Are you a bowhunter that couldn’t kill a turkey if your life depended on it? Maybe if you knew why you were awful at bowhunting turkeys, you could be better.
Tony J. Peterson with Bowhunter has good information as to why you might be an awful bowhunter when it comes to turkey hunting.
I’ve got a few buddies who couldn’t arrow a tom if you staked one down 10 yards from their blind and gave them five shots. Some people, for a variety of reasons, just can’t hack it as turkey bowhunters. My friends aren’t alone in their springtime misery, and several of them have largely given up their bows in lieu of a 12-gauge.
I can’t really fault them for that, but if you’re a struggling turkey bowhunter, consider making a few changes to your setup and strategies before going back to the bang stick. There are several things most of us could change to increase our odds of tagging out in April, and most are relatively easy to do.
If you’re simply not a closer, but desperately want to make it happen each spring to join the ranks of professional turkey skewerers, check out these five problems that might be holding you back.
Hail-Mary Hunts
I’m to the point now where my decoys are always set up within about four to eight yards of my blind.I want a stupid easy shot at any approaching gobblers, and if a cagey three-year old decides to give me a drive-by, I want him to be in range too. Way, way too many bowhunters set their decoys out at distances that are more suited for a load of 5s instead of an arrow. Put them close and give yourself a gimme shot.
Obvious Fakes
When I bought a flock of Dave Smith Decoys I didn’t know how they’d change my life, but for the price, I thought that they should. And they did.I went from so-so turkey action, to gobblers committing like they thought they were going to star in a hunting show. It was insane how much of a difference good decoys made. If you’re wondering why longbeards don’t strut into your setup, this is probably why. You’d be better off buying one really good decoy instead of a flock of crappy ones.
This Way And That
And speaking of decoys, think about how a real group of birds or even a pair of birds, walks through the woods and fields.
