Got up this morning, went outside and heard the birds hammering. Still dark. Not even getting light on the horizon yet. Got me thinking... how early do you all get out into the woods? At this rate I'll need to be in blind with decoys out an hour before it starts getting light on the horizon. That's probably 1 1/2 hr or 2 before shooting. I'm guessing they can see walk in the dark if they are awake? Yikes...will be a short nights sleep starting next week.
If you're hunting a field and they are roosted on the edge, yes. Be early not late.
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Every now and then I'll have one too excited to sleep and let one rip a good 45 minutes before a hint of daylight. For the most part they start to gobble about 5:40 and fly down right at 6. I had 3 gobblers fly down in the pitch dark and come in about ten years ago it was absolutely bizarre. Out in South Dakota I've heard them gobbling as early as 3am.
Here in la. around daylight some before. Sometimes not at all!!! In tx ive heard them gobble at 5am and that was when I got up they probably had been doing it.
Use a sunrise/sunset app and try and be set up at what is shown as Nautical Sunrise. This morning actual sunrise was 7am. Nautical sunrise 6:08am. If I wasn't set up or standing around in the area we're hunting listening at 6:08 I'd have considered us late. An owl hoot at Nautical Sunrise often gets a gobble. :OGturkeyhead:
Quote from: joey46 on April 19, 2022, 09:21:24 AM
Use a sunrise/sunset app and try and be set up at what is shown as Nautical Sunrise. This morning actual sunrise was 7am. Nautical sunrise 6:08am. If I wasn't set up or standing around in the area we're hunting listening at 6:08 I'd have considered us late. An owl hoot at Nautical Sunrise often gets a gobble. :OGturkeyhead:
BINGO !!!!!!! :z-winnersmiley:
Easter Sunday first gobble was at 6:05........a minute or two off of nautical sunrise.
Quote from: joey46 on April 19, 2022, 09:21:24 AM
Use a sunrise/sunset app and try and be set up at what is shown as Nautical Sunrise. This morning actual sunrise was 7am. Nautical sunrise 6:08am. If I wasn't set up or standing around in the area we're hunting listening at 6:08 I'd have considered us late. An owl hoot at Nautical Sunrise often gets a gobble. :OGturkeyhead:
We used to call that the crack of dawn, we try to walk in and be set up about a half hour before, that's at the latest.
This past weekend in VA, they were gobbling at 5:40 am in the pitch black on Saturday. On Sunday, they didnt get started until after 6:20. The weather was pretty similar each day, not sure what the difference was.
In MN if it's clear out they're gobbling at 5:30. If it's cloudy it's been more toward 6.
When I start hearing Sandhill cranes going, the turkeys usually join in
Quote from: Bolandstrutters on April 19, 2022, 08:00:46 AM
Every now and then I'll have one too excited to sleep and let one rip a good 45 minutes before a hint of daylight. For the most part they start to gobble about 5:40 and fly down right at 6. I had 3 gobblers fly down in the pitch dark and come in about ten years ago it was absolutely bizarre. Out in South Dakota I've heard them gobbling as early as 3am.
That's true.I have heard very early gobbling in south Dakota.
Go up and hunt in New England in late May, getting in early is next to impossible when they begin to fire up at 3:45 and 4:00 AM.
At lease 1 or 1.5 hours before dawn or what I call "Oh Dark Thirty". Some call it 'The "Butt Crack of Dawn".
Get there early enough to get set up and comfortable.
If you are "Early, you're on time. If you get in the woods "On Time" you are LATE!
Have heard them gobble an hour before sunrise but for the most part it is usually about 20 to 30 minutes prior to sunrise as has been mentioned
Generally turkeys are not the first birds you'll hear in the morning. Over time I'd say it's 15 or 20 minutes after I hear the first birds I would expect to hear a turkey. Plus as the season wears on and you're into full leaf-out you may not hear one until sunrise.
Don't have a lot to add, except that from what I have seen, Rios and Merriam's seem to start gobbling considerably earlier in the morning than the other subspecies. They are also more likely prone to gobble on the roost in the evening as well.
...And as others have said, it is better to be an hour too early in the morning than it is to be five minutes too late... :D :icon_thumright:
They woke up about 6:15 this morning.
We had some state biologist on my lease trapping, banding and putting trackers on some birds He said our birds stay on the roost later than any birds he's ever seen. Said in Feb they often didn't come down till 8am.
Must not be waking up at all where I hunt. Heard one bird gobble a couple times a little after 6:00 the first day which was April 1st. Been three times since & haven't heard a single gobble.
Around 6 - 6:15 ... most of the time in my area... regardless i like to be in the area about an hour before daylight ...
We're late, but it's mountains. 6:30 earliest, but usually 6:45 going good. Fly down at 7 to 7:15. All of that dependent on fog which we have a whole lot. If it's foggy, when the fog starts burning off.
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Gobbling 5:30, hit ground 5:45 ish. In late season, gobbling at 5, hit ground 5:15.......
The days I've scouted this spring I haven't heard one gobble on the limb, for some reason this spring they hit the ground and then gobble. Interested to see if this trend continues once the season starts on Saturday
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Quote from: AndyH on April 19, 2022, 09:01:34 PM
The days I've scouted this spring I haven't heard one gobble on the limb, for some reason this spring they hit the ground and then gobble. Interested to see if this trend continues once the season starts on Saturday
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Around here it's been rare to hear one on the limb before legal shooting light.
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They usually start around 6 where I hunt.
When I first started turkey hunting in the mid to late '80s they would start while it was still pitch dark. As the time passed and hunting pressure increased they started gobbling later, now they seldom gobble before they can see their landing spot.