Can you make him Gobble before daylight?

[Flounder]

 Before he can see you set up?
Roosting evening before is out of the.question, it won't work.





Thanks.

[silvestris]

Only a realistic imitation of a Barred Owl, and not much of that.

[GobbleNut]

Some places you can make them gobble well before daylight,...sometimes an hour or more.  Other places,...not so much.  It seems to vary somewhat by location and subspecies.  I have found that Easterns are less likely to gobble in the dark, but under the right circumstances, even they can be coaxed into gobbling quite early, giving you plenty of time to move in on them in the dark.

The one thing that I have found in my many years of traveling around the country is that your locator call, whatever it is, needs to be very loud and abrupt.  A very loud, abrupt noise will often pull an automatic shock response from a gobbler when a less loud sound will not.  A few days of before-daylight trial and error in the area you hunt should give you a good idea of whether or not the gobblers you are hunting are willing to talk in the mornings, and how early, and how much.

[MK M GOBL]

Most of the time before light breaks, Barred Owl and a Coyote Howler work for me.

MK M GOBL

[OldSchool]

Coyote howls. I've heard them gobble at coyotes in the middle of the night from my sleeping bag, believe it or not. I don't like the idea of letting them know there's a predator in the neighborhood and I wouldn't set up anywhere close to where I howled from, but it does work. Owling is probably safer.

I don't try to elicit a gobble in the dark, and rarely call before the birds open up on their own, but that's just me.

Bob

[OldSchool]

I hesitated to mention this, but you'd be surprised what a shotgun blast will do in some instances. If you think about it, It's probably no different than a loud clap of thunder to the birds. I'm not talking about sneaking in close to where you think, or know birds are roosted and touching one off, but under the right circumstances and from a distance, you might be surprised.

Ok, let me have it, lol.

Bob

[MK M GOBL]

I hesitated to mention this, but you'd be surprised what a shotgun blast will do in some instances. If you think about it, It's probably no different than a loud clap of thunder to the birds. I'm not talking about sneaking in close to where you think, or know birds are roosted and touching one off, but under the right circumstances and from a distance, you might be surprised.

Ok, let me have it, lol.

Bob

LOL! I ran into a guy down in Alabama that was doing this... I asked him "What the..." as I was hunting the same area and he said he was "SHOT gobbling" I scratched my head on that one at the time...

[Flounder]

Good idea Bob, I'm on my way to State Line Fireworks! Next time I go to this farm I'll have pocket full of M-80s
Just kidding..but I have tried the truck horn method.
Marlon

[OldSchool]

Good idea Bob, I'm on my way to State Line Fireworks! Next time I go to this farm I'll have pocket full of M-80s
Just kidding..but I have tried the truck horn method.
Marlon

I hesitated to mention this, but you'd be surprised what a shotgun blast will do in some instances. If you think about it, It's probably no different than a loud clap of thunder to the birds. I'm not talking about sneaking in close to where you think, or know birds are roosted and touching one off, but under the right circumstances and from a distance, you might be surprised.

Ok, let me have it, lol.

Bob

LOL! I ran into a guy down in Alabama that was doing this... I asked him "What the..." as I was hunting the same area and he said he was "SHOT gobbling" I scratched my head on that one at the time...

I hunted one morning from before light till noon and didn't hear a gobble. A buddy wanted to pattern a new gun, so he came over and we went out back to shoot it. Set up the pattern board and he touched one off. Three different birds gobbled back from the ridges I'd been hunting an hour before.

I don't want to give anybody the impression that I walk around the woods shooting my gun in hopes a bird will fire back, but I did file the info away and I've used it once or twice over the years under dire circumstances.

Bob

[lonnie sneed jr.]

Some places you can make them gobble well before daylight,...sometimes an hour or more.  Other places,...not so much.  It seems to vary somewhat by location and subspecies.  I have found that Easterns are less likely to gobble in the dark, but under the right circumstances, even they can be coaxed into gobbling quite early, giving you plenty of time to move in on them in the dark.


I have had good luck with a   (can owl hooter) and sometimes a gobble on a box call.   early as 4:00a.m. In WV and VA

[hotspur]

I ha e seen alot of tho on clear creek wma,shooting to find gobblers,they have come onto my setup shooting, never heard one gobble I know they spook more than they find, please stop, is that you leaving piles of dove loads empties on hilltops, please stop

[OldSchool]

I ha e seen alot of tho on clear creek wma,shooting to find gobblers,they have come onto my setup shooting, never heard one gobble I know they spook more than they find, please stop, is that you leaving piles of dove loads empties on hilltops, please stop

When I wrote that I was trying to be funny more than anything else. I have tried it twice in 35 years, but I only did it in a place where nobody else had permission to be and I never leave my empties, or anything else behind. 

Bob

[Double B]

I thought it was fricking hilarious Bob.  I think if we've been around a little in the turkey woods we have heard other gobblers sound off on the shot.   Car horns, air horns, peacocks, etc. Slam the truck door.  Sudden noise makes em gobble.   

[tha bugman]

I just listen...the less he's aware of any presence the better


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[Marc]

Hunted a ranch with peacocks, and our presence would light up the peacocks, which would in turn light up the turkeys.

Someone lit up a quad last year very early, and that got some gobblers started...

Multiple times a car door slamming, or a dog barking will light up a gobbler.

Once in a great while an owl call will elicit a gobble early.

One time I was hunting a small ranch, and on the neighboring property, apparently there was a marital dispute, which made a bird gobble.