Tuesday night.....I was walking out of the woods....and I heard my neighbor and a friend owl hooting at a tom they'd heard roost behind his house a couple of hundred yards away. He was gobbling his head off.
I had something to do, last night, and couldn't roost him.....but I took a chance and got set up where I thought he was THIS morning. He was there. I must have come really close to walking under him on the way in (I found out). I set up in a small field that is in the woods.......and waited. I gave three hen yelps at about the right time.....because he gobbled on the roost. He was about 100yds away (+/-). I heard and saw him fly down (saw 1 bird fly down)......and I quickly had him gobbling on the ground. Then I shut up. He was 80 yds away.....but on the other side of a little knoll. I couldn't see him.....and he couldn't see my hen deke.
He never came to her/us. He gobbled to calls a few more times....but got progressively further and further away.
I moved the blind over closer to where he was roosted......and I'll go back in there, this evening. If he roosts before I get him (lol).....I'll just leave everything there and try him again in the morning.
Sounds like a good setup to me. A lot may depend on what time you get out there. If you walk close to his roosting spot, that might be enough to make him flydown and go the opposite direction. Perhaps try getting the spot tomorrow morning earlier or take a different route. Then I would definitly set up on the same side of the knoll he is roosting/flying down to......or on top of the knoll to cover both sides.
It is hard to tell since you couldn't see him. He could have had 5 hens with him...which we can't blame him for not leaving.
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Kurt Rojemann
www.drop-tine-taxidermy.com
I will get there plenty early, tomorrow (if necessary!!...lol). I'll be even closer to his roosting spot.....but I should be able to get in there pretty quietly (through the field.....a different entry spot).
If you can circle around and get uphill of him, I would try to do it. I have found that most birds, if roosted on a hillside, will fly down to the uphill side. If you can get within 70 yards of him, the fly down will take him almost into shotgun range. Good Luck!
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Get setup as close as you possibly can without spooking the gobbler. Also, try to get that decoy out in the open where he can see that decoy from the roost and from the ground.
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Roosted bird questions.....
