I wanted to thank the Leatherwall and it's members for the advise offered after my 2017 turkey hunt. If you recall, I was pretty bummed about a lack of penetration on a turkey I wounded.

Here's the thread for a reminder: http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/TF/lw/threa d2.cfm?threadid=288134&category=88#4200930

I took many steps this season to remedy the short comings of my setup.

Arrow weight is now 603grains with a 250grain Grizzly single bevel broadhead.

Draw weight is now down to 45lbs though.

Regardless, the wing bone didn't stop my arrow this season here in Northern Michigan. The single bevel head and heavier arrow shattered the wing with ease as it made it's way through the vitals putting him down for the count in less than 20'.

Congrats on the turkey. I got my first this year after a few very frustrating "encounters". Penetration has been a problem for me.

This year I practiced more... shooting tennis balls from 5 to 15 yards. Once I was hitting the ball 4 out of 5 times, I felt pretty confident.

I chose to wait on the shot I wanted... quartering away at no more than 15 yards, but actually set up for more like a 5-10 yard shot. I aimed just slightly forward and above the leg joint.

Result was he went down within 10 yards. My penetration was not a total pass through... as the arrow came back out the way it went in... probably due to him flapping his wings hard for about 5 seconds. However, I got heart and lungs.

I was shooting carbons with 175 grain Simmons Tigersharks… about 520 grain total arrow weight.

Congrats again on the dandy gobbler!

Congrats! That's a beautiful gobbler.

Way to go. Nice bird.

Nice, congrats!

GREAT SHOOTING! Glad that You found the equipment that would work. STAY SAFE & BLESSED BE! Batman

Congrats. I was just discussing the setup you described with Frank San Marco for improving penetration on big game animals when using lighter weight bows. I’ll call it the Ashby setup. Makes good sense for turkeys as well apparently. I normally chase them with my sxs shotgun instead of a trad bow because I get bored hunting them from a blind unless it’s raining. But I will use a similar setup next time I do. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys. Yeah, it had been frustrating to get great shots at 5yds and less, only to have a single bone completely stop the arrow on a turkey...out of a setup that has never had a deer slow the arrow down on full pass throughs.

As it stand I'll continue to use this arrow setup for whitetail as well. No such thing as too much penetration.

My bow is a St Joe River Classic Longbow. Just had it made this winter. It's a bow that's a couple of years in the making as I had been prodding the bowyer to use carbon for the outer laminations. The bow I had used the past 7years has also been a 60" SJR Classic at 50lbs with elm limbs. The carbon drastically changes the draw force profile, insanely smooth and quick. The riser is BW Ebony with a Ace Hinge takedown. I also requested a very subtle thumb rest. This will be my primary with my other classic being the backup for the foreseeable decade.

I shoot a 41 lb long bow, with bear razor heads, never had any issues,,,,

Yep, this is a much better outcome. Going out this week.

Awesome job on the Turkey Bryan. Congratulations

Yes a heavy arrow and broad head is the way to go. I use about 600grain arrow out of 47#.

Congratulations on your Turkey!

Nice bird congrates.

I once broke a leg and a wind and that bird made me hobble after a bird hobbling what a site that fiascoes must have been if anyone was watching. I found the bird alongside a log that had a hole he tried to go into.

Turkeys are tuff when you hit them wrong but easy when hit right.

Another bird ran 75 yards on me and dropped dead. He ran himself out of blood. He had 2 holes in him and he had a terrible leek.

Hitting the wing or right at the top of the leg really puts them down quickly.

Congrats on the bird. Hit a turkey right and it will go down quickly, but the kill zone is quite small. The upper wing bone can stop an arrow, but not only because the bow/arrow might be on the light side.

Turkeys themselves are relatively light. When hit with an arrow, they are moved by the force of the impact, at least mores that a deer or other larger critter would be. Moving with the impact reduces the arrow's ability to penetrate. Too, the feathers are quite large with tough quills in that area. Hitting quills will also slow the arrow substantially and reduce penetration.

To compensate for these characteristics, a heavier, weight forward arrow is the way to go. I still prefer three-blade broadheads like Woodsman's or Snuffers though.

I should have added, more bow weight as well, but it that's not a possibility, then add the weight to the arrow and put it up front.

In all respect, you don't need heavy arrows to kill a turkey. If you didnt get good penetration on a bird, I'd of looked at broadheads and tuning first. I've hit birds with a lil 45 pound recurve and had great penetration from lite 404 grain arrows. I've also hit birds with 60 pound compounds and 440 grain carbon shafts and not shoot through them. This bird was killed with a 419 grain carbon shaft from a 54 pound Rampart Legacy stick at 18 yards. I broke the right thigh/leg and he flopped and made it made seven steps.

AWESOME!!!

Good job congrats.

Congratulations!

Not easy to shoot a turkey with a trad bow. Good for you.

Gvdocholiday, that’s wisdom right there, looks like you hit in almost the exact spot as the one you lost. More is better

I shot a nice Gobbler through the chest getting a complete pass through and the bird still ran far enough to get into a swamp and get away. They're one tough bird.

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