It seems as though there are many different and successful strategies that everyone has. I am familiar with almost all of these strategies and agree withpretty much allof them.Looks like you have your answer to yourquestion but I will go ahead and give you my most successful routine anyway.

I have one routine that is a combination of many other smaller ones. It all depends on what location I choose to hunt. I live in a county in Indiana where there are open fields, river bottoms, thick wooded hills, and areas that are a mix of all of the above. All are great locations to hunt turkey but they all require a slight degree of difference in the way you hunt them. Same goes when it comes to putting birds to bed ofan evening. It seems the turkeysare alldifferent in their own way, even though the hunting areas may only be 2-10 miles apart.

Every year I spend countless hours observing birds everywhere during all seasons. But I've been doing this for so long that I can go out to one of my spots and without roosting still be sittingabout 100 yardsaway frmo agobbler on the roost. However, for the last 3 years I have hunted the same spot. This spot is a combo of fields, woods, river bottoms, and hills. I go out and the week before opening day I watch the flock...mornings and evenings. Then the night before opening day I simply drive up to my spot and hit a couple owl hoots(if the sound of the truck door doesn't get em going). This lets me pinpoint where I will sit. I have sat in the same spot the last 3 years,but I still make sure a bird will be thereby going out the evening before every single year.

To further ensure my success I do use a decoy. Like others have said toms will roost with hens and you have to pull them away. Which is very hard to do unless you can stir jealousy and aggression in the bird. Throw a couple decoys out like a hen in the breeding position and a tom in strut. You just have to make sure that the tomcan see the decoys. I'm convinced thatonce I have a tom looking in my direction and sees my decoys its only a matter of minutes if not seconds. This has worked every time and in the last 3 years hunting with this combination it has been responsible for over 10 tagged birds. Now we are only allowed one bird here in the spring but that was justme helping kids get their first bird.(Which I feel is even more of a thrill than me killing one. By watching the kids it brings back memories of what killing my first bird was like.)

Butto be put simply the bestthing you can dois spend as much time as you canobserving behavior. Just like when you call a turkey in...you learn how to communicate byobverving and listening to hens behaviors. If you can take about 3-7 days and dedicate it to studying birdsright before season, roosting should not be a problem. Just keep your distance. Once you have mastered it, it can be very rewarding. But beware, it can cause boredom due to the factit becomes "routine" and nothing changes. I have given up on the shotgun and now go with only my bow. The only exception to that last statement is that I'm going out of state after a Merriam's and since I don't know anything about the environment there I'm sticking with the shotgun. I'm sure once I've had a few years of that under my belt I will be looking to new horizons.


Hope this helps!