Contributors to this thread:
I've used Slick Trick on and off for a few years (standards) but never gotten a gobbler with one. I was wondering what your go to head was for turkeys (not including the bullhead).
Now's the time to get out your mouth calls, sand up the slates and get to practicing, spring turkey will be here before we know it!
Winchester Longbeard #6’s
The biggest mechanical you can get your hands on.
Now that they are making them again....my top choice would be Vortex 2.75"
I have a bunch of 150 gr. swhackers that are 3" cut. They worked great last year and I'll shoot them again this year.
I shot only fixed blade heads for well over 3 decades before trying a mechanical head for turkey hunting. My turkey hunting head of choice is the NAP Spitfire three-blade. Not super wide, but both birds I shot with them.....plus a bunch of deer have gone down fast.
I’ve arrowed about thirty turkeys, mostly merriams, but four easterns. Every one of them killed with a fixed. I’ve used Muzzy MX4, Slick trick mag, Magnus black hornet and a few others. Shots are generally 10-15 yards so it’s reasonably easy to hit them correctly.
Nothing wrong with slick tricks. This gal has knocked a few turkeys out in her career using Slick Trick standards. I personally like a big mech like a Vortex or Rage extreme but she has no trouble with ST's. It's a turkey, not a rhino. Hit it in the pumphouse and it's over quick.
NAP FOC ( freaking outrageous cut)
3 1/4" cut 175 grains. i dull - blunt the tips and it hurts them bad. i'm 10 for 10 with this broad head on body shots. they just fall over and stick up there feet!
Only Guys that don’t care about the harvest shoot mechanicals .
This has to be the stupidest post I have ever read on Bowsite ! Ever. I am a rocket hammerhead and a vortex 2.75 guy. Killed my fair share with this set up !
Hunt Man you saved me from post the exact same thing. I shoot a lot of turkeys with my bow. You certainly can killed them with any broadhead, but a big cut expandable is the way to go.
Also if you are going to hunt turkeys with a bow. Spends sometime understanding their vitals. They are lot higher than most think. Also they are a lot smaller and harder to know precisely where they are located than on a big game animal. Keep your shots short.
You need to read more those types of post are very common here actually
I have used NAP Spitfire with good success. I have also used Slick Trick with good success. But I've switched to the Bullhead 125 and won't look back. I still have a couple of the first options in my quiver in case I can't get set up and ready with a Bullhead, but I've killed 3 birds with the Bullhead and dropping them in their tracks is incredible.
Ok Timbrhuntr how about stupidest post since Bowriter stopped posting.
Pretty accurate sketch. Good luck
"Only guys that don't care about the harvest shoot mechanicals?"
I have no idea what that means but I'd suspect I'd need a social media following, a flat bill and a delicate personality to understand that.
Without a doubt, the Wasp Jak-Hammer select a cut mechanical, set at 1 3/4" is my go to broadhead on turkey. I've killed a pile of turkey with that broadhead.
I love the Bullheads. Also have killed a pile of them with Sidewinders, Hammerheads and Vortex heads.
Big ones! Simmons Safaris.
Wasp Jak-Hammer 13/4 inch does a nice job on turkeys! Killed a bunch with them! No longer hunt them with a shot gun.
Vortex 2.75" 2 blades are as good as it gets for body shots on turkeys.
I've killed them plenty dead during deer season with Muzzys and G5 Strikers, but when I'm turkey hunting it's Rocket Aeroheads or Grim Reapers.
We shot some with fixed blades and killed some but lost some too. Switched the hyperdermics last year and we killed 4 with no lossses, and actually no tracking jobs. I’d strongly recommend using a mechanical.
I like a big mech. Plenty of good ones listed above. I've killed a pile with Jak-Hammers but the last few were with Spitfire Maxx.
"Relax it was a joke"
Sure it was. The same joke that plays itself out on nearly every broadhead thread.
Another vote for the big Vortex mechanicals for turkeys.
Taking note of Joe's diagram above... "hit 'em high, watch 'em die; hit 'em low, watch 'em go".
Vortex all the way and don't look back
I use my normal setup for deer which is a slick trick but that being said, it is hard to go wrong with a big expandable! On a marginal hit they can be the difference in recovery and a lost bird. I agree knowing where to hit is key.
I have shot turkeys with expandable broadheads have mixed results, but with a fixed broadhead called Zwickey Eskimo I have had great success. the other thing we have decided is to shoot less bow pounds around 55lbs. or less ,reason is arrow stays in bird most of the time and turkey dies easier .good luck,pete53
"...it is hard to go wrong with a big expandable!"
Partially agree. I use a Rocket Stricknine with good results, but you have to have enough bow to use a mech. on turkeys. Not a problem for most guys. However, my wife has had terrible results with them. She has shot clean through elk and moose with her big game set up, but has had terrible (insufficient penetration, even bounce offs) with mechs. on turkeys, and we've tried several. She uses her regular set up with a VPA unvented, 3 blade, 125 with good results.
+1 Ziek.
Accurate shot placement is still the most important part of turkey hunting. It is when the shot is slightly off that cutting diameter can help a little. I killed a gobbler a couple of years ago where a fixed blade wouldn't have done it. It was the first time using a mechanical (Killzone) and I shot high. The broadhead clipped his back and when it opened the blade was pointing down, barely slicing open his back enough to catch the spine and ground him. My normal Slick Trick wouldn't have reached the spine. Had the arrow been turned just a few degrees more I wouldn't have killed him at all, just feathers.
If they are in the boiler room, pretty much anything will work. It is just a matter of how far will they go. I like Grizz Tricks too, the slightly larger cutting diameter and severe blade angle works well on turkeys.
I had good luck with Swhackers this past year.
I plan on using NAP shockwaves, they did a great job on geese this year. 20bucks for 3, can't beat that. Jeff
I have had good success with the NAP Spitfire. I plan to use those this spring. I have killed turkey with my favorite big game head, the Thunderhead. But for turkey hunting I normally shoot the Spitfire.
Doesn't matter what broadhead you shoot when you shoot them in the head.
My go to head is the Rocket Hammer Head, 3 blade that opens to 2 inches and shoot 100% like field points.. I've killed quite a few with that head. Killed a few with fixed and some other mechanical heads.. The best I've used so far has been the hammer head. The perfect kill zone on a turkey is only about the size of a hard ball and in that zone any head will just about put one down.. But just out side that ball size , things can get interesting. So a bigger mechanical helping to keep you inside that base ball is a great help. I see many use the Vortex 2.75" 2 blades which sounds like a good head.. Not sure on the math between a 2 inch 3 blade or a 2.75 2 blade as to which does more cutting. The hammer head will not disappoint on turkey and the vortex sounds like a great choice also.. The one thing I like on the hammer head over the vortex is the hammer head has less blades exposed in flight give me at least a psychological that my head will hit closer to where I want it to... Ed
"She has shot clean through elk and moose with her big game set up, but has had terrible (insufficient penetration, even bounce offs) with mechs. on turkeys, and we've tried several".
Ziek...same thing happened with my Wife (15 yard bounce-off, wing butt shot), when She tried a mech...once was enough!
Fixed blade for her from now on .
but you still have to hit them correctly
but you still have to hit them correctly
I have killed over 50 toms with the NAP Shock Wave plus, 69 geese. This BH keeps on giving! Most often, I just resharpen the three blades, give the head a few file strokes, replace the o-ring, and go kill another one. This goose season, I used the same BH on 7 geese in a row, after resharping. And the same repeat with turkeys also.
Bullheads make it a lot easier to shoot them in the head and neck and its a blast, even if we didn't make the bullhead I would still use a head chopping broadhead. No meat damage and its a blast, have been blessed to take 16 birds with the bullheads nothing more exciting than taking their heads off. Good luck to everyone turkey hunting this spring.
Shooting at a spot size of a softball. Seems to move more than it’s still. Get a big expandable of your choice. I like a three blade. Good luck!
Snuffers are my favorite but I'm about out of the old style.
