Do you head for a favorite spot and set up before sunrise or do you walk a road and blow a locator call ever so often at first light? I used to get up at the crack of dawn and walk till I heard a bird gobble, but this year I've been doing what a fellow hunter does and go sit in a blind till 9:00 then I would go walk with him and try to get a shock gobble. Should I be doing more run and gunning at first light or should I be doing it later in the day or should I be sitting and waiting at first light and vise versa.
Good question and the best possible answer is:
It depends.
On hard hunted public land, that has a lot of birds, but are well spread out: I wait for a gobble and head to it, almost never using locators. If nothing sounds off, I go to places I know turkeys like to roost and places turkeys like to travel and sit down and blind call for a while. Moving a little ways and sitting down again. I wait until 2 hours or so after sun up to start getting some distance run n gun, for 2 reasons. First, I don't want to spoil someone else's set up and second, I want to give them a little time to maybe break off from the hens. If I am totally striking out, I will usually sit and call in bottoms, or along field edges, or any place I may strike a bird.
On my private locations: I sit down and call. Most of them are small, small enough that if he is roosted on the property, he will hear me. I have killed so many birds there over the years that never said a word. I would have bumped them if I had run and gun. Some call that deer hunting them, but it is really not. I know where they are likely to be, know where they like to meet the hens and often call hens to me as they come off the roost.
I normally head to a good spot and just sit and listen. If I'm not hearing anything I stay put as I know it's a good area and something is more likely to happen here than wondering around at first light. I don't use a blind or dekes so if something would gobble a good aways off from my original sitting spot I just simply relocate, because I don't have the hassel of packing up things that are not needed like dekes and blinds. Although relocating depends on the terrain and amount of foilage and how light it is at the time. I personally feel many guys move around too much early when they are not hearing any, only to have unseen birds spot you, which could of been a bird that would have gobbled to only spook now.
Now as the morning wears on with nothing happening, I then start looking and covering some ground around 10:00, again keeping the terrain and if any foilage, priority which dictates where and how I move. Early Season less foilage, I cover less ground, mid Season and on with heavier foilage, I cover more ground.
I do my best to roost a bird the night before. I feel it puts me way ahead in the morning. If I can't roost any then I rely on my scouting and go in where the birds have been heard/seen. I wait for one to gobble and if that doesn't happen by the time I think it should have I call. I've never been much for locator calls. I usually just yelp softly, then louder, then cackle if need be. If I don't get a response then I'm on the move. Turkey season for me is to short and my hunting time is to limited to be sitting around hoping something happens. I get out there and try to make something happen.
If it's an area for which I have a good idea of where the gobblers and hens are headed after fly down, I'll set up in that area, often several hundred yards from their roost. On the other hand, if it's an area that I have limited information on, I'll go to a good listening spot and wait for a gobble, then head that direction but not too fast because it's very likely that a second or third gobbler will sound off, possibly where I'm headed and I don't want to bump him. Where I hunt, gobblers typically will stay on the roost for 15-20 minutes after their initial gobble, so unless it's a long way off, I have amply time to get close and proceed with my set up as long as I'm quiet and it's not too light.
I usually sneak in and wait for toms to greet the day. I sit down and get ready because I usually have a 50/50 chance of being within 80 yards or so of one. If I am off and a bird is gobbling within earshot then I figure out my aproach based on where I think he wants to go and maneuver into position undetected. I like to be in and settled down well before daylight. Without a light I am usually undetected and have been much closer than I anticipated when daylight breaks.
If I know (or think I know) where a bird is roosted, I set up on him before daylight...
If I have no idea where a bird is roosted, I try to get to a high spot where I can hear, and unlikely for a bird to be and listen...
If I am sitting somewhere and do not hear any activity in my general area, but hear a bird gobbling in the distance, I move...
From the question, I assume no roosted bird, and that's the case for me the vast majority of time. I get into a good listening spot near/in an area history tells me they often roost. I try to let the gobblers and owls do the locating for me, but if it's getting light and no gobble, I throw out an abbreviated hoot with my voice. If nothing close enough to move on fires back, I wait a minute or two and use my voice to owl again, but this one will be a longer, louder but more traditional hoot. If nothing nearby gobbles, I'll wait another few minutes and do a screech owl. By now, owls are normally fired up and making a racket. If after waiting another few minutes I hear nothing close, I either head toward a distant gobble or start walking and owling.
I know I sometimes walk away from a turkey by doing this, but if he isn't playing the game I like I try to find another partner. That first hour is too precious to waste on a quiet turkey.
I prefer 80% of the time to set up on a roosted bird close very early or early in a known roost area. I only walk and locate from the start when I am on unfamiliar ground.
Quote from: TauntoHawk on April 29, 2016, 11:25:11 AM
I prefer 80% of the time to set up on a roosted bird close very early or early in a known roost area. I only walk and locate from the start when I am on unfamiliar ground.
I agree. Roosting is key. This year I've been working after work n in a week w my limited time ive not been so active or successful in roosting. It's like they went mute but that always changes
Quote from: Bill Cooksey on April 29, 2016, 09:28:46 AM
From the question, I assume no roosted bird, and that's the case for me the vast majority of time. I get into a good listening spot near/in an area history tells me they often roost. I try to let the gobblers and owls do the locating for me, but if it's getting light and no gobble, I throw out an abbreviated hoot with my voice. If nothing close enough to move on fires back, I wait a minute or two and use my voice to owl again, but this one will be a longer, louder but more traditional hoot. If nothing nearby gobbles, I'll wait another few minutes and do a screech owl. By now, owls are normally fired up and making a racket. If after waiting another few minutes I hear nothing close, I either head toward a distant gobble or start walking and owling.
I know I sometimes walk away from a turkey by doing this, but if he isn't playing the game I like I try to find another partner. That first hour is too precious to waste on a quiet turkey.
Great point. I also owl hoot before moving on, just in case. I don't think of it as a locator, I think of it as a CYA! :toothy9: I have also learned, the hard way, the best way, to have a place picked out to sit down before making any call that sounds like a turkey.
I like to slide into a known roost early!!! Killed 2 this year that landed in range, got to watch the show for 20 minutes on the limb and 10 on the ground! love it!
Sometimes I sits and think; othertimes I just sit.
I prefer to get in tight on the roost, just seems to be what has yielded the most success. That said, if it doesn't pan out off the roost I never seem to do much the first hour or two after flydown so that probably has a lot to do with how I view hunting them at first light
If I roosted a bird the evening before I m inside 100 yards and up hill or level with him before he can see. Then I wait. I let him do his thing and then a couple or three sparatic tree yelps and a turkey wing against the tree fly down. Usually ends bad for one of us.
If I don't have one roosted I'm on a high spot waiting for them to talk then I pick one out, check my Google maps to get an estimated location and off I go.
Each day is different for me. Sometimes I listen and move in others I just go set up in the dark. If the leaves are wet I like to get in as close to the roost as I can. Its tough to sneek in on them in the am with a heavy cover of oak leaves. Sometimes I end up too close and watch them fly off. It really depends on the area and if I want to catch a nap in the woods before fly down. I also try to steer clear of where the deer are hanging out when walking in. I have had them blowing and messing things up.
IF I don't know where one is, I always attempt to locate one before deciding what to do. If nothing sounds off after a reasonable time, it's time to put some miles on the boots and go looking. Like someone said earlier, I try to never make a turkey noise without having somewhere to set down nearby. Being busted one time by two birds running to the hen is enough!
I always try to be set up by the time the first tree gobble sounds off and listen from there. It costs me some sleep time, but 80-90% of the terrain I hunt isn't conducive to moving around undetected once the sky starts to glow.
Every answer here is spot on. If I know where a bird is roosted I set up close. If I don't I hit a vantage point until I find one and go to him after coursing him good.
Sounds like I was doing the right thing.
For the last two PA mornings....I have not roosted...hooted..crow.....I just get to the highest spot and listen.....I wait till here gobbles....have both mornings 2 different birds and its public land.....but didnt move on a bird till 6am...gobbling starts at 530am.......
was trying to call less this year.
Listen More.
Be more patient.....
But....its on....
Friday May 6th Plan:
Roost Bird if possible-
If not.....at 530 when hear first gobble. GO! Dont RUN but beat feet !
Get in with 150yd-
Shoot em in the face with a 10gauge Magblend. <------(prob not gonna happen) hahaha....
What are you guys roosting birds with .....Owl hoot? or soft yelp?
Quote from: TRex18 on May 05, 2016, 11:07:40 AM
What are you guys roosting birds with .....Owl hoot? or soft yelp?
Preferably nothing. Probably 70% of the birds I roost gobble on their own after fly up. If it gets almost dark and nothing has gobbled then I'll give a few yelps and even a cutts if need be. If I still don't hear a gobble then I go home and cry myself to sleep!
I like to slip into a known roost area and wait for them to wake up. If I know the direction they head off in the mornings Ill position myself somwhere along there. If going in to an area totally blind,but I know there are birds I'll get to a spot where I can listen and head off in their direction and get as close as I can.
I am almost totally a pro-active turkey hunter. In all but the rarest of cases, I will actively search for roosted gobblers at last light in the evening using locator calls. If I find one (or more), I will choose the one I think is the most likely candidate for an early morning encounter and then try to get set up on him before first light in the morning.
If I don't find a gobbler in the evening, I will again actively search for one with my locator calls starting at the first hint of daylight in the morning,...and keep moving rapidly until I hit on a gobbler. At that point, I will again quickly move in close and set up on the bird,...and tailor my calling tactics based on my assessment of the situation at hand.
In either case, while set up on an early-morning gobbler, I will be keying in on any distant gobbling I hear and mentally noting where it is and how I will approach it if the one I am on falls through. There will even be times where I will abandon a luke-warm bird I am on to head to a distant gobbler that is showing more interest.
Having said all of the above, I am also well aware that there are times and places where my preferred hunting tactics may not be the optimum ones to use. In addition, the presence of other hunters in the area can cause me to modify my tactics such that I am not negatively impacting those hunters opportunities. In worst-case situations, too many hunters in an area will cause me to abandon my preferred hunting style altogether,...or go looking for a place with fewer competitors where I can hunt the way I like to.
Ditto GobbleNut's response
For me it depends on the size of property I am hunting. Small tracts of land require me knowing that turkeys might use an area and then set up in that area. Larger areas I might set up for a while near known roosting sites. Then I go trolling for a few hours. I used to roost birds but since Wisconsin went to all day hunting I actually try and set up near a known roosting site and try and get a bird coming in to the area to roost.