Here is a scenerio for ya'll. you have a bird roosted in a half acre patch of timber. on one side of the timber is a lake and on the other side is a big cattle pasture/ grass field. it is about 300 yards over to the big timber from the little patch across the field. here is the decesion. you know the bird is in the little patch so do you get in the field extra early (and i mean like 4:30) and setup in the little patch right underneath the bird or do you setup 300 yards away from the bird and try to call him all the way across the field. decoys are being used and are very visible.
Quite often, the birds will fly down and immediatly head for water. After that they'll go out to feed, and in the gobbler's case, strut. I'd set up at the edge of the field a short way from where the birds would likely come from the lake. If I had decoys, I'd put them so that the gobbler has to look for them a little. Quite often, as soon as he sees the decoys, he'll display and wait for the hens to come to him.
I had a situation very much similar to that couple of years ago. After watching a bird come down a couple of mornings I found that most of the time he went to the field first and glided about 75 to 100 yards from the roost tree to get there. I tried to drag him across the field with decoys but he would not make the trip and sooner or later was joined by hens. At 5 am one morning I low crawled across the open field and set up at the edge of the wood line, he flew right over me and did his thing in the field and I did mine. I guess the moral of the story is almost the same with every set up. Figure out here he"™s going and get as close as you can.
I would setup in the field as close to the timber and the bird as possible. You are going to have to setup early while its dark or your going to get seen coming in. Setup early call once while their roosted to let them know where you are, then put your calls up. When you here them fly down, hit them with everything in your arsenal. If you determinre the birds are enroute to you, quit calling. If you continue calling you will hang them up. Setup were they won't sneakin behind you and bust you. Do it right the first time, you probably will only get one shot at this. Good Luck!
That answer is easy, LOL the spot you want to be is the same that everybody else has said just not to the point. If you have more time find out where they fly down too i.e. more scouting if you don't have the time to scout like you are hunting him tommorrow am i would set up in the patch closest to the roost i would not consider the lake a good spot around here turkeys usually do not go to water until later in the day fter they have struuted for awhile but on the other hand the dam might be a good spot for a strut if the hens are hot around your area that turkey will go without food or water for quite awhile and will want to show his stuff to any available lady as soon as he hits the ground hope you get him and let us know what spot worked for you.
Roosted birds
