Turkey Targets- Do You Really Need One?

Punching paper is poor preparation for success.  At the moment of truth when your heart is pounding and you struggle to hold steady, knowing where to aim must be instinctive.  Few things in nature are as exciting as a mature turkey gobbler strutting toward your location and gobbling every few steps.  You must know when to draw or raise your bow and more importantly the exact spot to aim.

From Points to Broadheads

If you use a decoy, a shot on a wild turkey can be a close-range affair.  You want to practice with your compound or recurve until you can touch fletch on repeated shots.  For crossbow shooters, you may want to aim at multiple dots to prevent busting nocks or cracking carbon shafts.  Accuracy is the first step and once accomplished, graduate to your hunting broadhead.  That requires a foam target and once you know that the broadheads fly like target points, you are ready for the “diploma” step- 3D or realistic targets without dots or marks.

Morrell Back-to-Back

Morrell makes the Back-to-Back foam target which features a full-size turkey gobbler on one side and a whitetail deer target on the reverse that includes the vitals, clearly marked.  Thanks to its rectangular shape, built-in carrying handle, and relative light weight, this target is perfect for year-round broadhead or field point practice.  Thanks to its transportability, it’s easy to carry to a hunting blind for ultra realistic practice through shooting windows.  Once you are finished, it can be a seat in the blind or a handy shelf to quietly store calls and other gear.

Where to Aim?

Here’s a 3-D full-body target compared to a mounted Eastern gobbler.  The vitals of a wild turkey are located behind the wing butt which can be difficult to detect.  As you can see on the target and the mounted bird, the aiming spot is directly behind the bottom of the waddle- the red flesh below the turkey’s head.  On a broadside turkey that is a good reference point.

Tiny Kill Zone

A recent Facebook post showed a strutting broadside view of a turkey gobbler with a grid overlay.  Viewers were asked to select a letter on one axis and a number on the other to show the intersection to aim.  Ironically, five persons responded, each with a different aiming point.  As you can see in the above image, the vitals are at the intersection of a line vertical to the leg and horizontal to the bottom of the waddle.  Hitting this small spot takes great concentration that can only be built by shooting at a 3-D model or a 2.5-D target like the Morrell Back-to-Back.

The Frontal Shot

Since legal turkeys must have a beard, that shaggy patch of hair can be a good aiming point if a gobbler is facing you directly.  This is especially likely if you use decoys, and a gobbler is standing motionless displaying for the simulated hen.  Depending on your shooting skills, the frontal shot also makes the neck of the turkey very vulnerable and an arrow there will disable it immediately.

Hit or Miss

With a large expandable broadhead like the Grim Reaper Micro Hybrid, shooting at the neck is an option that will either kill the gobbler where it stands or miss.  This broadhead has over three inches of total cut which allows for a small margin of error.  Is this too small of a target to shoot at?  The best way to tell is to practice on a life-size target.  You will not only become a better shot, but the target will teach you your limits of range and accuracy.  Quality targets build quality hunters, and they are nearly as good as the real thing–almost.