“Off the Roost”, or Mid Morning?

[RutnNStrutn]

While I have taken my share of birds right after fly down, the majority of my gobblers have been taken between 9 & 11, along with some in the afternoon.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Very rare for me to get on a bird on the roost. Where I hunt terrain dictates you take your time getting to him if you do. In the mountains you'll bugger a whole bunch of things up if you just go taking off fast as you can toward one on the roost, plus it's just big, big country. Best to take your time. Add to that, we just don't have the birds we used to have, so the days of hearing three or four and having to decide which one to go to are long behind us. Past few seasons it's seemed I've averaged hearing a bird once every three days, and that's usually walking 8-10 miles a day. You get in a good gap before daylight and listen to as much country as you can. If you hear one, great. But if you don't, you just get to walking. Big country and every little cove is like a bowl of sound. You can have a tiny ridge separating you and until you hit that lip you can't hear that other side. All that to say, most times I'm finding birds 8-10, 9-11, somewhere in there.


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[GobbleNut]

Very rare for me to get on a bird on the roost. Where I hunt terrain dictates you take your time getting to him if you do. In the mountains you'll bugger a whole bunch of things up if you just go taking off fast as you can toward one on the roost, plus it's just big, big country. Best to take your time. Add to that, we just don't have the birds we used to have, so the days of hearing three or four and having to decide which one to go to are long behind us. Past few seasons it's seemed I've averaged hearing a bird once every three days, and that's usually walking 8-10 miles a day. You get in a good gap before daylight and listen to as much country as you can. If you hear one, great. But if you don't, you just get to walking. Big country and every little cove is like a bowl of sound. You can have a tiny ridge separating you and until you hit that lip you can't hear that other side. All that to say, most times I'm finding birds 8-10, 9-11, somewhere in there.

Although it is a rarity that I don't hear a gobbler on the roost, my strategy is similar. I am going to cover as much ground as I can attempting to find a gobbling bird and/or getting one to gobble at my calling. Admittedly, I hunt "big country" on public ground where it is feasible, as well as advisable, to take that approach.

On the other hand, I have seen numerous comments from folks that express "discontent" with guys like us that do that.  There are certainly circumstances where the "cover ground" strategy is going to get a guy into hot water with other hunters that may be hunting the same area. ...I get it.  Point being, all of us should be aware of how our approach to hunting a given location may, or may not, impact others hunting there.

Another comment:  You guys that are forced to hunt places where you "average hearing a bird every three days" are most certainly more dedicated to this endeavor than I would be.  I tip my hat to you.  As my screen name implies, I hunt turkeys for the gobble.  If they ain't gonna, I ain't gonna...simple as that. For me personally, if there aren't turkeys out there in the woods gobbling once in a while to my calling, the entire "thing" loses its appeal to this guy pretty quickly.

[Old Swamper]

I mainly use daylight to take inventory. I will listen from a well thought out location, and not engage a gobbling turkey unless I know I can get the ground I need to kill em'. On the hard hunted wma's that I frequent, every day that goes by, the turkeys will gobble less and less. Knowing where they go is the key to most of my success. I ain't got to hear one gobble to know he is there. After eating my biscuit and taking a good nap laid back in my truck seat, I will start most of my hunts right around noon, after the morning crew is long gone. I am not the guy who is going to walk 8 to 10 miles trying to strike a turkey. I will slide quietly into known strut zones and call just enough to let one know I am there. My game is to fool them into coming to look for me, whether they gobble or not. 

[Dougas]

The majority of gobbling on my private and public areas are on the limb in the morning and for about 20 minutes after fly down and about an hour before they fly up to the evening roost limb and for a little while on the limb. Every now and then one can get one to gobble to the call during the day, but it is rare. Scouting is extremely important when you hunt turkeys that are not all that willing to gobble to your calls.