This is the ideal shot for a bowhunter since a shot to the spine will immediately immobilize the bird and it should die quickly. The best situation for this shot is with the bird standing erect with its head up and its back toward you. If it has its head down and is walking away feeding, it doesn’t present a good target. A spine shot is best but the turkey won’t always present you with this angle.

Many times the gobbler will present a broadside shot which can be good if you can hit the point where the wing butt connects to the bird’s body. This point is at a relatively high position on the body where the arrow will either break a wing or the backbone or pierce the heart or lungs.

Sometimes the the bird will be facing you (breast-on). This isn’t ideal for several reasons but aim for a point 4 to 5 inches below the base of the neck or about an inch below where the beard is attached to a male turkey. A hit in this location should break the back as it goes through and also damage the heart and/or lungs, or break a wing or leg.

Shooting at a strutting spring gobbler is a risky venture. When a turkey struts his feathers are puffed out away from his body, making the location of the vital areas difficult to determine. You can usually bring a turkey out of strut by making a couple of clucks on a turkey call. If this doesn’t work, the best shot at a strutting gobbler is to wait for him to turn his fanned tail toward you. With his back turned and his head hidden by the fan, you can draw on him without being seen. Then aim at the vent (anus) at the base of the tail. Your broadhead placed in this location should hit the heart, lungs or liver and maybe break a leg or wing too.

When you just can’t get a bird to come out of strut and he won’t turn around to give you a better shot from the back, you can still try the facing, breast-on shot. Just aim a little below where the beard protrudes from the feathers and remember to adjust your aim left or right if he is standing at an angle.

This is probably the least desirable but most often presented shot on a gobbler. When taking a this shot at a strutting gobbler, aim for a point in front of the secondary, bronze-colored, wing feathers near where the black-tipped body feathers begin. This point should be directly inline with the hip joint.