It all depends on the terrain and how much leaf is on the trees. In the early season here in NW Tennessee 125 yards can be too closewith no leaves on the trees. Lateseason you can get closer than that withoutworry. Remember that the intensity of the gobble will vary by the time of year, humidity, wind, etc, so that it may be difficult to determine exactly where he is. As an example, I have set up way to far from gobblers early in the season (no leaves) on a clear morning because the sound carried so well. Conversly I have spooked turkeys off the roost in the late season becausethe turkey sounded much further away with because of thesound absorbingeffect of the leaves

I never try to get any closer than roughly 100 yards. When you get closer to a roosted turkey than that several things can happen, most of them bad:

1. You can spooka turkey walking in that close unless it is really wet or you are Daniel Boone or Casper the Ghost. Remember, that turkey is up there in the tree and can hear everything around him. In those pre-dawn hours the wind is typically the calmest,thebirds aren't chirping, and it is very quiet. If you are walking in I don't know how you can get much closer than 100 yards without making too much noise unless you want to pull your boots off and walk in barefoot (I've used houseshoes before). You also can't use a light and run the risk of tripping over something or breaking a stick and then the game is over.

2. Let's say you do get in real close, 50 yards or so, and start tree-calling from the ground under the bird. That doesn't make any sense to me. The gobbler hasn't heard any hens fly down, yet all of a sudden he hears some soft calling coming from the ground 50 yards under him. That isn't natural. Turkeys make a lot of noise flying down and that gobbler knows that ahen shouldn't be in that position. In my experience when I've done this,the turkey will either fly off in the opposite direction or stay up in the tree a long time looking for that bird on the ground so close to him. The longer he stays in the treegobbling the more likely he will gobble up some hens, fly down to them and now the game is over for awhile.Neither one of these outcomes is good.

3. I like to give a turkey some room to feel safe when flying down, and most of my screw-ups on roosted birds have come when I have gotten in too close. I think it pressures the bird too much to get real tight and, if hefeelspressure from something unnatural, willfly downfar off somewhere rather thanjust pitching down below the tree. I like to let him know that I'm around by some soft calling, let him pitch down on the ground, then start calling him in earnest.

This is just my experience