What's your nightly ritual?

[Asav2013]

Idk if this topics ever been covered, but what's every ones nightly ritual when goin out at night putting birds to bed , I usually just sit and listen and let a owl or crows get to talkin and sometimes before they should be up I call softly  , but I do most of my scouting during season when drving from spot early morning I pay attention to where birds are at and pick what looks the best /closests roost for them, didn't now if any one had any different "rituals' or routines, maybe give some guys new ideas to try when lockin down a bird for the next morning ,

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[Kilchis]

Last week I scouted and hunted about 5,000 acres of the eastern edge of Oregon's Ochoco Mountains for 6 days.  My nightly ritual was to sit in camp wearing a pair of Howard Leight Impact earmuffs cranked all the way up listening for gobbles.  (I'm about as deaf as a stump)  Each evening I heard one or two birds, then I would move a couple of hundred yards to the side in an effort to triangulate their location.

The closest I got was sighting a tom that was ten yards further than I was willing to shoot to guarantee a clean kill.  Soooo close, but I got busted at the last moment.   

[silvestris]

I rarely attempt to roost one.  When I do, I owl or fly down cackle one time at the proper time.  I never crow as the crows have all gone to their own roost by that time and a crow call would be unnatural.

[L.F. Cox]

My "nightly ritual"....

I like to gobble a few times before I fly up on the head board.

[silvestris]

My "nightly ritual"....

I like to gobble a few times before I fly up on the head board.

That I would like to see, once.

[L.F. Cox]

Trust me you wouldn't want to witness it...

[ridgerunner]

Never roost birds the night before. I get to the woods early and wait to hear a gobble. When I hear one decide where to setup. Most times I scout for actual sign , like scratchings , feathers, etc.. weeks before I hunt , so the roosting birds nightly is a mute point for me. By the time opening day comes around I know where I need to be regardless where the birds are roosted. Many times, the last place I want to be is close to the roost tree. I'll be somewhere between his roost tree and where I've observed him going on previous hunts or scouting missions.

[GobbleNut]

If I am hunting a relatively large and unfamiliar area, my first order of business is finding out if the gobblers in the area are inclined to gobble on the roost in the evening,...or not.  There are some places in the country where gobblers will willingly gobble in the evening to locator calls,...and there are some where you couldn't get a gobble out of one of them to save your life.

Knowing which kind of birds you are dealing with can mean the difference in having a hunt filled with gobblers and choices on where to hunt,...or spending your hunt just trying to find a few gobblers to chase. 

If you are hunting birds that do little or no gobbling on the roost in the evening, then you will be relegated to locating gobblers during the early morning gobbling period almost all areas have.  In those cases, you are generally going to find fewer birds to hunt, and often, it is best to spend your evenings frequenting the roosting areas where you know birds are.  You might intercept a bird going to roost, or maybe even call one in late in the day. 

Regardless, turkeys make a good deal of noise flying up to roost, so even if they do not gobble, you can often hear them flying up if you are reasonably close to the roosting area. 

However, using a good locator call at the right time, under the right conditions, and in the right place, can mean all the difference in the world in your hunts.

[steinea286]

When I was in college, I would try to put a bird to bed every night in hopes to sneak up on the roost and get to him before he found his hens. We would hop from farm to farm using crow calls, coyote howls, owl hoots, peacock calls and hen sounds to just try and get one to gobble. If we knew where he was located, the strategizing began.

Since then, I have not roosted a bird but rather listen on the few farms I have permission early in the morning before the season. I will listen on a different farm every morning until I listen at all of them. Then I go back to the farms I heard birds and listen more to see if they roost in the same locations. I will also listen after fly down to see if they continue gobbling and what direction their heading.