Taking birds right off the roost..how to?

[longbeard10]

many people are able to take birds off the roost each year but ive never really had luck besides taking a couple within the first hour becuase of them being henned up. I think i may not be sneaking in close enough for the hunt but this has always been becuase ive been worried about snapping twigs and giving away my location before the hunt starts.. also would a strutting jake and hen really get the bird going if he can see if in the tree or at flydown compared to seeing it say 2,3 hrs after flydown? what have been your tactics including calling to that bird that may only be 100yds away

[Ridgerunner7]

I am no expert..only been at it for three years but have killed two birds right of the roost and been involved in calling on two others right off the roost. Typically we listen for a few mornings before the day of the hunt to pinpoint exactly where they are roosting.  Then we sit tight after daylight and watch or listen to where they want to go.  On the day of the hunt we go in very early...well before it's even cracking light and set up in dark.  We move quitely but don't get too worried if you snap a twig or two.  Turkey's have animals walk around them all night long.  We set up typically 60-100 yards from the roost in the direction of where they want to go.  We are so close that we often will see them in the tree before flydown. 

A few soft tree yelps to let them know you're there and maybe a fly down and then we play it really conservative.  They don't always come right in but they have half the time, and the other half we might have to wait 30-60 minutes.  We try to set up where they have to come around a visual obstruction (rise in the field, downed tree, fence row) to see where the calling is from and when they do they are within range.

I think if you call too much the tom will expect you to come to him or the nearby hens will lead them away.  We have however had toms with hens about to skirt us out of range and we picked up the intensity of the calling and pissed off the hens.  The will often come in looking for the hen thats been calling and bring the toms  tailing them.

[Michigander]

I think the last thing Ridgerunner said is a key part. I only like to call once our twice to a bird in the tree, just enough to let him know I'm there. Try to sound uninterested. You want him to think they you are the first hen on the ground, but you aren't going to run right over two him. Another big part of it is being where they already want to fly down.

To be honest though, it is much easier if the Tom is alone.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

We kill 75% of our birds right off the roost.

It's all about having the right set-up and not over-calling to them while they are in the tree.

Getting close also helps.  The closer you are to him the less ground he has to cover to get to you.

[NYbassman]

I like to slip in very close, closer than a lot of hunters have the balls to get in, or lack the woodsmanship to do so quietly.If I have played the game with that gobbler before, and have a good idea which direction he will pitch out, I probably will not call at all while he is on the limb. If I am not sure which direction he is pitching out, I will give a couple soft yelps and clucks to try and influence the direction he leaves his tree. Even then I will only make a series or 2 at most of soft calls. Don't worry if he doesn't gobble, and don't keep calling to make him gobble. He hears you and has taken notice, I guarantee that.

Nothing like killing a bird less than 5 seconds after he hits the ground. Never gets old, raise the gun as he is pitching towards you, he lands and puts his head up, BOOM. Out of the woods by 6 am.

[stinkpickle]

If I think he's with hens, and I have good idea where he USUALLY flies down, I'll set up at that spot.  I won't risk putting out a decoy or even calling.  I don't want to give that hen any reason pull him away.

[dirt road ninja]

Man, I've had bad luck trying to kill them as soon as they hit the ground. It seems whenever I set up within shotgun range of a bird I spook it. I hunt in SW MS in planted pine and cutover, so it's really hard for me to see which tree they go in. If I'm that close to them in the evening I'll kill them then. I try and get withing 100 yards or so, then figure out what he wants to do on the ground.

[nbadger23]

I think it definitely comes down to the type of terrain you're hunting and how close you can pinpoint roosting spots.  If a person can get themselves out of bed early enough and is patient about their approach, you can get in very close but that doesn't matter much if the birds roosted 40 acres from the spot you set up on.  As is typically the case, it comes down to scouting.  Putting them to bed at night and watching pitch down behavior would greatly increase your odds.  I think that's much more important that calling as I agree with those who have said that a few soft tree yelps are the way to go. 

I did hear a story from a guy this year who had to wait until 8:30 for the bird he roosted the night before to come out of the roost. That tom strutted and gobbled from 5:30 until 8:30 in the darn tree before coming down.  Thankfully he did pitch down near him but he figures that he over called to start with and the tom wanted the hen to come to his tree and wasn't leaving until she did. 

[Michigander]

I have found that to be the case most of the time. The more you call to them on the roost, the longer they sit there waiting for you.

[Michigander]

And I soooo agree with this statement.

Don't worry if he doesn't gobble, and don't keep calling to make him gobble. He hears you and has taken notice, I guarantee that.

Case in point, the bird I killed in MI this year. He was roosted about 120 yards from me on the end of a field. I was on the side of the field sitting right on the edge. I called twice to him, both times so softly that the reeds of my mouth call hardly moved. He never gobbled right back at me, but I knew he had heard me. 10 min. after my first call he landed 25 yards from me. I had to swing with him as he came in from out front and landed right to my left.

[mikejd]

I just got back from an 8 day hunt and I was probably within 50' not yds of a multiple roosted toms on 4 of the 8 mornings. They were always with hens and they never did the same thing twice. Wether I called or not. I did not shoot any of those birds. My dad did shoot one as he was circleing my calling he strayed to close to dad. I had another flydown at 40 and look for me but cover was to tight to take a good shot. Anyway I go in real early and I do.notice that most birds will take a bit of noise in the dark.if you give plenty of time for things to settle. I don't use a light once I get close and if I have to go in the afternoon before to clear some noise I will. I would say that sometimes this week I was to close were they had to land 50 or 60 yds from me. But they weren't roosted in the same trees everyday just the same vicinity. Seems as if the hens are the problem as they are more likely to flush. But if you know your ground you should be able to get as close as you would like. I can usually see the beards swinging in the dark.

[Spring_Woods]

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but here's my experience:

This year I killed 2 off the roost. I'll tell you what I did and you can interpret how you wish!

1st hunt: we were setup on a ridge listening and one gobbled 120 yards below us. Since I always like being above them it worked out perfect. He still flew down the other way and not another hen was around to lead him away. He flew the holler and came in on a string. So actually he was on the ground for about 30 minutes.

2nd hunt- towards the end of the season here in Ohio if a bird is gobbling good on the roost and your close your chances go up tremendously IMO. I made 3-4 tree yelps and 2-3 clucks and did a flydown with my hat. He was roosted kinda far away but I did it loud enough he'd hear. He flew down and walked right in.

In summary, I think the most important part is timing. I don't use decoys I just get to where they want to be and setup so I see them first before they don't see what they came for.

NOTE: I forgot to mention foliage played a huge role in these hunts. In the first hunt I would have been busted by him when he was roosted. In the second hunt I was able to hide behind greenbrier and had exceptional cover. Earlier in the year, or any other year it would have not been the case.

[sterling]

After hunting Turkeys for 25 years, there are 3 methods I have used to take Turkeys that  I  roosted the night before.  Within the last 2 weeks, my 2  sons and I have killed 6 birds using these methods.  Sometimes with the aid of decoys and sometimes not.

#1 - The first is what everyone else has already touched upon.  Don't set up too close to the roosting birds, I try to stay at least 100 yds. away.  That doesn't always work if there is another Gobbler or hens, that you didn't hear or see the night before.  I will do a couple of soft tree yelps about 5 - 10 minutes before I expect them to fly down.  This past week in Southern Maine you could set your watch by them.  5:05 - 5:15 AM and they were on the ground, unless it was raining.  Once they hit the ground and Gobble I will do a few soft yelps and shut up.  This has worked on 50% of the birds I have harvested.

#2 - If they are with hens and go the opposite direction from what I expected, I wait an hour and once I believe they are a couple hundreds yards away, ( if Gobbling) 10 minutes to a couple of hours, I will get up and move a mile down or up the road if land, permission, and hunting pressure allows this.  I usually try to set up on level ground or up hill of the direction I last heard them.  I will once again do some yelping and if I get a gobble I will yelp softly a couple of times every 2nd to  third Gobble as he is on his way.  The 2 biggest birds we harvested this year ( 21.5 lbs. and 23 lbs.)were taken this way.

#3 - Finally if neither of these 2 methods work, I will go to other spots and depending on success, will return by 10:30 A.M and set up close to where  we started the morning. Then we do some light calling till noon, (the time at which we must stop hunting here in Maine).  

I have used all 3 of these methods in other states on birds I roosted the night before and had success as well.  However, it is Turkey hunting and you never know.  Good luck!!

[DeWayne Knight]

In my humble opinion luck plays a big part; and by that I mean you need to be lucky that the gobbler doesn't have hens roosted with him or have called a harem under his tree with his gobbling before flydown.  If you hear real hens yelping and cutting near him, you'll be in trouble.  Just this past Friday, I killed my second Ohio bitrd.  I had 3 gobbling on the limb around me from about 30 to 100 yards.  The closest bird pitched down and after starting towards me, turned around and walked off around the hill.  The bird at 50 yards didn't fly down until almost 7:00 AM.  When I heard him fly down and his feet hit the ground, I yelped lightly 3 times and he came to the field edge on a string at 25 yards right on the same path I had walked into the field on.  It was almost too easy, but if there had been a bunch of hens around I'm sure the outcome could have been different.

[chatterbox]

A quality flashight comes in handy...........