the shortest amount of time. No particular brand is my favorite, but I've probably killed more with NAP Spitfires than others. I've killed some with fixed blades and they always seem to run a ways before falling. The large exps will drop them on the spot many times and when the do run, it's usually not far.

Here's a few from recent years:

For the investment into the head loppers, IMHO<, you are going to end up frustrated, out more money than you expect, and probably not helping the young man with his growth into a hunter.

I took a very hard look at using them several years ago, but decided they wouldn't be useable in 80% of the areas I would hunt.

While the loppers work, the videos show it, they don't show the amount of equipment you have to change to use them.

None that I know of can be shot through a blind window screen. Most require a separate quiver to carry them, most don't have a practice head, you have to use a shooting head and replace the parts you break/bend.

If you are in any kind of cover (IE, not an open flat field) you run the risk of snagging a blade in flight, and deflecting the shot.

I'd go with what JJ recommends, an expandable head with a wide cut that will fly true, easy to practice with, and cheaper to replace.

Just my 2 cents...

They sent me these to test.

I will never use them again. Unless every condition is perfect way too much can go wrong.

As stated they require different arrows as well. They were not for me.

Thanks for that.....I'll make sure to show this to my son.

Just an interesting point I just saw. The new rage hypodermics have a very well done practice head.

The original hypodermics I had used the plan old practice head, they tended to be tough on my 3D targets. these new hypodermic practice heads are really cool cast metal identical replicas of the actual head and are no harder on my 3D targets then a field point.

They also group with field points 100% perfectly

Ive shot about 20 turkeys with archery equipment. I have used what ever I am using for deer, which has always been fixed heads.
My friends use Rage. They have killed similar numbers.
Our experience is that "shot placement" is the issue, and any quality head will work just fine.

Ditto that. I've shot two turkeys every year for many years with my bow, and these words match my experience.

Good to know about the practice head on the Rage broadheads....