Calling To Birds On The Roost

thoughts? bumped into this while practicing my pathetic wingbone calling LOL

I didn't watch the video, but...I call in and shoot 1-2 birds a season by calling to them on the roost. I've had more than that fly the other way, but they always had hens roosted with them as it turned out. I've had a little more luck calling them in once they have already flown down...even call in turkeys each year that have hens. I've called in the hens with the gobbler coming in behind them. I think it's a crap shoot each and every day, but I love it and have been blessed to kill a few each year.

I usually text

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That depends on each individual turkey, I've called them and had them almost pitch into my lap. I have called them, and they have answered me, then headed the other way when they flew out. I have learned to just call a couple times to let him know I'm there. I have even tried no calling and just slapping the legs of my trousers to imitate a fly down, then do a little scratching, again, some have pitched right in, and some have headed the other way. I have tried to get in there early and bust up the gobbler from his hens, sometimes killed him a little while later, sometimes .... nothing. Danged if you do, danged if you don't. It sure is fun matching wits with them, they get to show me more often than not that I'm not the smartest person in the room.

I’ve called to every roosted bird I’ve ever hunted. Only time I don’t is when they get hunted and messed up. Call just enough and soft enough to let them know you’re there, then shut up.

After 42 years I’m pretty convinced of one thing. There are very few absolutes in Turkey hunting. It is actually why I think most of us become so challenged by it, and enjoy it so much.

I will say it depends. My preference is to get in close and only call after they hit the ground. I have also had a lot of success tree calling and then imitating a flydown. It is exciting having a gobbler land almost in your lap.

I like to let them hit ground first usually - lot of reasons why

There are days as we know - nothing you can do to kill bird - wait - don’t wait - it will not matter

I wish I had more turkeys to hunt - we will see this year - I did not kill until April last year he was a really good one was only bright spot and last 3 plus weeks of season I did not even hear gobble

Late season , one bird left on limit, I hear a gobble at fly up time. I ease thru the flat hardwoods to within 100 yards. I'm a lil bored so I hit the snuff can and two birds respond with multiple gobbles. I cackle and get 8 er 10 gobbles in response. I am having fun. At slap dark they are still gobbling at each other and I slip out, leaving a trail to get back before daylight.
I get out of the truck in the pitch dark and ease into my spot, 75 yards from two roosted birds. I quietly make a lil blind with some pine tops I brought in with me and settle in.
I wait or the first gobble...and wait...and wait. I'm a little impatient this morning. Finally I decide to cluck once...BAM, I get six gobbles in rapid succession from both birds. It is pretty dark in the woods so I decide not to call again. I'm just sitting, chilling then notice something, a small white spot right in front of me, WTH??
Damn, it's a gobbler at ten steps IN THE DAMN NEAR DARK. I can see maybe 20 yards. I raise my 870 and flame shoots six FEET out the barrel on the shot. I jump up and take three steps and put a foot on his neck. I look up and his buddy is standing ten feet away just looking at me. Damn, he has a 12" beard..I tell him to scat before I shoot his ass. He walks off slowly, looking back at me.
Neighbor accuses me of limbing one.....
I don't call that early to a roosted bird anymore....

^^^

Those jokers in TX will do that in a heartbeat. It blows my mind how early they’ll pitch out and also how late they stay on the ground before flying up. I killed one a couple years ago at less than 10 steps that my dad couldn’t even see. He pitched out and walked straight to me. I kept trying to get Dad to shoot him and he kept telling me he couldn’t see him at all lol. Flames will definitely shoot WAY out that barrel.

I usually don’t . Not to say it’s right or wrong I just prefer to get close quietly . Maybe a few tree yelps then wait on him to fly down .

Ive had them birds pitch out the live oaks on the roof of my little casita an their stompin wake me up..i thought it was the wind blowin limbs...dang 6-8 longbeards walkin on the rook an it so dark the only way i can see them is the motion lights came on when they flew by.

when i first really got "hooked" on turkey hunting, i filmed my hunts - nothing was digital at the time, so i was carrying a big/bulky Sony camcorder i had camo'ed up, along with a tripod ... a guy i met thru the NWTF scored a lease near San Angelo, TX, and called me & said 2 things -- "this place is eat up with birds - bring your camera!" ... somewhere i have footage of gobblers roosted on power lines LOL it was the tallest thing they could perch on to roost ... things are certainly different out there, compared to here

Be honest, you know you kilt both of em.

it's a wonder I didn't kill the second one when I shot the first one, he was only a few feet behind him and pretty much in line with my shot. I never saw him till I was standing on the first ones neck. And that 12 inch paintbrush was a temptation....

I always give them some tree yelps to let them know I’m there, and depending on the situation I might do a fly down cackle. I’ve pulled several of them out of the tree this way

Fred,

Glad you brought that up. I was going to one that gobbled in the dark just as soon as I stepped out of the truck one morning. Took off across a one year old cutover and was just about to the top of the hill where I was going to sit down and saw something very white on top of the hill. I was like WTH, what is that? I knelt down so I could skylight whatever it was against the sky and it was that gobbler. I hesitated to shoot just because I was thinking it was somebody in the club because it was too early for a bird to be on the ground. One of the craziest things I've had on a turkey hunt. If I didn't see him turn while I was kneeling I never would have guessed a turkey was there.

Heck yea I call em on the roost. I blow that crow call and owl hooter just about to the point where I'm lightheaded.

Been my experience if you bump turkeys off the roost before daylight don't panic. If you bumped hens and a gobbler is still there you better not start calling before it's light enough to kill him cause he'll run up your gun barrel.

That’s me. I do NOT call to one on the roost until I’m ready to pull the trigger though. Had too many of them committ immediately and if you’re not ready too bad so sad.



Done that too. Bump them in early in the dark or first light. Just sit tight and be patient. He’ll be ready to die in half an hour.

I call to them every time. If he answers me, I don’t make another sound till he hits the ground.

I have to call to them. Even when I think I shouldn’t call to him..... I still do. I literally can’t help it.

If I'm set up waiting on daylight and he gobbles anywhere close I'll give him a tree yelp or 2. If he answers I'll shut up until I know he's on the ground. If I see him pitch out or hear him gobble from the ground he gets a reminder of where I'm at and then the game is on.

Generally I will give them a few soft yelps to let them know I'm there. If I get a gobble from him I will shut up until he's on the ground. The more he gobbles on the limb the more likely he is to call up some hens.

I

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It is tough not to call when he is just booming them out. If I have hunted the same bird several mornings, I have to basically tell myself before I get out of bed, getting dressed, in the truck, getting my gear, walking in, listening----- "Do Not Call To Him Today until he is on the ground." Well, maybe just one short series or a couple clucks won't hurt.

Every bird. If it doesn’t work the first two encounters, maybe I’ll let him get to the ground first. Maybe.

I always call to him while he is still on the roost if I can. But what I do is to answer him - get the call ready and the instant the gobble stops I give him a soft, 3 note yelp. That is sometimes all it will take to get him to pitch down on my side and come to me. I didn't come up with this idea on my own; it's what I've noticed hens doing many times. I don't think that a soft yelp like this will often scare one, but you never know until you try. What will scare one almost every time is a whole lot of loud cackling and cutting while the gobbler is still roosted. If you can get on the other side of the guy doing that you have a great chance at him.

To not call to him on the roost is also a risk. You run the risk of a turkey that might have been interested choosing instead to fly a couple hundred yards in the wrong direction, and then it might be impossible to get him back.

I was approaching a pair of gobblers late season one year in Illinois. Dark thirty. They had a habit of pitching down on a near vertical hillside and heading off to parts unknown completely uninterested in the ladies so I used the dark and leaf cover to get Uber close. I had to be within 50 yards of them in the tree to be able to see them when they hit the tree. Uber close.

I had just breached that barrier and was staring at one of the gobblers black against the sky while looking for a tree when I stepped on a branch.........I clucked on my mouth call-gobblbovelblelboblelbl!!!!! Smiling, I turned my eyes down for a second and when I looked up I saw that white head standing there pointblank.

I remember throwing up my shotgun oddly. I remember seeing the white head fill the 3x power scope. I remember the flames.I remember the world going white. I also remember the teeth and blood from one of the worst scopings you’ve ever seen.

The ER nurse asked if I got the turkey. I told her I couldn’t have shown my face in there if I hadn’t.

I guess it depends on the situation. Hunting on public land I have had to do a few things I didn't necessarily want to do because of another hunter, like calling to a bird on the roost that was only 50 yards from me. The bird was gobbling his head off on his own, I made a couple of soft yelps, he answered and I shut up. A few mins later another hunter across the creek bottom a few hundred yards away starts burning up his box call. I guess I felt like I needed to be more seductive than the other hunter so we start going back and forth trying to sound like the sexier lady. I should have done what PCP said and stayed quiet but I didn't. Needless to say I watched the bird pitch down and move away from both of us.

Always just enough to let him know I’m there. Turkey hunting is like being the offensive coordinator in a championship game, I start fairly conservative and get deeper in the playbook as the day/season goes along.....unless I think I have a really good chance to press it and make it happen right then.