Hunting the roost in the evening

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Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 12:39 am

Anyone ever try this? This morning I snuck into the area that the tom had roosted Saturday morning, only tried to get closer. As the sun was beginning to come up there were a bunch of gobbles way off in the distance, but nothing close. Then, about 6:02, a gobble came from 40 yards away. He was shielded from view, but I had his exact location pinpointed after the 2nd or third gobble. He only gobbled 6 or 7 times, and flew down about 6:20... on the other side of the ravine about 60 yards out. I let out a few yelps, but nothing. Eventually he looped back, not strutting at all, but I could see his big beard hanging down at about 50 to 60 yards, and eventually, nothing else happened. He disappeared. Would have walked right past my Saturday setup. Todays my last day. Should I sit by his roost tree before dark and wait for him to come back? If so, how early before dark?

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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:05 am

I think it's worth a try. I'd get there about 2 hours before dark. I have sen them working fields adjacent to the roost tree, 2 hours before dark. Once they decide to get to the roost tree they move pretty fast, not like in the morning where the will take their time.
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby Ack » Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:42 am

Don't be that guy :naughty: Get out there, call him in on his terms and kill him.......it'll be much more rewarding than bushwacking him at the roost.
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby forgehunter » Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:51 am

Ack wrote:Don't be that guy :naughty: Get out there, call him in on his terms and kill him.......it'll be much more rewarding than bushwacking him at the roost.

normally i would agree with you Ack, but it is his last day and he will be waiting till the end of the day to set up on him. it is not like it is the first few hours of the first day of his season...
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:30 am

Kinda funny if you think about it, how shooting a deer by its bed and shooting a turkey by the roost are thought of with completely different mindsets. Completely understand, though, and like Ack said, I would much prefer to have one come into my setup. It just hasn't been that kind of season for whatever reason. Almost the polar opposite of what I experienced last year, with lots of gobbling and firing back and forth on the calls. This season, I think I've heard maybe one gobble that wasn't right at first light, despite putting on probably 10 miles of running and gunning. Even that tom this morning completely ignored the yelps I did only 50 yards away and he didn't have any hens. It's almost like it's too early for them, though I'm reading stories of other guys having the typical response. It took me two years to get this tag, and I just want to try out all of my options to get a bird on the ground before it's all over.

On the bright side, I did see some other cool wildlife:

The Tom this morning
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5 Deer I snuck up on
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A couple black bears running through the grass, really surprised on that one
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby addisonlee » Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:06 am

As Nike would say... Just Do It. GL 8-)
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby dan » Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:39 am

I would give the roost a try...
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby dan » Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:40 am

Cool that you got to see a bear.
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby Bigdaddy-yoyo » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:52 am

IMO I would hunt the roost. The birds were not coming to calls by me this week. I hunted the roost three nights ,had a crack one night but could 'nt switch hands. the only shot on him was left handed. Could'nt switch hands , he was looking right at me.

They call it turkey hunting, Hunt him. :D
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby BigHunt » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:56 am

8-)
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 11:16 am

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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby Mountain Man » Wed Apr 18, 2012 11:41 am

You're probably out there now, but if it was me and it was the last day I would be trying to get him milling around near the roost area or traveling back to that area.
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:51 pm

Mountain Man wrote:You're probably out there now, but if it was me and it was the last day I would be trying to get him milling around near the roost area or traveling back to that area.


That was the plan. As I snuck into the area, I met face to face with this doe at 40 yards. I swear even if you're in full camo with a gun they can sense when they're not being hunting. She hung around for quite a while.

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I got set up and began to wait. Just before closing, I heard the leaves start to rustle just over the ridge. I raised my gun and turned the safety off. Then, movement.... Just another doe, about 20 yards out. She looked at me for a bit, then turned around and went the other way.

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After closing I hung around for a bit unloaded just to see if he would even show up at all. And sure enough, nothing. Not sure where he roosted tonight but it wasn't the same spot he did Saturday and last night. In fact, I didn't even hear another gobble anywhere the entire time.

On the way out I heard another deer, so I knelt down and put the camera on widest aperture slowest shutter speed and got some footage. She too was only about 20 yards away. This was well after shooting light, dark enough that I wouldn't be able to tell if it had horns or not, yet the camera let in so much light, that I got the footage below as a result. Movement is pretty blurry, but other than that looks pretty good.

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I think next season I will apply for season 2 or 3 instead of 1. There's only 24 tags for the entire year, so there's probably no more than 4 hunters total in 1st season, pretty low pressure. It would just suck to have another season where you're playing blackjack at the roost and the lottery for the rest of the day.
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby dan » Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:29 pm

Sounds like you gave it a good effort right till the end... The hunt, adventure, and experience are what your there for, you could buy a turkey at the store if you were there just for the meat... Sounds like you got your moneys worth! 8-)
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Re: Hunting the roost in the evening

Unread postby Brad » Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:32 pm

dan wrote:Sounds like you gave it a good effort right till the end... The hunt, adventure, and experience are what your there for, you could buy a turkey at the store if you were there just for the meat... Sounds like you got your moneys worth! 8-)



x2, I killed my tom on the second day of the season and helped my dad try to fill his tag from friday till tuesday except for one day I took off for my anniversary. We did not get him one but had many opportunities and really close encounters and i had more fun hunting with him and not getting one then I did on the hunt where I did kill one, also learned more too!


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