GMMAT

I've got a good population of birds where i live. I can pretty much get close to them....wherever they roost.....but I'm wondering how far I can pull 'em in if I have to (ex- don't have permission to hunt a certain parcel).

Is it easier to draw them in coming off the roost.....or heading TO he roost? I've hunted turkeys for several years.....but I've got to rely on ME for calling, this year. I left my caller (my cousin) in SC. I'm on my own, now.

zubba

I personally like callingthemin off the roost.I feel after roosting all night, the Toms are itchingforsome attention and loving.JMO.

Inthe later seasons, don't forget about midmorning. After fly down the hens willfeed and drink for a while, but then they will head to nest. So with less hens out and about, the Toms seem more gullable. Justsomethingto keep in mind.

RDHunter

I think it's alot easyer to pull them once they fly down off the roost , once you know where there heading you can set up an ambush spot and wait.
Even though they may go in a diffrent direction at any given day , you can still pattern them and set up along the way.

BuckRogers

My uncle called one in from at least a mile down in southern he watched it the whole time. Pretty good when you can call a bird from Missouri into Iowa. Although we hunt about 400 yards from the border but it sounds cool to say that.

ICALL2MUCH

They are too unpredictable to even say....Id still get as close as possible!
Good luck!

trophy time

I've pulled them from about a half a mile. But it will also depends on the birds at the time.

TEmbry

in my experience it is useless to call to em while they are headed to roost, because they are focused on one thing, heading to roost. It is MUCH MUCH easier to call em in right off roost, especially if you can set up and call while they are still on the limb. Last season i didnt know about the late season midmorning strategy, which ill definitely keep in mind this year. i was under the impression that if you didnt get one by 830, it was game over till you try and catch one headin towards roost that afternoon. ill say this, knowing what i currently know, early season they are easy to call early but are probably easy at all times. late season, i think it could be easier once all the hens go to nest around 9-11.

This is just my opinion from my current knowledge of turkey calling, so dont condemn me for it if im wrong, just correct me.

strutnbuck

I run into the same delima here. It will pretty much depend on the hens, if they are roosting off ur property. Such as this morning for me. I had them cranked up good, but it's early (as far as hens leaving to nest), so the gobblers stayed with the hens that they could see and basically told me to come to them. When this happens, your best bet is to try and call in the hens, which is different calling then calling for the Tom. Try to get the hens to talk to you and imitate what they are doing. If you can get a couple riled up, they may land in your lap, which happened yesterday, and then the Toms are likely to follow, which didn't happen yesterday. My wife and I had already taken the 2 that I knew were with them. Call the hens, thats what I'd do.

onebigelk

Probably the easiest time I've had calling in good toms have been after
10:00. If your lucky enough to locate one that will respond to calling then
you better get ready because he will probably come in quick. Crow calling
to locate birds after morning works well. Sneeking around glassing open fields as far out ahead of you as possible hopefully will allow you to see them before they see you, which in my neck of MO is sometimes hard to do.

SwampCollie

Its sort of a catch 22 in my experience. Its easier to call them from farther away in the early season, because there is no foliage on the trees and they can hear it. However, there are many more receptive hens in the spring, and since hens go to gobblers 9 out of 10 times, a hen will often find him before he finds you.

In the late season, when receptive hens get scarce and gobblers start grouping back up, you can really pull them from a long ways off, but, they can't hear quite as far as they could before.

No matter what the season I find that gobblers are typically easier to call in mid-morning, while they don't gobbler quite as much, they travel more. Often birds in my part of the world will gobble on the roost until a hen walks in to them, or fly down into a field and wait for them there. Some of them won't come to a hen PERIOD! Just depends on your local turkeys.