kenman

I normally do not. I have several spots that I know the turkeys roost at night, same places they have roosted for years. This year my son will be hunting them for the first time and I want to put him onto a bird opening morning. I went out last night and got a gobbler going off just before he roosted. I won't mess with him again prior to the youth opener on the 27th. Would you go out the night before and put him to bed, or just go in opening morning and hope he is roosting in the same general location?

HomerJ

Sleep during turkey season can get pretty valuable.
I prefer not to roost birds, it gets late, you could bump them walking out.
I can use that time getting shut eye. Also the more seasons I put under my belt the more birds I see meet their maker later in the day.
It's hard to stay at it all day running on fumes.
Like all other turkey tactics, some hunterswill, some won't.
Roosting birds has never paid me great dividends.

TNBowHuntr

I pretty much stick to the idea that a turkey will do whatevera turkey wants to do, whenever he wants to do it.. granted they may use the same general area, but i certainly dont believe that the bird is going to go somewhere he doesn't need to go later just in order to get to the same tree he roosted in the night before, especially seeing as how there are so many things that can throw a turkeys course off. I haveplentyof luck getting out there early enough to hear them early, and get set up on them before the come off the roost, without wasting my late afternoon. If you are in the woods huntingof an afternoon and can opt to put them to bed then go for it, as far as wasting a trip in the afternoon I don't see that its worth the trip.

TEmbry

i dont either...at my place here in ky they always roost in same general areas, so i pretty much set up based off that. but if im hunting somewhere where i dont have them patterned, i still dont. i just go out the morning of and listen, setting up on where the tom gobbles from. they gobble alot more in the morning, making it easier to locate the birds.

i strongly believe that an afternoon before the hunt, is much better spent getting to know the lay of the land, rather than putting the birds to bed. you can find them in the morning before flydown, and make a setup before they fly down based off your knowledge of the land.

jepcho

I do whenever I get the chance to. Although, when I set out to just roost a bird and not to hunt as well, I stay at the road or as far away as possible to make sure I dont spook any birds. I have had pretty good success when I have been able to roost a bird.

kenman

By law, the hunting day ends here at noon, and the afternoons are either baseball games with the sons or working the honey-do list.

HomerJ

That's why I love our all day hunt here in IOWA!
I've seen too many Tom's get outright desperate in the afternoon hours.

trophy time

If you know where the turkeys are roosting there is no need to put them to sleep. If you are putting them to sleep you do not have to enter the woods, you just call from a road or field, you just want to find out where they are roosting.

4patches

well ,unless your hunting private land that you know for shure your the only one thats hunting there i wouldnt waste my time. on public land 385 other guys roosted the same bird that you did and cant sleep that night either. there are better ways to spend the night before the one iwould go with is sleep so your sharp and ready to out wit the first one that reveals his position.

turk2di

I hunt public ground, so i prefer my turkeys keep quiet!