Wounding question?

[123fish]

I know there are a lot of good bow hunters in this forum so beings I have no experience with hunting with a bow I have a question. I called a Tom in this morning for a buddy who on his first shot with a bullhead broad head shaved the feathers off of the back of the strutting Tom at eighteen yards. He barely spooked the bird and I called him right back. He had a regular broad head for his second shot and after watching video it looked like he hit him a little low and a bit forward. He shot right through him and the bird did a cartwheel and was spooked but just started to run away after a hen that had came in first. They probably ran 80 yards and just stood out in a bean field. We got out of the blind and they both ran a bit and took off flying. He wasn’t struggling or anything and looked normal. I followed his tracks from where he was hit to where he took off and there was not one drop of blood in the snow. I’m assuming he shot right through the breast. Will that bird survive?

[Wanderer]

Probably is the best odds I’ll give.  Sounds like all meat but even without the vitals being damaged, infection could be an issue later.

[DonBo]

Sounds like you're right about hitting the breast.  They are tough birds.  Best guess is he'll be fine.

[Scoot]

Hit 'em low, watch 'em go.  Hit 'em high, watch 'em die.  Low shots frequently result in a lost bird.  Forward or back, if it's low you have to get a bit lucky to recover the bird.  Lots of examples of when it worked out with a low shot, but tons where it doesn't.  Turkey anatomy is weird IMO and lots of people aim lower than they realize they should (might not be applicable to this situation, but it's common).  Bummer on the bird- stinks to hit them and not recover them, but like DonBo said- they're really tough and it happens a lot, unfortunately.  

[DonBo]

Tough birds. Glad he's back in the game.