Let's say it's light enough to shoot at 6:00 am. You have a gobbler located. What time do you get into shooting position ready to call that Tom off the limb to your barrel?
Me, I'm in the woods at my starting spot at least 1 hour before shooting time. Regardless of how long I have to walk to get there, I'll allow one hour to settle in. I make all my approaches in total darkness, some of my spots I'll actually walk past a Roosted bird to get into position to lure him in. Wanted to hear your thoughts/approach in your situations.......
I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.
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Quote from: Happy on March 12, 2024, 07:52:00 PM
I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.
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Thanks Happy. I think your a gold level member, not platinum my friend
I need to be at parking spot 2 hours before legal light, hopefully earlier. And being 1 1/2hr away from zone, 2AM wake up, out of house by 2:30. If no one else shows up I will head in at least 1hr before light, rare to have any info on where they are.
Without being concerned with other factors I would be under him an hr before 1st light not shooting time.
I like watching them on the limb, I know some do not like to get that close but when I can I will, shot many a bird just after their toes hit the dirt!
Watched many more sail off to the unknown.
Quote from: Tom007 on March 12, 2024, 07:54:09 PM
Quote from: Happy on March 12, 2024, 07:52:00 PM
I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.
Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club
Thanks Happy. I think your a gold level member, not platinum my friend
I don't know about that. I just enjoy it more when I have to make the right moves and he comes looking for me. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy shooting them, but I like it to be under the conditions that I want. Many will see it differently, and that's their call.
Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club
I'm with you Tom, usually an hour or so before daylight, but it all depends if i had Mexican food the night before... :OGturkeyhead:
Depends on where I am hunting and the circumstances of the setup and hunting pressure. Edge of a field I am there EARLY. In the woods on the ridge, meh I will listen for him on the limb and move in on him close enough to where I know he can't see me.
I have killed very few right of the limb in the woods compared to the edge of the field. I get tight to them in the woods they never seem to want to pitch down in the setup or close to and walk in.
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My friends think I am nuts but I try to be in the woods by 4 in the morning no matter what, I do not move the best and want to give things time to settle down when I get there. Now that I bring my camera in with me I feel even stronger about it as it is a little extra noise getting the camera out of the pack, getting it on the tripod and gimbal, digging out the remote trigger for the camera and so on. I thought I would have a second camera this year to put in the field a little away from the decoys (if used that day) to get really close shots but with Jane and I having health issues that didn't work out money wise as it all has been spent going to and from hospitals/Rehab centers but next year that will mean more time for setup.
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If it's light at 6 am, I'm at the gate at 3 am. I will sit there and double check everything in my vest and condition my calls before I get out of the truck. I will also load my gun before getting out. Typically at this point it will be around 3:15 or 3:30. In the scenario I know where the gobbler is roosted, so I will get to around 75 to 100 yards from him by say 4 or 4:30. Depending on the distance and what kind of litter is on the ground/how dry it is. I will then sit there in the dark until he starts getting froggy.
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I am a bit later than some. If I arrive too early I will be fidgety waiting or get that way much earlier in my post daylight sit. I want to be there before he wakes up, but not too much before.
I'm lucky that I don't have to compete on public. I get here when I get there but shoot to be where I want to listen about 30 minuted before shooting time. If I'm a little late, it's not usually a problem. The birds down here rarely gobble in the pitch black, and only occasionally in the grey. Lately they seem to wait until it's light enough that it's tough to move on one. I'm hunting pretty open hammock/ranch lands. The bird we killed opening day gobbled on the roost the first time 10 minutes after shooting time.
Just depends on where you're hunting.
I'm at where I want to be 45-60 min. before legal shooting light (1/2 hr. before sunrise) whether I'm setting up on a roosted bird or at the top of a ridge to listen. I've made it earlier when I have to sneak through an open area that birds might see me.
I'm also fortunate to generally not have to compete with other hunters.
If I'm hunting the private ground here at home or the spot I hunt out west where there isn't much pressure, I don't get into my spot until a half hour prior to legal shooting hours. But if I'm hunting DNR property here in Indiana on one of the draw only hunts, I'm there an hour and a half early.
Quote from: Happy on March 12, 2024, 08:17:14 PM
I don't know about that. I just enjoy it more when I have to make the right moves and he comes looking for me. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy shooting them, but I like it to be under the conditions that I want. Many will see it differently, and that's their call.
Very well said!
Had a ranch owner that told me where I could sneak right under a roost tree and shoot one easily... (After explaining how I had a bird outsmart me that morning).
Turned out he liked to golf, and I asked him, how much he would enjoy getting to play a perfect game at Pebble Beach if he was allowed to hand-drop the ball in each hole? He laughed, and said "I got it now."
Me... I like to trick them into coming into me with a call... That is what blows up my shorts. I usually arrive about a half hour before shoot time (earlier if I have a long walk). I will try and position myself in a strategic location, based on where they were roosted the last time I was out. Very often I make a last-minute move based on hearing either hens or toms....
To date, I have never killed a bird before the sun came up... And cannot remember birds ever (voluntarily) leaving the roost before the sun came up....
A large part of the enjoyment of the pre-dawn hunt is hearing the woods wake up... But there is some degree of enjoyment in that anxiety of deciding and getting to your first set-up.
I like to get to my spot at least an hour before daylight. That gives me time to settle in, calm down a little and get myself situated. In my thinking it also allows the woods to calm down around me as well.
A lot of different, interesting answers. I respect those who have to get up super early to get to a gate/travel long distance to a spot, whatever the reason. When I hunt New York, I have to get up at 2:30 myself. This season opens May 1, and because it's further North, it gets light much earlier. I have about an hour drive, I like to start heading in to the woods at 4:15-4:30 depending on my walk. Great responses, thank you....
Play it by ear depending on the area. Always better to be one hour early than 5 minutes late. Usually shoot for one hour before official sunrise to be totally set up and quiet.
I hunt almost exclusively private ground with low pressure. Most mornings I am getting out of my truck at gobble time. If I have a specific bird located and a bone to pick I might be set up 30 minutes before shooting time. Some days I don't even get to the woods before fly-down. I used to be up and out early, but I still killed most of my birds an hour after fly-down and a lot later than that. One of my favorite times to hunt public is from 10:00 - 12:00 after most of the 4:30 guys went home. In my old age I just don't get as excited about that early morning and have learned I can get my rest and still kill birds. I believe I could wait and eat breakfast and get in the woods at 8:00 AM and my success wouldn't change much at all. If I hunted exclusively public I would not change and probably not even go until 10:00 AM a lot of days. I am not into competing for spots. When it gets that complicated I will just go fishing. I turn 69 in two weeks and have spent 52 of those years hunting turkeys, my flame burned down to coals a long time ago, but any good BBQ guy can tell you the coals are the best to cook with.
I try to get in at least 30 minutes before day light and listen from an area the bird would feel comfortable moving into. It always does not work out that way, especially when you are in an unfamiliar area. Early season, late season, with hens, without hens all play into the game plan. The key is keeping the gobbler in a mindset that is normal to his daily routine.
One hour before if hunting roosted bird, half an hour before if I'm going to a listening spot.
Very seldom am I part of the "daylight" crew anymore. Fortunate to live right down the road from the wma I hunt the most, and within 40mins of 2 others. I'm thru the check station usually around 9am. Well rested, full belly, and dry feet. Almost all of the morning crew are gone, and I usually have most of my spots to myself. That 10 to 2 time frame has become my "killin time" over the years.
I usually leave the truck an hour plus before daylight, and, although I dig a guy trying to kill a Tom the second his feet dirt as that is an art in itself, I am with Happy and Marc on this one. I like the cat and mouse game of making him come that last couple of hundred yards trying to find that hen who is talking to him. It really about undoes me even thirty plus years later when I know he is about to top that rise and is on full alert looking for either a hen or danger and you have little to no margin for error.
If I know the tree where he is roosted, I am going to try to be around 75 yards away 30-45 minutes before when I think his first gobble will come. If I know the area he is roosted, I will try to be set up 30 minutes before the first gobble about 100-200 yards from where I think he is going to. If I have no clue, I will be standing somewhere to listen about 15 minutes before first gobble.
I like to be at my spot at least 1 hour before shooting light. I like the woods to settle down after I've been snapping twigs and all getting to my spot.
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30 minutes to 1 hour seems to be popular. Great responses......
Sheesh 3am in? I give some of you guys a ton of credit. I'm fortunate enough to have exclusive access to a large tract of private. I always aim to get to a high point by gobbling time, and make my way to the closest bird hopefully before he flys down. Then I just enjoy the rest of the morning roaming. I kill then at all times.
I utilize the same strategy on public. One exception is a place that's 4 miles in so I start that hike about an hour before gobbling time. I can generally make it walking at a fast pace.
Now you guys hunting southern Florida public in early March....i feel sorry for you guys.
Quote from: Big Flounder on March 12, 2024, 11:39:28 PM
If I'm hunting the private ground here at home or the spot I hunt out west where there isn't much pressure, I don't get into my spot until a half hour prior to legal shooting hours. But if I'm hunting DNR property here in Indiana on one of the draw only hunts, I'm there an hour and a half early.
X2
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My neck of the woods is "Posted/Non Posted" which is similar to Private/Public. If I am hunting a roost that I am familiar with then I am there at least 30 minutes before legal shooting time, which is 45 minutes to an hour before fly down. If I am walking and listening, I get there 10 minutes before legal and listen to set up. I love to hear them sing too, but if my setup is perfect and I get one off the roost, I'll try him. Opportunities are very rare here, seeing birds is easy, lol. All land that is not posted is fair game here as long as you follow the rules. Most posted signs are earned by "slob hunters". The birds around here get pressured hard early season then dwindle due to the nicer weather activities. Take the shot when you have it here. Z
Generally speaking, I am going to be in the woods a minimum of half an hour before "gobble thirty", sometimes earlier if I am going to a known roosted gobbler and am not expecting to have competition. Like others have said, though, if I think I need to be somewhere to be ahead of potential competition, the arrival time moves up considerably.
Having said that, around here, it is not unusual for the pre-dawn temps to be in the twenties, or lower, and getting to a gobbler often requires a lengthy, sweat-inducing climb of several hundred vertical feet. If somebody wants to experience turkey-hunting misery at its best, try sitting against a tree for an hour in the dark at 9000 ft. after negotiating a 45-degree incline up a mountain and getting soaked with sweat prior to that sit. I can guarantee your enthusiasm for sitting in that darkness any longer than necessary will be diminished. ;D :D
Also, anymore, part of the challenge for me is hunting gobblers in areas I have never hunted before. I often hunt areas where my first clue a gobbler is in the area is from hearing that first gobble in the morning. Randomly choosing a specific spot to sit and wait an hour early is a waste of time. In those situations, it is a rare occurrence to be able to get tight to a gobbler before he will be able to see your approach. Starting that process of finding a gobbler to hunt only requires being in the general area when I think I can induce that first gobble, which most often is roughly when the eastern horizon first begins to glow.
...The added advantage to that is that I am not freezing my patootie off sitting somewhere in the dark...at 9000 ft...in 20 degree temps...soaked in sweat. Granted, I still do that on occasion...but to be clear, it ain't no fun...even when I know there is a gobbler close by! ;D :toothy9:
If I'm hunting a field edge and have roosted a bird the night before, I like to be all set up and ready to go 30-40 before first light, if I'm in the woods and I'm going in cold I'll be there 15-20 minutes before they normally start gobbling and just go from there.
I like to get out early just because I love dawns and observing everything that goes on during the change rom dark to light.
I've heard and read about the "wise" move of waiting until later in the morning to hunt as that's when most turkeys are killed. No thank you. I wouldn't want to miss a dawn. Being out extremely early is one of the things that made me a diehard.
Quote from: Treerooster on March 15, 2024, 01:39:36 PM
I like to get out early just because I love dawns and observing everything that goes on during the change rom dark to light.
I've heard and read about the "wise" move of waiting until later in the morning to hunt as that's when most turkeys are killed. No thank you. I wouldn't want to miss a dawn. Being out extremely early is one of the things that made me a diehard.
Yup, have said the same thing many a time. Regardless of whether I think I will likely be more successful later on in the day, missing out on being out there at daybreak to watch the woods and its inhabitants wake up is not an option for me.
That is "quadrupally" important when hunting unfamiliar territory, which some of us do often. You will learn more in that first hour or two of daylight in those situations than in all the rest of the day put together.
I guess I fall into a different situation. In the past few years, you need to be parked at your spot 2 hours before daylight or more than likely, someone else will be. I really don't understand where these people came from....40 years ago, it was rare to even hear a truck drive into the boat landing. I had it all to myself and was young enough and energetic enough to take full advantage. Now...not so much. Throw in the fact that even if you ARE the lucky? guy who gets first choice; there's a fair chance that the bird you are after roosted somewhere else the night before. I've never been able to pick a definite pattern to that but they never seem to roost in the same spot (sometimes same area) 2 nights in a row