What time of day do you kill most of your birds?
Off the Roost... His toes hardly touched the ground
Morning... Off the roost and within a couple of hours
Mid/late-Morning... 9am till noon
Noon/Afternoon... 12p-4pm
Late Day... 4p till close of season
Anymore most of my birds are killed in that "Mid/Late Morning"
Of course have killed birds during all these timeframes over the years and through different times of each season early to late. Seems like when I started turkey hunting killed a lot more birds during the "Morning". Here in the early part of WI turkey hunting you could only hunt till noon and season closed. Of course dad and I would spend the rest of the day doing some trout fishing, was also a great way to scout hearing and seeing some birds that lead us to knocking on a few doors :)
Here is one of my favorite "Off the Roost" birds!
Here's the longbeard I took during (last) 6th season, hit him with the owl call the night before and again in the morning, I made my set up in the timber within about 60yds of him, all I used were a few soft tree calls and my flydown wing, he gobbled from the roost and I could hear him strutting in the tree, I scratched the leaves a bit and watched him fly down, He came in close looking for his lady and I laid him down! Funny thing I had a little buck standing close by and watched the whole thing go down... Talk about a "Morning" hunt :) He had some good spurs, love these late season hunts.
MK M GOBL
Mid to late is my favorite time. I would guess I've killed more early than late but I like the late morning birds, they seem to put on a better show!
early off the roost most of mine.
Normally between 9:30 and 2:30.
Early off the roost and first two hours after. Then another peak around 11-12. We sgotta stop at 12 the first two weeks in Ohio. Last two weeks are all day. Yet to get on a hot evening gobbler in the few years we've had all day hunting
Morning off the roost for me
Morning. I never hear much after 9 or so a lot of years in my area.
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9-11:30 am, 5-6pm..... Most my birds make a big circle and with pressure begin to roost eleswhere! This may change this year but I never ever roost a bird the night before and go sit right under him, I'd rather bring him to me! Just the way I hunt. I also hardly ever run n gun mainly set up and watch the sun come up and listen, call, wait..... And normally boom bang :fud:
most the states I hunt you can't hunt past noon or at least the majority of the season so all my kills are before noon and I would say the majority maybe half were first hour of hunting but the last few seasons i've killed a few in that 11-12am window of the last legal hour.
Off the roost.
Quote from: Treerooster on February 16, 2017, 04:00:46 PM
Off the roost and early morning is pretty good for me although I have killed at all times of the day. I think your 4 categories kind of leave out the time between "his toes hardly hit the ground" and "mid morning". That's my best time followed by mid morning.
Here is a "his toes hardly hit the ground" bird. Cool hunt too!
(http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/Treerooster/P5010057%20-Cropped_zpsjqtwprgt.jpg) (http://s145.photobucket.com/user/Treerooster/media/P5010057%20-Cropped_zpsjqtwprgt.jpg.html)
Nice Hooks! So were you able to have that bird aged by the tag? Never have seen a WI bird with a tag, don't know if they do that around here.
MK M GOBL
Between daylight and 11pm.
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From the time he hits the ground till about 10am. I've killed very few birds after noon. But I don't hunt much after that either. I don't like to just set and wait on him to walk up. I like the mornings when he's more vocal and wanting to show off. During midday I like to scout and walk. And if I get on one that's gobbling and I think I can work him that's a bonus for me.
mid morning for me. If its going to happen I usually have one down a half hour after shooting time or between 9-11. Seems I have better luck in the 9-11 timeframe tho.
I would say most are in the morning by the definition provided. Gotta love being at the diner for breakfast by 7:00am with a tom in the truck tho. :z-guntootsmiley:
Of the 5 turkeys I have killed, 2 have been right off the roost, 1 between 12 and 4:00 and 2 between 4:00 and roosting time.
Between 9:00-10:30 for me. Sure is nice when he flies down in your lap though. ;D
I ran the numbers from my journal a few years ago when this subject came up somewhere else. It was 30% AM, 40% mid-day and 30% PM for the turkeys I've killed the last 30+ years. I pretty much hunt all day if I can and also hunt some evenings after work each season. May have skewed results some, dunno.
Most of the time it's been 30-40 minutes after legal shooting time. Also have had good luck around 11-12. We can only hunt till 1 in ILLINOIS. I was scouting a night before my season opener and I wish I could hunt around 4 lol. Had 9 long beards 20 yards in front of me haha. No where to be seen the next morning though.
Between daylight and noon.
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I guess the most in the morning. I don't have a lot of luck off the roost though. My biggest birds have usually come around lunchtime and into the afternoon.
Killed my heaviest at 5 pm.
Second heaviest at 4 pm.
Most beards and a heavy bird at 12 pm.
When I have the time I try to hunt all day.
My bests birds always came late. Between 11/12
Between daylight and 2:30 in the afternoon...
Mid to late morning. I have way more kills after 9 am than before including the big old bruiser in my avatar. I killed him at 1030 am.
I'd guess most of my birds have come between 9 am and 12 noon. With the next best being within the first hour. But by far the most after 9 am.
Late in the season and late in the morning....
I have always enjoyed working a bird right off the limb and into the call, and I did that a number of times when I hunted birds with more consistent roosting patterns. However, even in those days I probably killed most birds an hour or better after flydown (so probably early to mid morning).
In the last 10 years, I've been all over the map on when I've killed them. I'd say that I still prefer early morning hunting, but I probably kill the majority of my birds from mid morning to late morning now. Some of those are chased all over God's creation from early morning until I finally connect with them.
If not in the first hour of daylight then between 9:30 and noon are my most productive times. I do like killing him just as his feet touch the ground , but I also like to call at him a bit too.
Most of mine have been about an hour or so after flydown, so morning to mid-morning.
Most of my birds go to turkey heaven between 9:30 and noon. Most times if I can get one to gobble after 9:30 , he takes a ride with me. Notice I say most times , not all :funnyturkey:
Early in the season, if I am successful, it is generally early in the morning soon after fly-down. Either by getting between the hens and the toms, or by irritating a dominant hen to come in for a look.
Those hens generally will be with the toms all day at this point, and later morning success seems to depend on being in the right place at the right time, as opposed to calling... And in fact, often it seems to me that those hens will purposely avoid you if you are calling, cause they do NOT want the competition of another hen...
Yep, maybe the hens go to the toms initially, but once together, it seems to me that the hens are fully in charge of what direction they go.
As the season progresses, the majority of birds are killed somewhere between 10 Am to 1 pm... There is that moment when the hens leave those toms, and they are fired up... Often, they will gobble on their own after the hens leave... That is what I consider my golden opportunity, and this is when I feel that less is more as far as calling.
Then, there is a couple days in the season when the hens completely leave the toms, and they are lookin' for love right off the roost... No hens to go to, and a desperate tom can make for a nice hunt right quick.
10-2 for me. I love early mornings watching and listening to everything wake up but if I could only hunt for a certain 4 hour slot and had to pick it would be 10-2.
Saved this chart from a old Turkey & Turkey Hunting magazine years ago. I guess the same time frame still applies now.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/PKay2004/TommyThreeToes92/fbae3652.jpg)
Maybe I need to work on my calling to birds on the limb, maybe I don't crowd them enough, but for sure, 8:30-11 is my large majority of birds (better than 50% for sure). I have had more than a few on the roost that never left me, but did not work there way to me until an hour or so after hitting the ground-last year I was less than 150 yards from him and did not kill him until 1:15 had elapsed from when I thought he hit the ground. Oddly enough, my first bird in the spring was a classic off the roost, straight in to the gun. We took pics (long before digital) in the swamp and it looked like I had killed him at night!
Last year killed all my birds in the afternoon, mostly close to sunset. Usually kill them in the mid day or mid morning.
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Mid to late morning for me.
Mid to late mornings. Of a truth I've killed my share at any given time of day but after 9:00 is likely the most merry.
Probably gonna go with noon-afternoon. All three I killed last year were right after 3 o clock. Put my buddy on one at around 8am and another one on a different around 7pm. That's the latest I've ever seen one killed. But it seems as if my success has typically been mid day to afternoon.
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Definitely mid-morning is when I've had the most success hunting gobblers. I've killed quite a few right off the roost, but the majority of mine come between 8:30 and Noon. I hunt a lot of smaller properties where gobblers roost nearby, yet not on the land I have permission to hunt. I often have to wait on them to come to my calls where I can hunt.
Even though turkey hunting after noon is legal here in NC, I have never killed a turkey in the afternoon. I don't make much effort to hunt afternoons these days either because I don't have confidence in it. My work also seldom allows me full days off to hunt. I have hunted afternoons at the same property at the same time where buddies of mine have killed gobblers, though all I ever see are jakes and hens. Go figure.
Jim
:camohat: Mid - Late Morning I like calling them in hearing them gobbling. Never had much luck off the roost.
Lately most of mine have been within a couple hours of fly down
Mine tend to be mostly early morning or early afternoon. I've gotten a couple in the mid-late morning, but have never got one late in the day.
I've killed a number of birds in the past right off the roost but in the last 10 years I've had better luck between 9-12. In NY we can only hunt till noon and I'll use every bit of it if I need to.
Of your options, 9-12
Most of my birds have come between 9 and noon, but we've only been able to hunt afternoons here a couple years, and even then, only the last 2 weeks of the season.
I'll say this, if I get a bird to answer (not just gobble, but fire right back) twice after about 930, he's gonna die 75% of the time if I don't screw it up. I'd say its more like 10% of the time right off the limb.
Too many variables with roost hunts. Does the bird have hens, is he interested in working, and don't forget its much harder to get in close to a bird sitting 50 feet up on a tree with visibility to everything walking around on the ground. I can get much closer when he's on the ground.
overall probably off the roost up til 8:00...but like everyone on here I have killed them from toes hitting the ground to him almost about to jump on the roost.