Body shots with M.O.R.E or Bullhead?
Turkey
Curious if anyone has body shot a gobbler with any of the heads designed for decapitation? What were the results and is that an alternative if you don't have a good head shot opportunity? Thanks!
I have not use one of them heads ever, but have kill birds with regular broadheads body shot. And I doubt you will ever kill one with a body shot with one of them type heads.. Their just not meant for the body..
So,, I say no, not a good idea.
ED
Nah, bad idea IMO. If it ain't broke, don't fix it applies here. Spring turkey, I use a Rocket Hammerhead, but I've killed almost as many turkeys in the fall with a Muzzy or a Wasp Hammer while deer hunting. There is no substitute for shot placement.
Jasper, don't get me wrong. Those heads have their place.. There just not for the body.
If you want to try them by a means give them a try. Get a old pillow as a back stop and practice with them. You most likely will need a longer, stiffer, long vaned arrow to get them to shoot well.
I'm sure that some guys that use them can chime in with some good advice on tuning, max range to shoot and so on.
Good luck this spring and have fun.
ED
I bounced a Gobbler Guilliotine off the body of a Tom the first year (7-8 years ago) I tried the broadhead. The bird lost a few feathers but seemed otherwise undamaged. Since then I have taken two Toms a year in Kansas with the Guilliotine. It was a bit of a pain to get my old Mathews Q2 to shoot Guilliotines well but worth it. this year I find that my new, last summer, Mathews No Cam HTR handles the Guillotine with no problem. I really like the Guilliotine head. You either have a dead bird right there in front of you or you missed (I've had it happen) and the bird is, usually, long gone. I have had an instance where I missed with the first Guillotine and the bird just stood there looking around. Didn't miss the second time.
+1 Stubbleduck
Have used everything from fixed to Guillotine and of late have had great success with the headhunters. Body shots are 100% a no go in my opinion and if you have any thought of wanting to go that route then stick with fixed or mechanicals.
I have yet to "chop" a head off but usually just have a large enough laceration to put them down right there. I have missed too and had a second chance as they stayed on my decoys.
I will mention that you will be shocked how easy it is to locate their head and key in on it with your pin. Much easier than the body IMO. I have shot quite a few with mechanicals, 4-5 dozen, but have chased down my fair share;)
Both work, see what works best for you, and go from there. I started using them because I hinge cut my farm and planted 40 acres of SWITCH AND Indian grass. I knew if one got into the jungle it would be alot harder and with two little ones my "blood trailing" time was cut short.
So far it's working but I still use mechanicals alot.
"I might try one some day maybe after I have arrowed 300 but that might be a while."
TBM,...how in the hell do you manage to draw a bow when you always have one arm bent behind you, patting yourself on the back?
Can't believe they kicked you off, then let you back off to go back to slamming people. (Why follow Bowsite rules,..all you have to do is register under a different handle, pretend to be your own kid, and go back to the same stuff.)
Magnus tells you to use Bullheads for head shots.
I bounced one off the wingbutt of a gobbler, cut a few feathers and the same bird came back about an hour or so later, following the same flock of hens.
He was fine, but not strutting. Did better with the second shot and popped him in the head.
Of course, that's a Kansas bird, and not one of those Ph.D 'Bama turkeys which live most of their lives underground, and only pop their heads out of gopher holes to look around and gobble once a year.
Again, as advertised, they fly much better, and are easy to tune with the full-length, heavy Victory arrows.
Have no clue how far they'll shoot accurately. My decoys are at 8-12 yards, which means I don't have to shoot past about 15 yards. I know where mine will shoot to 25 yards, and haven't tried further.
I've yet to have a Bullhead make a photo impossible, but I also don't hunt just so I can photograph a dead turkey to show it off. I want dead toms.
I have, though, had a few toms I couldn't find really screw up a photo shoot.
Agree, it's not always DOC. We had one last year last several minutes from a glancing shot which eventually killed him.
Also, used the 100-grain Bullhead for a 12-year-old last year, because it was easier to get him to aim for the head rather than trying to describe where to put a broadhead in the body.
Since when did an opinion warrant getting tossed off the site? If that were the case half of the members would no longer be on. I have only killed turkeys with my shotgun so when I decide to use the bow I would take everyone's opinions and decide which to go with. Like him or hate him with 200 birds down I would not brush off his opinion. I'm not sure I agree with his comment on the head being a gimmick but for my public land hunting I don't have much opportunity to sit in a blind and wait for a close head shot. I feel a body shot would be more the norm in my area.
Scoot has nailed it. I have my daughter outfitted with Bullheads and the only reason I don't shoot them is because I have to totally change my setup on my hunting bow to shoot them due to my long DL. I need to pick up a dedicated turkey hunting bow.
I love Bullheads and have had great success with them the last couple of years.
Definitely not meant for a body shot, keep a regular BH in the quiver if you want that option. As already noted they will just bounce off a bird hit in the body with little to no effect short of some feathers lost.
Give em a shot, lots of fun!
Do they look like they were made for penetration?
I keep a body-shot head in my quiver, on a victory arrow, and it impacts the same as a Bullhead.
Kinda, gulp, along TBM's theory of needing a heavier arrow for penetration of a big mechanical.
"I set up for them and couldn't get 3 arrows to hit the same spot. Each arrow grouped individually but the did not group together."
I honestly feel that is a tuning issue and not trying to downplay what your saying. One definitely needs 4-5" feathers, full length arrows and .300 spine or higher arrows. I fought the trend too and wrote down the birds I had killed through the years and 99% I could have killed with a bullhead, DCap broadhead etc.
I still use both and agree you can wound a bird or any animal with an arrow. No doubt about it with any head.
I just feel my recovery rates are much improved and more than anything-the TIME of recovery is much less. Plus I have less anxiety after the shot. LOL.
I could change my mind down the road, but if I do, it wont be for accuracy or effectiveness issues.
Also I stand my the fact that it is amazing how big that head looks at 10 yards with your pin on it:)
I have killed my share of birds with the guillotine and bullheads but prefer the same setup that I deer hunt with. I have had kids kill dozens of birds out of my blind and they have shot them with fixed blade heads. It still comes down to education on where to aim. It shouldn't take that long to teach a newby where to shoot a turkey. I also set the decoys very close (4 yards) for young bowhunters. Like it was said earlier on here do NOT shoot them in the body with a head designed for head shots.
Plucked the string with my recurve and the bullhead equipped arrow launched in a big corkscrew flight path, hit it in the wing, plucked two primary feathers and that's all it did. So my answer is no, if your in a blind, just nock a different arrow with an appropriate broadhead for the shot presented
I don't see how guys can say it is either hit or miss it with the head loppers. I have seen as writer describes a few glancing blows and one bird get away and two others take a while to die. It is not either a hit or a miss! It can easily be a bad hit!! Just like idiots taking head shots with rifles and saying the same thing. I have seen deer with their bottom jaw blown off and still walking. I do agree with writer, shoot the right arrow, keep the shots close and no issue telling someone where to hold with the head loppers. Shawn
Last my buddy Jake was shooting 37#, too light for the full-sized Bullhead and the big arrows id needed to be stable, but we went with about a 28" fairly stiff carbon shaft, with three feathers.
Shot the 100 grainer, which isn't as wide, very well.
I only shoot the 100 grain bullhead. And keep a few 100 grain hammer heads or the few Vortex I have left . The bullhead has worked great for me . I have missed a few but none have got away that I have hit. It's just around the corner can't wait. Good luck! Hunt
I use the Bullhead and as far as I'm concerned its the head to use, I have shot at least a Dozen turkeys with them. It seems to me that aiming and shooting at the largest vital area on the turkey is a smart idea, the head and neck area of the turkey is at least 3 times bigger than the heart lung area. And a big fat no on the body shot, unless you are into collecting feathers, lots of feathers with a body shot
The one downside to using them is getting them tuned properly for some bows. I simply couldnt on my compound. I shoot a 29" draw and 80-90 pounds. I couldn't get a long enough arrow stiff enough and I had no interest in changing my normal set up.
I did use bulkheads out if my 50# longbow and hit 2 birds on 2 consecutive days dead center in the neck, just below the head. Both arrows bounced off and shots were about 5 yards. The second bird I took with a second shot in the body with a snuffer and later that morning shot another in the head with a snuffer. Both shots were absolutely perfectly centered and I think that's what hurt me. If I was off just a bit I think I would have had 2 dead birds. I even had the shots on video to review.
"Intestine hit birds are an easy recovery"
Please, put an ounce of thought in before you type.
And the last person to "fall victim to hype" would be sbschindler!
Next level.....when you aim for the head and take out the thigh
10 inches off at 20 yards would get a man bashed if TBM still posted here....
While I have not killed 300 gobblers with a bow, it didn't take many bullheads shots to realize it is a better head for me. Maybe one day I will be ready for body shots. Hunt
Even if we did not make a head chopping broadhead I would use one. Big Hurt, head chopping broadheads is not a gimmick. There are far less turkeys wounded with bowhunters using a head chopping broadhead than there is shooting one in the body. Is it fool proof? No it is not, because the human factor comes in, meaning head chopping broadheads are entirely designed to shoot at a turkeys head or neck. I have taken 16 birds with the bullhead from 5 yds to 40 yds and out of 14 of these birds they went down like a rock. 2 of them walked 15 yds and were down. The head and neck of a turkey is a larger area than the vitals of a turkey, plus the head makes a perfect aiming point. No meat damage at all when you take their heads off. The key to being successful with them is aiming for the middle of the neck, if you hit higher your taking their head off, if you hit a tad low your still taking their head off. The mistake is made when people aim at the base of the neck and they hit low and hit the body. Head chopping broadheads are absolutely not made for body shots.
The head and neck of a turkey is in one sense larger than the central body "Vitals" but in another smaller. There is considerable room for vertical error when aiming at the mid neck region with a decapitating head but probably less lateral room for error. In my experience over about 8 years and 16 Toms taken the decapitating broadhead is less likely to result in chasing a wounded bird than body shots. I used NAP "Gobbler Getters" for several years prior to switching to "Gobbler Guilliotiens" and ended up chasing a number of wounded birds as well as losing a couple. The guillotine doesn't always take the head off but every bird I have actually hit with one has died within minutes and within sight.
I've been using bullheads the last 5 years and I really like them. When I do my job and hit them in the head or neck, they don't go anywhere which is perfect for a lot of the places I hunt. I've bounced a few off their backs, chests, etc and they just run off. Clean miss or clean kill.
And it's just cool whacking their heads off!!!
I have killed every single turkey (in multiple states each year) that I have every shot at with the Magnus bullhead since I began hunting with them in 2009. Every bird hit in the head neck has dropped right where they stood with the exception of one and he went a whopping 15 yards. The longest headshot that I have ever had to take was 9 yards. Most have been at around 6 yards. Last spring in Indiana I did something that I said I would not do and took a shot that was about 25 yards on a bird that was nervous, he took a step just as I shot, and I miss judged the range (I held for 20 yards) I hit him low and a touch back (never getting the neck but I stayed out of the wing butt). He went 250 or so yards but I did find him dead. Not the shot I wanted and I got lucky because I have seen others hit birds in the body with a Bullhead and it just bounce off. The point is the Bullheads are very effective and not some "fad".
The argument that arrow to arrow they all fly different is bs. If you tune your setup they all fly the same. I can screw any new 125 gr Bullhead onto any Bullhead arrow and drive tacks at 20 yards and in. At 40 yards I can shoot 3" groups all day long.
Head/neck shots on a turkey are the EASIEST shot to make in all of bow hunting.
I accidentally hit a jake perfectly broadside with a bullhead. The arrow hit with a very deep, loud thump. The jake ran away.
I think I broke his wing bone. I also think I really ruined his day. If I killed him, it didn't happen for a while.
I don't recommend it for body shots. But for head loppin, I highly recommend them.
