“Off the Roost”, or Mid Morning?

[Prospector]

Tucking in too tight is a risky move that has little benefit. By tight I mean under 75 yds. He's probably not going to drop straight down unless he sees a hen. So he's going to glide at least 40 yds. Which means if you're a turkey hunter you can be 75 yds away and still take him when he touches down. Get too close and he might glide past you and put you out of position. Get too close and he's how far you were + the 40yd glide if he flies away from you.  Usually for me 100 yds or so is plenty. Have killed a whole lot more a little too far than a little too close. If he wants to come to my call that is plenty close enough. Just my opinion, but there is past mistakes and experiences punctuating that opinion.

Lotta truths in here.

But what a bird does from the limb is HIGHLY dictated by terrain.

In the instance I laid out in a previous post........ the gobbler(s) are only 80-90 yards.  (There could be hens within a tree or two of where I set up).  But the gobblers are roosted WELL down slope from my position.  They drop nearly straight down.......and well out of sight down over the brow of the hill.  This particular area has about a 2-3 acre "corridor" to set up in.  There are 50 places or more to choose from.  Took me 20 years to figure out only ONE of those places was the right one. 

Other places I set up, a roosted bird will sometimes hit the ground 400 yards from the limb.  THOSE ones are IGNORANT.

You are right. Terrain can change that "how close" number. I maintain though that 100 yd is a nice rule of thumb. If you push too close and bump him you are done most times. Stay back and you can move and reposition after fly down if he don't trot right in. Thanks

[Tom007]

Real good thoughts here.....

[Yoder409]

But, I'd say 75% of all the spring birds I've ever killed have perished before 9:30 AM.

Something I'd like to add as an aside, here......

There's a discussion going on somewhere else here on OG about jake/gobbler vocalizations and how they may "up" a guy's game on birds over 3 years old.  I don't use male turkey vocalizations of any sort when hunting in the spring.  So, I can't speak to that.  But, I  will say that a VERY large percentage of my oldest gobblers came from that 25% that perished AFTER 9:30 AM

[aaron]

Off the roost is the most fun, dead bird or not.    The sunrise, the woods coming to life.   Midmoring is the most efficient and deadly if you are strictly looking for flopping gobblers.

[GregGwaltney]

I always try to get in tight to birds, have killed most of mine within a few hours of flydown, many within a few minutes. Of course one can get too close, and that depends on the terrain you are hunting.....open mountains like I hunt now, got to be careful and stay back a bit....cypress swamps where I grew up, I can get much tighter on birds. I think success on hunting birds off the roost is understanding tree talk and knowing how to deliver it, very easy to spook birds if the calling isn't just right for the situation at hand. On public mountain birds, I have to be extra super soft, but also bare minimum calling(varies depending on response, if any, from roosted birds) just to let them know where you are. Also, timing of the calling is critical on roosted birds, too early you may spook them, too late you miss your window of opportunity. I love watching birds pitch down to me at flydown, that is some kind of adrenaline rush. When I was younger, I used to roost birds and that enabled me to get tight safely, now I tend to not be able to get as close because I am too lazy to go out in the afternoon/evening.

[Hook hanger]

Tucking in too tight is a risky move that has little benefit. By tight I mean under 75 yds. He's probably not going to drop straight down unless he sees a hen. So he's going to glide at least 40 yds. Which means if you're a turkey hunter you can be 75 yds away and still take him when he touches down. Get too close and he might glide past you and put you out of position. Get too close and he's how far you were + the 40yd glide if he flies away from you.  Usually for me 100 yds or so is plenty. Have killed a whole lot more a little too far than a little too close. If he wants to come to my call that is plenty close enough. Just my opinion, but there is past mistakes and experiences punctuating that opinion.

This pretty much my opinion also. I've probably killed half of my birds within the first hour of fly down.

[Bottomland OG]

I love a roost hunt myself. I will let the cover and/or the terrain dictate the distance. I like staying back a safe distance so he doesn't get bumped or doesn't pitch out and land in my lap. I would say I kill an equal amount right after fly down vs later in the morning and even afternoons in states that you can hunt all day.

[GobbleNut]

Another consideration in the discussion about how close to get to a roosted bird is the uncertainty of whether or not there are more turkeys in the vicinity.  There are lots of potential risks involved in assuming there are not other turkeys roosted in the same area as any gobbler one might be hearing.

If I don't know for sure, which is most often the case, I am going to fudge on the side of staying a bit further away from a roosted gobbler. Of course, in cases where I have roosted that gobbler the evening before, the solution to that issue is usually simply a matter of being there at 0-dark-thirty. However, in cases where a guy is strictly relying on those early-morning gobbles at first light to locate a bird to hunt, it is wise to take a more conservative approach about how close to move in on a roost.

[Tom007]

Another consideration in the discussion about how close to get to a roosted bird is the uncertainty of whether or not there are more turkeys in the vicinity.  There are lots of potential risks involved in assuming there are not other turkeys roosted in the same area as any gobbler one might be hearing.

If I don't know for sure, which is most often the case, I am going to fudge on the side of staying a bit further away from a roosted gobbler. Of course, in cases where I have roosted that gobbler the evening before, the solution to that issue is usually simply a matter of being there at 0-dark-thirty. However, in cases where a guy is strictly relying on those early-morning gobbles at first light to locate a bird to hunt, it is wise to take a more conservative approach about how close to move in on a roost.

Good point Jim, if you spook the girls around him, it's probably game over....

[Dougas]

Tucking in too tight is a risky move that has little benefit. By tight I mean under 75 yds. He's probably not going to drop straight down unless he sees a hen. So he's going to glide at least 40 yds. Which means if you're a turkey hunter you can be 75 yds away and still take him when he touches down. Get too close and he might glide past you and put you out of position. Get too close and he's how far you were + the 40yd glide if he flies away from you.  Usually for me 100 yds or so is plenty. Have killed a whole lot more a little too far than a little too close. If he wants to come to my call that is plenty close enough. Just my opinion, but there is past mistakes and experiences punctuating that opinion.

I agree with this.
The terrain on my private property at one roost site, dictates about an 80 yard set up.
At the other roost site on that property, they fly down landing within 30 yards of the neighbors property, of which I do not have permission to hunt, and disappear in the thick stuff at the property line. I have had trouble figuring out how to get them from going to that property. They fly down and are on the other property in less that 2 minutes. So, this year I got as close as I could at 54 yards. When he landed at 35 yards away, he disappeared behind a small bush and continued on directly behind that bush. I did my calling and it turned him around and brought him back my way. 35 yard shot did the trick as he kind of hung up at that distance.
On the public land where I killed the other two, I was over 100 yards away, which is pretty much ideal for that situation.

[Greg Massey]

Another consideration in the discussion about how close to get to a roosted bird is the uncertainty of whether or not there are more turkeys in the vicinity.  There are lots of potential risks involved in assuming there are not other turkeys roosted in the same area as any gobbler one might be hearing.

If I don't know for sure, which is most often the case, I am going to fudge on the side of staying a bit further away from a roosted gobbler. Of course, in cases where I have roosted that gobbler the evening before, the solution to that issue is usually simply a matter of being there at 0-dark-thirty. However, in cases where a guy is strictly relying on those early-morning gobbles at first light to locate a bird to hunt, it is wise to take a more conservative approach about how close to move in on a roost.

Good point Jim, if you spook the girls around him, it's probably game over....

Agree 100 % ... Well said ....

[Dougas]

On returning to the roost tree after killing one there.
In 2021 on my private property, I killed one there Saturday and then another one the next day, then tagged out the next evening.

In 2022 on my private property, I killed one there on opening day. The same set up the next weekend, I called one in for my buddy. The next weekend I killed one at that setup and the next weekend, I tagged out at the same set up.

last year, I killed one one on opening day and one the next day at the the same setup on the private property and tagged out later on one in the evening on public land.

This year, I killed one on opening day on public and the next weekend I killed one that was with the other toms from that same tree that I killed the one the weekend before.

So, I haven't experienced spooking them away from a roost after killing one, but then there are a lot of turkeys in my area, which might have an effect on that.
This year, after twelve years of great success on my private property, something changed and I only saw 2 turkeys there all season and I shot one. Usually I see hens and toms all over. I suspect that neighbors called the fish and game and they came out and trapped the area and did their "culling" routine and gave the meat to the homeless. They won't relocate them.

[WV Flopper]

Interesting read from all that replied. Lots of variables, from different regions for sure.

Personally I kill a lot of turkeys off the roost or within a half an hour of fly down.

I do not like crowding roosted turkeys for reasons already stated. Spooking others in my approach and mainly being to tight at fly down to maneuver.

I am happy to be within 125 yards or slightly more of a roosted turkeys to start my hunt. I like to give them room to fly down and make a move. At this distance I can usually hear them and track their movements if they are free with vocalizing.

Traditionally my state is a nooner state. I have killed many turkeys late in the morning, some right at the cut off time. Just because I don't succeed at daylight doesn't mean I am not 100% until noon.

Traveling to different states with different laws I do go longer when necessary. I have killed turkeys later, that have acted great. Never late in the evening when coming back to a roost, just not my style.

Turkeys are active all day. Get them when you can.

If I sleep in and miss a sunrise, I feel I screwed up!
Just not right to me.

[Kyle_Ott]

I kill most of my birds at flydown or within 30 minutes of it.

[Dougas]

On my first hunt this year, when I got my first bird of the season, it was lightly raining. Sitting there in the dark with cool misty rain coming down felt relaxing. Then, when I started hearing the gobbles, it felt good to know that chose a good place hoping that they would be there, but not knowing, until those gobbles came booming out. Then to have them fly down and start coming my direction felt even more like I chose well. Then calling the hens to me with the gobblers in tow. When they were in shotgun range and my gun went boom and the tom was flopping, it just seemed like it doesn't get any better than that. I let the rest of the hens and toms leave the area before I went to pick up my bird. When I was half way to the dead tom, all the turkeys came running back at me at full speed and flew over me with two canines that looked like coydogs hot on their heels. they ran right past me as if I wasn't there.

That was a pleasant morning.