Shooting Daylight is 6:00 AM?

[Tom007]

Let's say it's light enough to shoot at 6:00 am. You have a gobbler located. What time do you get into shooting position ready to call that Tom off the limb to your barrel?

Me, I'm in the woods at my starting spot at least 1 hour before shooting time. Regardless of how long I have to walk to get there, I'll allow one hour to settle in. I make all my approaches in total darkness, some of my spots I'll actually walk past a Roosted bird to get into position to lure him in. Wanted to hear your thoughts/approach in your situations.......

[Happy]

I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.

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[Tom007]

I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

Thanks Happy. I think your a gold level member, not platinum my friend

[JeffC]

I need to be at parking spot 2 hours before legal light, hopefully earlier. And being 1 1/2hr away from zone, 2AM wake up, out of house by 2:30. If no one else shows up I will head in at least 1hr before light, rare to have any info on where they are.

[Dtrkyman]

Without being concerned with other factors I would be under him an hr before 1st light not shooting time.

I like watching them on the limb, I know some do not like to get that close but when I can I will, shot many a bird just after their toes hit the dirt!

Watched many more sail off to the unknown.

[Happy]

I usually just get to a listening point about 15 minutes before go time and take it from there. If I know exactly where one is, I still don't change much. I will still be at least a hundred yards from him, and I can usually do that pretty easily in daylight. I am not into shooting them as soon as they hit the ground, so no need to getting super tight or super early.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

Thanks Happy. I think your a gold level member, not platinum my friend

I don't know about that. I just enjoy it more when I have to make the right moves and he comes looking for me. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy shooting them, but I like it to be under the conditions that I want. Many will see it differently, and that's their call.

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

[Greg Massey]

I'm with you Tom, usually an hour or so before daylight,  but it all depends if i had Mexican food the night before... 

[vt35mag]

Depends on where I am hunting and the circumstances of the setup and hunting pressure. Edge of a field I am there EARLY. In the woods on the ridge, meh I will listen for him on the limb and move in on him close enough to where I know he can't see me.
I have killed very few right of the limb in the woods compared to the edge of the field. I get tight to them in the woods they never seem to want to pitch down in the setup or close to and walk in.

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[Sir-diealot]

My friends think I am nuts but I try to be in the woods by 4 in the morning no matter what, I do not move the best and want to give things time to settle down when I get there. Now that I bring my camera in with me I feel even stronger about it as it is a little extra noise getting the camera out of the pack, getting it on the tripod and gimbal, digging out the remote trigger for the camera and so on. I thought I would have a second camera this year to put in the field a little away from the decoys (if used that day) to get really close shots but with Jane and I having health issues that didn't work out money wise as it all has been spent going to and from hospitals/Rehab centers but next year that will mean more time for setup.

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[ScottTaulbee]

If it's light at 6 am, I'm at the gate at 3 am. I will sit there and double check everything in my vest and condition my calls before I get out of the truck. I will also load my gun before getting out. Typically at this point it will be around 3:15 or 3:30. In the scenario I know where the gobbler is roosted, so I will get to around 75 to 100 yards from him by say 4 or 4:30. Depending on the distance and what kind of litter is on the ground/how dry it is. I will then sit there in the dark until he starts getting froggy.


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[Tail Feathers]

I am a bit later than some.  If I arrive too early I will be fidgety waiting or get that way much earlier in my post daylight sit.  I want to be there before he wakes up, but not too much before.

[cracker4112]

I'm lucky that I don't have to compete on public. I get here when I get there but shoot to be where I want to listen about 30 minuted before shooting time.  If I'm a little late, it's not usually a problem.  The birds down here rarely gobble in the pitch black, and only occasionally in the grey. Lately they seem to wait until it's light enough that it's tough to move on one.  I'm hunting pretty open hammock/ranch lands. The bird we killed opening day gobbled on the roost the first time 10 minutes after shooting time.

Just depends on where you're hunting.

[mcw3734]

I'm at where I want to be 45-60 min. before legal shooting light (1/2 hr. before sunrise) whether I'm setting up on a roosted bird or at the top of a ridge to listen. I've made it earlier when I have to sneak through an open area that birds might see me.

I'm also fortunate to generally not have to compete with other hunters.

[Big Flounder]

If I'm hunting the private ground here at home or the spot I hunt out west where there isn't much pressure, I don't get into my spot until a half hour prior to legal shooting hours. But if I'm hunting DNR property here in Indiana on one of the draw only hunts, I'm there an hour and a half early.

[Marc]

I don't know about that. I just enjoy it more when I have to make the right moves and he comes looking for me. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy shooting them, but I like it to be under the conditions that I want. Many will see it differently, and that's their call.

Very well said!

Had a ranch owner that told me where I could sneak right under a roost tree and shoot one easily...  (After explaining how I had a bird outsmart me that morning).

Turned out he liked to golf, and I asked him, how much he would enjoy getting to play a perfect game at Pebble Beach if he was allowed to hand-drop the ball in each hole?  He laughed, and said "I got it now."

Me...  I like to trick them into coming into me with a call...  That is what blows up my shorts.  I usually arrive about a half hour before shoot time (earlier if I have a long walk).  I will try and position myself in a strategic location, based on where they were roosted the last time I was  out.  Very often I make a last-minute move based on hearing either hens or toms....

To date, I have never killed a bird before the sun came up...  And cannot remember birds ever (voluntarily) leaving the roost before the sun came up....

A large part of the enjoyment of the pre-dawn hunt is hearing the woods wake up...  But there is some degree of enjoyment in that anxiety of deciding and getting to your first set-up.