Bow vs. shotgun

There are fundamental differences between turkey hunting with a bow and a shotgun, including effective range, shot placement and set up.

Effective shooting distance

Your effective shooting distance (how far you can be from a turkey and likely kill it with a single shot) will vary with the level of your shooting skills and the type of equipment you’re using.

A good rule of thumb for shotgun shooters is 40 yards. Anything further than that and there’s a good chance you might not hit the head and neck with enough pellets to kill the bird.

Any closer than 20 yards and your pellet pattern may not have time to open up enough for maximum effectiveness.

Bow hunters, on the other hand, will often wait until a bird has come to within 20 yard before taking a shot.

Lethal shot placement

Shotgun hunters should take turkeys with a head and neck shot for a quick, clean kill. Shot shooters have a better chance at a lethal head shot than do bowhunters because shotgun pellets spread into a relatively wide pattern, and it takes just a handful of pellets hitting the right places to kill a bird.

Beyond 40 yards, shotgun pellets to the body won’t penetrate the heavy turkey feathers. Inside of 20 yards and a shot to the body will ruin too much meat with pellet damage.

However, the head is a pretty small target for an arrow that strikes just a single point. In addition, turkeys are a nervous sort and will often jolt their head when they hear the sound of a bowstring being released.

Therefore, bowhunters should forget the head and aim for the body in order to hit vital internal organs.

Using a ground blind

Bowhunters must raise their bow, reach full draw and release an arrow, which is hard to do without a turkey noticing. Turkeys have excellent vision, far better than ours, and once they see movement they’ll bolt. Therefore, most bowhunters like to hunt from a ground blind that will hide all the moving parts of an archery shot.

In contrast, shotgun hunter can set up in front of tree, large enough to conceal their outline, have their gun at the ready, and have a good chance of getting off a shot before a turkey notices.