The Hunting Public (THP) is known for producing interesting and informative content for hunters pursuing whitetails and turkeys, and they also cover DIY trips for pronghorn, elk and mule deer. The vast majority of their adventures take place on public land, but the hosts will visit private land occasionally.
In the YouTube video below, THP contributor Ted Miller, an Iowa resident with access to crazy-good private land for whitetails and wild turkeys, uses trail cams to capture the reverse camera angle during a recent turkey hunt. As you’ll see, he’s eventually successful killing a gobbler, but not before two “swing and a miss” attempts.
A couple takeaways after watching the 10-minute video:
When a turkey is head-on, and this is especially true on a strutting tom, your arrow must hit above the beard to penetrate the heart/lung area. In the video, Ted’s arrow hits nothing but feathers. His arrow needed to enter the turkey at the base of the neck. Click here to see an outstanding photo essay from Mathews Archery showing where archers should aim on wild turkeys when the birds are in a variety of positions.
While bowhunting, Ted has his decoys set up at no more than 10 yards, which is perfect in my opinion. However, many bowhunters don’t realize that when shooting at ultra-close range (5-10 yards), there’s a good chance you should NOT be using your top pin. Click here for an article I wrote that explains the reason in detail. I don’t know which pin Ted was using (he doesn’t explain his bowsight setup), but if I had to guess, I’d say Ted used his 20-yard pin, when he would have been better to use his 30-yard pin, even though the shot distance was about 7 yards. I understand this sounds counterintuitive; again, read the article.
