Hunting Turkeys Off the Roost

[Justin_Tree]

Just curious on hunting Turkeys off the roost.

Specifically, how close do you try to set up on the roost tree and how much calling do you do?

My best luck has been setting up about 120 yards away, out of sight, and ambushing them. However if they decide to go a different direction it doesn’t seem to work.

 

[mlob1one]

I will typically post up just out of sight and begin before they've left the rosy with a few hen calls. That usually gets them curious enough to come my way when they do off their roosts. Toms follow the hens.

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[Pancake]

The best advice I ever heard was to sneak to the closest tree that you think you can get to, and then go one tree more.

How much I call depends on how close that tree is. On one hunt last year, I was less than 40 yards from the tree. I don't do any calling then while the birds are still in the tree. My thought is that they'll be able to tell that I'm not in a tree at that distance. If they fly down my way, then I won't need calling anyway.

If they fly down the other direction, then I'll do some very light calling (3-5 very soft yelps or clucks every five minutes or so) and hope to pull them back. As an aside, calling every five minutes is generally a little excessive in my opinion (unless you've got one really fired up), but turkeys can move a lot right off the roost, so my frequency is a little higher than usual because those birds might be gone soon, and other birds you weren't aware of might be cruising through too.

 

[dtrkyman]

I used to regularly get tight enough to watch them on the limb, really fun though success was not great, you can not call when that tight and if they don't pitch right to you you are stuck!

I like to figure out their most likely direction of travel and set up 100ish yards out, of course terrain and cover dictate much of this.

Early season in the north or anywhere it is cold they will seek out the sun right away so keep that in mind!

If it's windy predicting where they fly down is much easier, particularly in open terrain!

 

[Pow]

I would say they generally fly down up hill.

Face them and it might help to have cover from above as I've had a toms fly right over me and bust me.

 

[Beaglegun]

Figuring out where you think they want to go after they fly down and setting up in between and not calling works best

 

[Taudisio]

My wife killed a Tank of a farm bird. I threw every trick I knew at him to try and get him to come to me all season. He always hung up and lost interest. The only thing that worked was setting up in his off the roost path. I looked at it as cheating as the birds do the same thing all year and he had been living on the farm for at least 5 years. But no such thing as cheating when my wife wants to kill “that one.” In the night before, I setup a lay down hen decoy where they normally land. A hour before shooting time, we sat hidden within 10 yards of it, about 30 yards from the roost tree. The hens flew over us, the Toms walked up shortly after with the big boy in the back. He must have caught sight because he spooked and was walking away at 15 yards when the 20ga wad bounced off his head. The largest spurs I think I’ve seen on a Rio.

 

[Beaglegun]

My wife killed a Tank of a farm bird. I threw every trick I knew at him to try and get him to come to me all season. He always hung up and lost interest. The only thing that worked was setting up in his off the roost path. I looked at it as cheating as the birds do the same thing all year and he had been living on the farm for at least 5 years. But no such thing as cheating when my wife wants to kill “that one.” In the night before, I setup a lay down hen decoy where they normally land. A hour before shooting time, we sat hidden within 10 yards of it, about 30 yards from the roost tree. The hens flew over us, the Toms walked up shortly after with the big boy in the back. He must have caught sight because he spooked and was walking away at 15 yards when the 20ga wad bounced off his head. The largest spurs I think I’ve seen on a Rio.

Limb hanger

 

[Wyoming Hart]

I would say they generally fly down up hill.

Face them and it might help to have cover from above as I've had a toms fly right over me and bust me.

The one almost given that I try incorporate when I have a gobbler located is to get above them if you are on the side of a hill, mountain, etc. Like you say here, they do seem to come off roost to the uphill side, unless there is more openness below them. Getting as close to the roost as possible without being seen and giving a few, light yelps seems to be the trick, especially if there are no hens around. If he has hens, it will be hard to pull him off of them. If they roost in the same trees or general area every night, they usually come off roost at the same spot and head the same way every day. In that case when you have them patterned, it's best to get in very early and in that direction and just wait them out. It seems like in the places I hunt, these areas are always right on the property border and the birds always seem to go to the neighboring property, LOL. I would say that getting above the gobbler has probably killed more gobblers in areas with elevation changes, than anything else.

 

[dtrkyman]

I generally agree about being above them, they however also like to sail a long azz way into a flat bottom in a lot of situations!

 

[Justin_Tree]

My wife killed a Tank of a farm bird. I threw every trick I knew at him to try and get him to come to me all season. He always hung up and lost interest. The only thing that worked was setting up in his off the roost path. I looked at it as cheating as the birds do the same thing all year and he had been living on the farm for at least 5 years. But no such thing as cheating when my wife wants to kill “that one.” In the night before, I setup a lay down hen decoy where they normally land. A hour before shooting time, we sat hidden within 10 yards of it, about 30 yards from the roost tree. The hens flew over us, the Toms walked up shortly after with the big boy in the back. He must have caught sight because he spooked and was walking away at 15 yards when the 20ga wad bounced off his head. The largest spurs I think I’ve seen on a Rio.

Great bird!

 

[Justin_Tree]

It seems like my experiences are in line with everyone else. I gather that there is no secret sauce to guarantee success off the roost, I guess that’s why it’s called hunting…

 

[RMM]

I like to be close enough where I feel comfortable calling but not too close where they can inspect the area I'm calling from. 75-100 yards I would say is the sweet spot in my opinion.

 

[Wyoming Hart]

I generally agree about being above them, they however also like to sail a long azz way into a flat bottom in a lot of situations!

That's when turkeys do turkey things!