I hunt large tracts of Public Woods in the Central Forest in Wisconsin. Do you think they roost in the same areas or do they roost in random areas of the forest since there is so many trees for them to roost in?
In my opinion yes and no. My observations are they typically like to roost in the same areas but not always in the same area if you get my drift. We don't have a lot of turkeys in the mountains I hunt and they tend to roam. So they like to roost on a particular ridge if they are in that area and then the next day they will be on another ridge. Now they will be in the same general areas on those ridges but it often isn't consecutive days. Some days they may be lower on the ridge due to weather as well. In higher density areas they seem to be more reliable as far as the same general area day after day.
What Happy said. It also depends on hunter density. We had one gobbling opening weekend, along with his buddy. My son and nephew heard 5 birds gobbling from the same area. Not a peep since. No one killed all 5 birds in a week from this area (too thick of a river swamp to get them all), but I have no doubt they got scattered.
Tough to hunt the big woods for sure. If you don't put them to bed at closing , I found them to be a complete crap shoot to roost. We hunt known roosting areas and hope.for.the best.
I hunt our wooded property in North WI (Door County) and found the birds to general roost in the same area up on the bluffs that border the East side of property. Though they do seem to move down to roost into the bottom land which tends to be calm/sheltered when we get high winds from the East/North East.
I hunt in Black River Falls/ Hatfield area. Very flat with thousands acres of forest area and plenty of trees to roost in. We have luck in pine plantations and Rivers and creeks for roosting areas.
What I've seen is that turkeys tend to respond to the land a lot the same way as largemouth bass respond to underwater structure. As long as not much changes, generations will use the same piece of land the same way. It will vary by season. It will vary by food supply. It will vary by a lot of things, but the general pattern will stay.
I'm hunting the same land now for 17 seasons. I'm now hunting the great-great-(I don't know how great) grand children of the turkeys I hunted in 2002. They're hitting the same fields, roosting in the same trees, and crossing over the ridgetops in the same places as they did when I first moved in. There are minor variations, but the overall pattern is the same.
I've got a roost that's less than 250 yards from the back door. I can never predict exactly when the turkeys will use it. However, you can bet they'll be there fairly often throughout the year. Where they go when they're not roosting there is anybody's guess. I have another one that is close to my "Honey Hole." It has held birds every year except the previous two. The flock disappeared for a while, but they're back this season. Go figure.
I hunt some very large areas of mature timber and I don't even bother trying to roost a bird anymore. I'm lucky to be within 500 yards of one at first light. There's no telling where they will roost from one day to the next.
I feel the same way. 10 years ago they would talk from the roost in the evening, but not anymore. One good thing is the hunting preasure is very light.
Hunting big timber can be tough. I look for elevation and listen, occasionally using a locator call or tree talk. Normally on a quiet morning its not hard to locate one. The issue is which one to go after. Once you commit it can be rough going. I usually only charge down the mountain once.
On private property, I have found that year after year, birds tend to roost in the same areas (outside of major changes such as trees falling or being removed, or drought conditions). On public property I believe birds get pushed around much more, and things are far less consistent.
I would guess that in more remote areas, that birds would be a bit more predictable year to year...
When hunting "vertical" country, I tend to start high, and go low... Very frequently, I get myself to an area where I know birds will likely not be using, but where I can hear them well (luckily, Rio's are very vocal in most areas I hunt). I am not a fan of decoys or a blind in the woods, and I like to be efficiently mobile...
I will get as close to birds as possible, and hopefully know the terrain well enough that I can set up in a situation that birds are either likely, or willing to go after fly-down. I do not use a light when approaching roosting birds, and I try to use roads or trails for travel.
Basically, get to a high area near the action, pick a bird (if that is an option), set up, and pray/hope for the best.
I hunt a lot of big(for the area) national forest land and there are areas that I know turkeys roost. There are areas that I know they will eventually be in at some point during the day. I like to walk the logging roads listening and calling. If I strike one down at the bottom its usually pretty easy to get on him,or get in front of him. Can cover a lot of ground that way