How do u hunt at first light?

[supremepredator]

Do you head for a favorite spot and set up before sunrise or do you walk a road and blow a locator call ever so often at first light? I used to get up at the crack of dawn and walk till I heard a bird gobble, but this year I've been doing what a fellow hunter does and go sit in a blind till 9:00 then I would go walk with him and try to get a shock gobble. Should I be doing more run and gunning at first light or should I be doing it later in the day or should I be sitting and waiting at first light and vise versa.

[g8rvet]

Good question and the best possible answer is:

It depends.

On hard hunted public land, that has a lot of birds, but are well spread out:  I wait for a gobble and head to it, almost never using locators.  If nothing sounds off, I go to places I know turkeys like to roost and places turkeys like to travel and sit down and blind call for a while.  Moving a little ways and sitting down again.  I wait until 2 hours or so after sun up to start getting some distance run n gun, for 2 reasons. First, I don't want to spoil someone else's set up and second, I want to give them a little time to maybe break off from the hens.  If I am totally striking out, I will usually sit and call in bottoms, or along field edges, or any place I may strike a bird. 

On my private locations: I sit down and call. Most of them are small, small enough that if he is roosted on the property, he will hear me. I have killed so many birds there over the years that never said a word.  I would have bumped them if I had run and gun.  Some call that deer hunting them, but it is really not.  I know where they are likely to be, know where they like to meet the hens and often call hens to me as they come off the roost.   

[Cutt]

I normally head to a good spot and just sit and listen. If I'm not hearing anything I stay put as I know it's a good area and something is more likely to happen here than wondering around at first light. I don't use a blind or dekes so if something would gobble a good aways off from my original sitting spot I just simply relocate, because I don't have the hassel of packing up things that are not needed like dekes and blinds. Although relocating depends on the terrain and amount of foilage and how light it is at the time. I personally feel many guys move around too much early when they are not hearing any, only to have unseen birds spot you, which could of been a bird that would have gobbled to only spook now.

Now as the morning wears on with nothing happening, I then start looking and covering some ground around 10:00, again keeping the terrain and if any foilage, priority which dictates where and how I move. Early Season less foilage, I cover less ground, mid Season and on with heavier foilage, I cover more ground.

[Farmboy27]

I do my best to roost a bird the night before. I feel it puts me way ahead in the morning. If I can't roost any then I rely on my scouting and go in where the birds have been heard/seen. I wait for one to gobble and if that doesn't happen by the time I think it should have I call. I've never been much for locator calls. I usually just yelp softly, then louder, then cackle if need be. If I don't get a response then I'm on the move. Turkey season for me is to short and my hunting time is to limited to be sitting around hoping something happens. I get out there and try to make something happen.

[TRG3]

If it's an area for which I have a good idea of where the gobblers and hens are headed after fly down, I'll set up in that area, often several hundred yards from their roost. On the other hand, if it's an area that I have limited information on, I'll go to a good listening spot and wait for a gobble, then head that direction but not too fast because it's very likely that a second or third gobbler will sound off, possibly where I'm headed and I don't want to bump him. Where I hunt, gobblers typically will stay on the roost for 15-20 minutes after their initial gobble, so unless it's a long way off, I have amply time to get close and proceed with my set up as long as I'm quiet and it's not too light.

[Happy]

I usually sneak in and wait for toms to greet the day. I sit down and get ready because I usually have a 50/50 chance of being within 80 yards or so of one. If I am off and a bird is gobbling within earshot then I figure out my aproach based on where I think he wants to go and maneuver into position undetected.  I like to be in and settled down well before daylight. Without a light I am usually undetected and have been much closer than I anticipated when daylight breaks.

[Marc]

If I know (or think I know) where a bird is roosted, I set up on him before daylight...

If I have no idea where a bird is roosted, I try to get to a high spot where I can hear, and unlikely for a bird to be and listen...

If I am sitting somewhere and do not hear any activity in my general area, but hear a bird gobbling in the distance, I move...

[Bill Cooksey]

From the question, I assume no roosted bird, and that's the case for me the vast majority of time. I get into a good listening spot near/in an area history tells me they often roost. I try to let the gobblers and owls do the locating for me, but if it's getting light and no gobble, I throw out an abbreviated hoot with my voice. If nothing close enough to move on fires back, I wait a minute or two and use my voice to owl again, but this one will be a longer, louder but more traditional hoot. If nothing nearby gobbles, I'll wait another few minutes and do a screech owl. By now, owls are normally fired up and making a racket. If after waiting another few minutes I hear nothing close, I either head toward a distant gobble or start walking and owling.

I know I sometimes walk away from a turkey by doing this, but if he isn't playing the game I like I try to find another partner. That first hour is too precious to waste on a quiet turkey.

[TauntoHawk]

I prefer 80% of the time to set up on a roosted bird close very early or early in a known roost area. I only walk and locate from the start when I am on unfamiliar ground.

[Bowguy]

I prefer 80% of the time to set up on a roosted bird close very early or early in a known roost area. I only walk and locate from the start when I am on unfamiliar ground.

I agree. Roosting is key. This year I've been working after work n in a week w my limited time ive not been so active or successful in roosting. It's like they went mute but that always changes

[g8rvet]

From the question, I assume no roosted bird, and that's the case for me the vast majority of time. I get into a good listening spot near/in an area history tells me they often roost. I try to let the gobblers and owls do the locating for me, but if it's getting light and no gobble, I throw out an abbreviated hoot with my voice. If nothing close enough to move on fires back, I wait a minute or two and use my voice to owl again, but this one will be a longer, louder but more traditional hoot. If nothing nearby gobbles, I'll wait another few minutes and do a screech owl. By now, owls are normally fired up and making a racket. If after waiting another few minutes I hear nothing close, I either head toward a distant gobble or start walking and owling.

I know I sometimes walk away from a turkey by doing this, but if he isn't playing the game I like I try to find another partner. That first hour is too precious to waste on a quiet turkey.

Great point. I also owl hoot before moving on, just in case.  I don't think of it as a locator, I think of it as a CYA!     I have also learned, the hard way, the best way, to have a place picked out to sit down before making any call that sounds like a turkey. 

[Dtrkyman]

I like to slide into a known roost early!!! Killed 2 this year that landed in range, got to watch the show for 20 minutes on the limb and 10 on the ground!  love it!

[silvestris]

Sometimes I sits and think; othertimes I just sit.

[Txag12]

I prefer to get in tight on the roost, just seems to be what has yielded the most success. That said, if it doesn't pan out off the roost I never seem to do much the first hour or two after flydown so that probably has a lot to do with how I view hunting them at first light

[Gooserbat]

If I roosted a bird the evening before I m inside 100 yards and up hill or level with him before he can see.  Then I wait.  I let him do his thing and then a couple or three sparatic tree yelps and a turkey wing against the tree fly down.  Usually ends bad for one of us. 

If I don't have one roosted I'm on a high spot waiting for them to talk then I pick one out, check my Google maps to get an estimated location and off I go.