It’s a free country – do want you want to do. But, here’s my unsolicited opinion.

If you’re anything like me, you have a lot of money wrapped up in your bow setup. The bow, arrows, sight, stabilizer, broadheads, case, quiver and custom strings – it all cost you some scratch and by God you want a return on that investment. Springtime rolls around and here comes the hapless turkey, seemingly begging you for a beheading. Please allow me to talk you off the ledge.

You see, I love turkey hunting. I love the whole damn thing. The calling, the shock gobbles, finding the roosting area, watching a big Tom strut into my decoys, all of it. Most of all, I love blasting them in the face with a shotgun. And, while I love bowhunting more than life itself, to use a bow in this situation is to deprive the turkey of the only death it truly deserves – a million hot BB’s ripping through its ugly red brain holster.

For as stupid as turkeys seem to be, they’re surprisingly resilient. Anyone that has spent enough time hunting them will have experienced the haunting sight of one getting away. It takes an exceedingly well-placed broadhead to get the job done, and let’s be honest – there are a lot of people incapable of placing a broadhead exceedingly well. It’s why we see an entire lineup of oversized, impossible-to-tune broadheads designed to compensate for the turkey’s tiny kill zone.

Before the moaning and groaning begins, please allow me to extend an olive branch. I understand that many states have an archery-only season for turkeys and, if your only opportunity for taking a bird falls within these guidelines, I’d rather you hunt than not at all. But, if you can hold out for the sweet, sweet days reserved for the American shotgunner, I believe you’ll be doing that turkey justice.

At the end of the day, I don’t care what you do, so long as you’re not the idiot running around with an AR-15 loaded with 55 gr. Hornady V-Max. That’s just dumb.

Do you have questions about bowhunting and want an honest answer? Comments? Send an email to theangrybowhunter@gmail.com and we’ll (maybe) get back to you.