Crossbow Gobbler Tips and Tactics

Spring gobbler season is one of my favorite times of the year. After months with no hunting activity, spring gobbler season kicks off the start of the new hunting year. It's also the first opportunity to field test many of the new bowhunting products on the market.

Each year more and more hunters take to the spring woods with crossbows in hand. Crossbow hunting spring gobblers is a completely different ballgame from hunting them with a shotgun. Your preparation needs to begin weeks, if not months, in advance of the season and should begin with your equipment.

When I'm setting up my crossbow for a turkey hunt, my two biggest concerns are arrow weight and broadhead preference.

Since most hunters have their crossbows set up with the whitetail in mind, we'll use this as our comparison point. I prefer to shoot an arrow that is 100 grains lighter for my turkey setup. There are several reasons for this logic. A turkey's kill zone is about the size of a softball. And unlike a whitetail, rarely can you get a turkey to pose in a stationary position. A lighter arrow will shoot faster and flatter than a heavier arrow. Penetration is also an important factor to consider. Unlike the whitetail, we do not want the arrow to fully penetrate and pass through the wild turkey. A lighter arrow will penetrate less than a heavier one.

Selecting the proper broadhead is also a critical part of your equipment preparation. After shooting turkeys with nearly every broadhead style available: fixed blade, expandable, cut on contact, replaceable blade, etc., I'm a firm believer that the most effective broadheads available to turkey hunters are the ones designed specifically for turkeys.

When used in conjunction with a lighter weight arrow, the open, fixed blade design of turkey-specific broadheads will not only hinder penetration, but also transfer a tremendous amount of shock through the intended target upon impact.

Executing proper shot placement with a crossbow can dispatch a mature gobbler quicker than one shot at the same distance with a shotgun. To validate this claim, we've uploaded a turkey hunting video to our homepage at CrossbowMagazine.com.

Wild turkeys can be very predictable and patternable. Most of your scouting can be done from afar by listening for gobblers to sound off in their roosting areas in both the mornings and evenings. Even as the season progresses, they will traverse ridge lines, cross streams, roost and feed in the same general areas.

Turkeys as a whole do not travel very far or fast in the spring time. There are plenty of abundant food sources. Hens won't stray far from established dusting and nesting sites, and gobblers are reluctant to leave their established breeding area. On more than one occasion I've seen a gobbler with several hens stay within a 200-yard radius the entire day.

Regarding decoys, I always incorporate three or more into my setups. If you've scouted your area properly, a wary old gobbler will often times cover those last few fatal yards if he spots decoys in an area where he typically expects to see other turkeys. The decoys will divert his focal point from the shooter. Decoys also give the crossbow shooter an instant yardage reference point. It's important that you know the exact distance to your decoys so you can estimate the yardage accordingly before you take the shot at an approaching gobbler.

The only shot I ever take is the broadside or nearly broadside wingbutt shot. The wingbutt shot provides the largest exposure to the vital area and also affords you the opportunity to incapacitate the turkey by breaking its wing. A wingbutt shot gobbler will generally expire within sight if not immediately upon impact.

Author's Note: Decapitating broadhead technology is very effective on spring gobblers; but since it has not yet been incorporated for crossbow usage, it's not a viable option.

Hunting spring gobblers with a crossbow is about as challenging and as fun as it gets. Good luck!