Now I'm really baffled.

[Life of Riley]

I just saw a clip on when the best time to hunt is. A big bald guy who works for primos said that he's killed 95 percent of his turkeys between 9 and 2. He also added that in order to roost a bird you have to be right where he wants to be when he flies down in the morning. I would post the link but not sure of the forum rules.

[guesswho]

Time frame seems about right for me.   Don't know about the roosting part, that's something I don't worry with.   I just let him tell me where he's at in the morning.

[mikejd]

Time frame seems about right for me.   Don't know about the roosting part, that's something I don't worry with.   I just let him tell me where he's at in the morning.

I agree. I can only hunt until noon but I have left many birds still gobbling at noon. I bet if I was able to hunt until 2 it would be game on in that time frame. We all think the morning is the best but if I compare how many birds I have killed first thing I bet it is far less then later in the day.

[Bowguy]

I've been at this since the 80s. I've heard the mid day advice many times. Personally of all the birds I've killed most were within the first hour of morning. Sometimes a couple hours.
Perhaps on those same days it may have gotten better later idk. I was home cleaning a bird.
Never seen a trend of things magically turning on mid day, I have worked some birds later, I'm not giving up my mornings though

[Life of Riley]

Here is the video.
https://youtu.be/OdOmkHPNrkE

[Farmboy27]

I've probably killed 75% of my birds in the first hour or so after fly down. But that's also when I find the most birds. I have a better kill percentage later in the morning. (Birds heard vs birds killed). A turkey might have a dozen hens with him and still gobble his head off on the roost. But a bird gobbling at 10am is usually lonely and very callable. 

[jims]

Things can dramatically change depending upon hunt timing.  One state where I hunt turkeys they are in giant flocks early in the season (as many as 15 to 100 in a group).  The toms often spend the entire day with lots of hens.  Then generally gather and roost in the same trees in the evening.  Generally as the season progresses the turkeys break up into smaller and smaller flocks.  Once hens start nesting the hens start breaking off from toms/groups of hens mid day to nest and return later in the day to roost.  There is nothing easier than enticing lone toms rather than "henned up toms" that are following around hens.  This often happens later in the season during mid day.  I'd likely say 70% of turkey hunters hunt the opening week or 2 and are done.  Very few hunters are still in the field late in the season when hens are nesting.  This is especially true in states that have super long seasons.

Here in Colo where I hunt mountain merriams there are very few toms with flocks of 5 to 10 hens.  The few toms that are available are with hens the entire season long.  In fact, I have hardly ever seen a lone or group of solitary toms.  There are also gobs of predators so all I hear are crickets and other chirping birds most of the day.  The turkeys have figured out if they make noise they are eaten!  There are lots of ponderosa pines and brush so it's like a needle in a haystack locating quiet birds that are so wide spread through miles of country.  If I do hear calling it's usually on the roost well before daylight and few and far between calling during the early morning.  I have hardly heard a turkey after around 10 am.  Where I hunt in Colo my best luck has been early in the morning.

If you can only hunt until noon you are also limited.  Obviously there is an advantage to hunting towards dusk if turkeys return to roost in the same group of trees.

With all that said, it really comes down to what time of year, legal hunting hours, and the behavior and daily routine of birds in your particular area. 

[Happy]

I would say in my early years the majority of my birds were killed later in the morning. Now I have as many right off the roost as later in the morning. Some if that is due to the fact that I can get some before work hunts in nowadays.

[Bowguy]

I've probably killed 75% of my birds in the first hour or so after fly down. But that's also when I find the most birds. I have a better kill percentage later in the morning. (Birds heard vs birds killed). A turkey might have a dozen hens with him and still gobble his head off on the roost. But a bird gobbling at 10am is usually lonely and very callable. 

This is def true. If you get a bird to respond later the odds may be higher. The states I hunt have noon time stops but I can see how someone would kill most their birds than. Maybe it's the nature of where the primos guy is hunting

[GobbleNut]

Gobblers can be killed at any time of the day.  If conditions are right, a gobble is in the mood, and you are there at that time, that is all that matters. 

The real importance of hunting gobblers at first light when they are on the roost is not just about whether you can kill them then.  Sure, there will be birds that you kill if you hunt them at first light and that, in itself, is reason to be there.  The real advantage, however, is in the information you will glean from those early-morning hours. 

If there is a time when gobblers are prone to gobble the most,...and hence, let you know where they are,....it is in that first hour of daylight.  Knowing where one or more gobblers is roosting,...and perhaps more off in the distance,...is a major step towards success.  In addition, information about the numbers of birds you are dealing with, their interactions, what they are doing, and where they are doing it are all key pieces to the puzzle which should be greatly influencing how you are approaching hunting an area and the birds that are there.

Whether or not you think you can kill a bird right off the roost, the advantages of being in the woods at first light, if you can possibly be there, far outweigh any reason not to be there.  But even without those advantages, being in the woods at first light and witnessing the dawn of a new day is more than reason enough to make the effort. 

[EZ]

The best time to hunt is every legal hour allowed by law. I love late morning hunts, but will never give up the sunrise.

[dejake]

If I do my homework, most success will be within the first hour.

[2eagles]

I don't care which time is most productive. I shoot most of my birds mid morning or later. I always try to be hunting at daybreak because all that gobbling is so exciting. It's my favorite part of turkey hunting!

[TauntoHawk]

I've probably killed 75% of my birds in the first hour or so after fly down. But that's also when I find the most birds. I have a better kill percentage later in the morning. (Birds heard vs birds killed). A turkey might have a dozen hens with him and still gobble his head off on the roost. But a bird gobbling at 10am is usually lonely and very callable. 

Pretty good description, do a ton of homework and roosting to put myself in position to kill right off the roost. I have to agree though that if you get a bird to gobble later in the day your percentage of killing that bird are far higher than early. I think it's vastly different for guys with all day hunting than the us that are done at noon.

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[TRG3]

The best time to hunt is when you can get out there. Like most have said already, I've taken gobblers from just getting daylight until around noon. One year I took a tom because I'd come home from turkey hunting to take my wife mushroom hunting and, at 11 a.m. as we stepped into a different woods, a gobbler sounded off a couple of hundred yards away. We backed out and went to another woods to look for mushrooms. The next day, I was at the spot where he had gobbled and took that bird around 9 a.m. when he came to his strutting zone. Even though I was there at fly down, he never gobbled that morning until he was approaching his strutting zone. One of the first gobblers that I ever took was one that I heard in the distance as I was packing up the truck around 11 a.m. to head back home. With nothing to loose and limited experience in turkey hunting, I started toward him some 300+ yards away...and it started to rain really hard. I though about returning to the truck, but was already soaking wet, so I continued on. When I was about 100 yards away, I could hear a hen yelping, so I returned her yelps but only with more emotion and louder to which she replied as she hurried toward me with the gobbler in tow. Through my blurry wet glasses I sent a load of #5 shot toward the tom at 20 yards and proudly walked through waist-high wet weeds toting that bird all the way back to my truck! You never know when the circumstances will turn in your favor, so keep hunting as long as possible in the day.