Unread postby thepennsylvanian » Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:28 am
Honestly, any of those work.
So many factors are in play with turkey hunting, population density, hunting pressure(human and other predators), terrain, timing of the season and even weather.
Morning can be considered the prime time, but if your hunting area holds alot of birds, toms can literally just hit strut zones and wait to be found by the hens. This rings especially true the earlier a season is. They'll do this alot in my area too, because of hunting pressure. Not to mention its in the nature.
My picture perfect scenario is a stormy night that breaks up early to mid morning, late in the season( Pa's season is all of May, so were setup pretty good for call birds in). After the storm breaks up, those birds will start looking for hens almost immediately, it can lead to some pretty insane gobbling and exciting hunts.
Late afternoon hunts work well, but can be tough to get a bird to commit depending on how close he is to roosting trees. If you know your flow and where they roost often, this can be a killer time.
I'm an impatient turkey hunter, I cant do the sit and wait thing for turkeys. In the early morning if I cant get one all jazzed up, I'll typically lay low until just before lunch, then start walking ridges, just off field edges, or head to areas that I've seen strutters during the day.
I'd really just say dont count the day a waste I'd you couldn't get on one at first light. Turkey arent like deer, they'll move all day long, you just might have to out some miles on them boots to find em!
Edit: the past 2 years I've had good luck in the early am, but last year I did call a mature tom in at 4:30pm on may 28th. So any time of day is a good time to kill one!
Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.