Need Help With Roost Time...

[trybowfishin]

Lots of great info on this website everyone! Tomorrow is opening morning here in the upstate South Carolina and I am going to try and roost my very first gobbler tonight. What time should I be out there? The latest I have turkey on camera is 5:50 pm on some of the logging roads on our property, but it doesn't get real dark until 8pm... Should I try and go around 7pm or is that too early? Thanks in advance for any info!!!

[Gooserbat]

6:00 or 6:30

[FL-Boss]

On a normal day... the birds in my area fly up around 7:20-7:35

[longbeard11]

I would be there in your listening spot settled in by 7 at the latest probably.  Just sit tight and listen for activity and for wing beats of birds flying up.  As light begins to fade just be patient and see if one will gobble on his own.  If not, right before last light give em an owl hoot and see if one will fire back. 

If for some reason you cant get one to gobble for you at an owl hoot you could do a fly up cackle or soft tree yelps and see if you could get one to respond. Have also had good luck in the evenings gobbling on a box call or with a gobble shaker.

Remember, you arent trying to get him fired up. You only need him to gobble once and give his sleeping quarters away.  Once you know where he is and what tree you are good to go.  Slip out of there in the dark and dont go by him close, even if it means making a big loop around him, dont spook that bird! 

[redleg06]

I'd say the earlier the better.  The more time you're out there, the better your chance of running across one and being able to put him to bed. 

[jblackburn]

I'd say the earlier the better.  The more time you're out there, the better your chance of running across one and being able to put him to bed.

This is my thought, too.  Maybe even get out mid afternoon and glass for birds (depending on your area) or walk the woods to look for sign, potential setups, and even more important, things that could potentially hang a bird up.  Then as it starts to get later, find a good listening spot and tuck in.  they may or may not gobble, but if it is not too windy, the sound of a 20 pound bird flying into the trees is pretty unmistakeable.

[lung]

Im in boiling springs, hunting in Gaffney tomorrow. After I drop the kids at school. Good luck. we were out on youth day. Got wet and no bird, heard a few at day light.

[Old Gobbler]

If it's a wide open spot , you don't have to be up close and personal to figure out where a gobbler is going to be - optics in a elevated position , or looking down a firebreak or logging road with optics

What you don't want to do is insert yourself into your hunting spot and spook everything out of there for the next mornings hunt -- if it's got heavy cover sneak in there undetected a few hours before fly up time , if you don't roost nothing - hunt another spot in the morning

[longbeard11]

Just because you dont roost anything that night doesnt mean they arent there close by.  I have had many times here in WV that I went out to listen in the evenings and didnt hear a thing, no gobbling or flying up or anything, but I knew the birds were there. Went back the next morning and they were tearing the woods down gobbling. 

This is where your preseason scouting comes into play. I wouldnt wait till the day before season to get out and look for scratching, roosting sites, strut zones,  you should already know all of the prior to the day before the season.  Put all the previous scouting knowledge into the equation and get you a good listening spot the day before and do just that, listen.  No need to go in there tromping around all day possibly bumping into birds in their daily routine the day before you are planning to hunt them. 

Remember too, alot of times birds will roost in the same general area from year to year, maybe even in the same tree.  They are creatures of habit too and if they find them a good roosting area, alot of times they will be in that area every year.  At least they are on most of my farms.

[Greenshed Longbeard]

In east TN they are heading toward the woods around 7 and fly up between 7:30 and 7:50.

[appalachianstruttstopper]

I personally don't put much faith in roosting birds. I do like to hear them any time they want to gobble, but I don't feel that I have to have a bird roosted to have a chance at it.

But if you are wanting to roost birds before you hunt them, don't get in to close to where you think the will roost. You don't want to get pinned down til after dark and hafta walk a mile out of the woods because you were to close. Listen from a distance preferably close to your vehicle.