Shooting a roosted turkey

[codym]

Only way I could see shooting a turkey off the limb is if you worked the bird and he limb hopped to you. I have had a gobbler do this hunting in a swamp one time. He limb hopped about 100 yards to within 60 yards of me. It was early in the season and he didn't see the hen and limb hopped back the way he came. This is the only time I have seen this. He flew down back across the slough and proceeded to gobble heading away at a fast pace. I will say had he limb hopped about 25-30 more yards I probably would have killed him out of the tree as I still feel like that is calling a bird to the gun.

Don't you think he still won fair and square? I give that old bird credit he knew what he was doing and earned the right to see another day. Just my opinion.

[M Sharpe]

On my one and only trip to SW Texas, the group that we were guest of, half of their turkeys had shot all on the feet and legs. My hunting buddy were set up early one morning. No where for a bird to roost except on power lines. So we're watching these birds wake up. See one end up in a fireball when she touched that neutral. You can just make out the silhouette of the birds. Then from on down the lines, we hear a shot gun fire off. The ol' boy came right back to camp with a big grin on his face like he was a turkey killing machine!! We saw him on the way back to camp, toting that bird over his shoulder. We drove right on by!! Wasn't any roost shooters riding with us!!!
Had the chance to shoot the biggest bird of my life from a tree, with a hunting buddy egging me on to shoot him. Nope, not me!!! He killed him 2 days later!

[SteelerFan]

To me , roost shooting a bird is low down in my opinion. I dont care if its legal or not or the hunt anyway you want if its legal thing. Bottom line , we turkey hunt for the sport. If we dont kill a bird , its ok , our family will not starve to death. I just dont understand the people that just have to kill the bird to feel as though they are successful.  I love dropping the hammer on them , but only after we go head to head. I call him , i fool him , i get him close , i kill him. Any other way , the bird wins and we do battle another day. If you want a turkey to eat that bad , save all the cash on guns , calls , and gas to go and just stop by the super market. Trust me , you will save a lot of money.

If it's legal though... STILL DON'T DO IT. And I will judge others that do it. That's my prerogative as a sportsman.

As a kid growing up rabbit hunting with beagles... we'd catch a wrath from my father if we shot a rabbit before a dog barked. It was all about the chase.

It still is...

[husker]

Not sure about where y'all hunt but here in the south, sneaking under a roosted gobbler is equivalent to The Clinton's telling the truth.

Now THAT is funny!

[Va limbhanger]

where's the magic in busting one off the roost? I'm in it for the game.

[stinkpickle]

You'll never hear those guys say, "Roosted ain't roasted."  They probably keep their shots under 40 yards, too.   

[Marc]

If it's legal though... STILL DON'T DO IT. And I will judge others that do it. That's my prerogative as a sportsman.

HEAR, HEAR!

Personally, I feel to some degree, it should be our obligation as sportsmen to denounce, and even push for regulation on some methods of hunting.

Shooting a roosted bird off a limb is one such situation.

I simply do not buy into the attitude, that if "if it is legal, it is OK."

We certainly cannot make it illegal to be an A-hole (most of us would be serving or would have served time), but in the hunting arena, we can certainly make a push for certain means and methods that are obviously unethical or unfair.

[fldoghunter]

Only way I could see shooting a turkey off the limb is if you worked the bird and he limb hopped to you. I have had a gobbler do this hunting in a swamp one time. He limb hopped about 100 yards to within 60 yards of me. It was early in the season and he didn't see the hen and limb hopped back the way he came. This is the only time I have seen this. He flew down back across the slough and proceeded to gobble heading away at a fast pace. I will say had he limb hopped about 25-30 more yards I probably would have killed him out of the tree as I still feel like that is calling a bird to the gun.

Don't you think he still won fair and square? I give that old bird credit he knew what he was doing and earned the right to see another day. Just my opinion.

IMO, just because he's in a tree, doesn't mean he's roosted. In that situation, I would have shot him. Bean in that situation and I did shoot him. you called him to you, You kill him, You won.

[codym]

Agree to disagree. I have had dogs point several species of upland birds, quail and grouse that lit into trees rather than flushing away. They get a pass. The dogs did what they needed to but this is sport hunting and in my opinion a bird on a limb does not present a sporting shot. If I was dependent on a turkey or quail for may next meal maybe, but I'm not. I would feel like a major league douche bag for shooting a bird on a limb. We all have to make decisions and live with the consequences, if you feel you won and it's legal then I guess that's all that matters.

[Spitten and drummen]

Only way I could see shooting a turkey off the limb is if you worked the bird and he limb hopped to you. I have had a gobbler do this hunting in a swamp one time. He limb hopped about 100 yards to within 60 yards of me. It was early in the season and he didn't see the hen and limb hopped back the way he came. This is the only time I have seen this. He flew down back across the slough and proceeded to gobble heading away at a fast pace. I will say had he limb hopped about 25-30 more yards I probably would have killed him out of the tree as I still feel like that is calling a bird to the gun.

Don't you think he still won fair and square? I give that old bird credit he knew what he was doing and earned the right to see another day. Just my opinion.

IMO, just because he's in a tree, doesn't mean he's roosted. In that situation, I would have shot him. Bean in that situation and I did shoot him. you called him to you, You kill him, You won.

We can agree to disagree. Its like saying you called in ducks , you fooled them and then you let them land on the water. You fooled them so you won. Let them land and make that chip shot. dont shoot them on the wing. Nope , not me. Its frowned upon by serious duck hunters. The duck hunting sport is calling and wing shooting. I know we are talking about turkeys not ducks , but i feel this is a suitable example. Do as you please but i will NEVER agree with shooting a turkey out of a tree period. Legal or not , the way I was taught and my particular ethics will not allow it.

[fldoghunter]

Yes, we can agree to disagree. I know it's wrong to shoot a roosted turkey, but a turkey in a tree is not necessarily roosted. I've seen gobblers in trees at all times of the day. Seen them in trees eating muscadines off of the vine. I've had turkeys come in on the ground and then fly up to get a better look when they didn't see the turkey they'd heard.  I've killed 2 out of a tree that flew in and lit from the roost. One was over 75 yards from where he roosted and the other over a hundred. I was as happy about those birds as any of the rest. There's a reason that the law doesn't say that it's against the law to shoot a turkey out of a tree (at least in Fl) it says it's against the law to shoot one "off the roost".

[fldoghunter]

Not trying to argue with anybody, just asking. Where would ya'll draw the line? If you called in a gobbler on the ground and just as he was coming into range, he flew up on a limb 15' high to look for the hen he'd heard?

What if he was on a fell down tree 5' off the ground?

What if the limb was on the ground?

Ya'll shoot what you want, but as long as he's not "roosted", as far as I'm concerned, he's fair game.

[Marc]

Agree to disagree. I have had dogs point several species of upland birds, quail and grouse that lit into trees rather than flushing away. They get a pass. The dogs did what they needed to but this is sport hunting and in my opinion a bird on a limb does not present a sporting shot. If I was dependent on a turkey or quail for may next meal maybe, but I'm not. I would feel like a major league douche bag for shooting a bird on a limb. We all have to make decisions and live with the consequences, if you feel you won and it's legal then I guess that's all that matters.

Not really a fair comparison...  Toughest thing from me to wrap my head around when I started turkey hunting was shooting a bird on the ground...  For me, every other bird I shoot better have its wings moving and be in flight...  I would not shoot a quail or pheasant in a tree, but I would not shoot one on the ground either...

Now, that quail or pheasant flushes from the tree, and I am taking the shot...

Sneaking up on a roosted bird at dark, and blasting him out of the tree at daylight is not sporting (in my opinion).  Calling a bird in at 8 am that lights in a tree in front of you is in my opinion as good or better accomplishment than calling one walking in on the ground...  Either way, you made the turkey do something he would not have done were you not there.

I have never had a bird fly in and land on a limb, and I likely never will...  I might infer that this could be more common in areas with a lot of predation though (bob cats or coyotes).

Tough for me to see the ethical difference from calling a bird walking in and ground-pounding him, verses calling a bird that flies in and shooting him off a limb.

[BottomLand54]

Shoot em flying down from.roost or too roost it's like dove hunting lots of fun


Best thing to do is take a rifle and shoot them at 300 yds



Honestly the other evening we had 8 gobblers we roosted smallest beard being roughly 7-8 inches next morning took my little cousin who has only shot a Jake and he shot him Saturday. Anyways the birds flew off roost away from us because of real hens below in valley. My little cousin could have got a very nice mature 4-5 yr old 11-13 inch bearded roughly 1.5-2.0 spur bird that was gobbling and walking the big white oak limb strutting by shooting him out of tree. It is legal and it was legal light but I said no. You may ask why be so harsh on a kid? If you train em right they will teach others the right way. It's just like killing Jake's I do not mind if someone shoots one that is there first but why continue to shoot Jake's it's pointless. I had 12 Jake's come in other day let 11 walk as I let my little cousin kill 1 which was a trophy to him as it was his first.

If only 6 of those 11 Jake's survive that is some nice birds next year. If 3 survive next year thats 3 good birds the next year. If only 1 of those 3 survive then that's the bird I hunt.

Remember it's a sport of being a mature sportsman and eating what you shoot. If you hunt just to kill or to brag lay it down and play video games.

I know some will disagree with me but that's ok it's my honest ethical opinion of what genuine sportsman like conduct should be like.

Take a kid hunting let him or her shoot a Jake. But make it his or hers first and last and teach them ethics. Do not shoot birds out of limbs or trees unless you wound one and he fly's up that does happen.

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