I thought I' d get some of you guys fired up. I was recalling last seasons turkey hunts, and remebered this strange one. My brother and I like to roost birds down to our camp the night before. He went one way, I another. Meeting back after. He told me he' d walked right under a roosted Tom while still light enough to see. The tom never flew. He decided in the morning he was going to get as close to that bird as possible in the dark, and shoot him off the roost at legal light. I told him why not just work him after he flys down, and I highly doubted he could do it that way. He' d only taken a small jake before, and was excited about getting his second anyway it was legal. Nothing we found in the books read it was illegal. I told him he was on his own, and I was going to setup elsewhere. Well at first legal light I heard him shoot. He indeed shot that tom off its roost. I started picking on him, when he made a point to me. Many consider taking a deer out of its bed a great hunt, so why should doing the same to a tom be any different. I guess I couldn' t argue his point. He made the decision, it was legal, and he was proud.
So what to you guys think, ethical or not. And would you consider it???

like other methods of hunting if it is legal,I guess it depends on the hunter.personally I would not take him.I would step back and setup and work the bird.
we do not need to condem other hunters for there method if it is legal!!!!

In Fla. it is illeagal to take a bird from the roost,so there is no question.[X(]
just my 2 cents,there are 98 more

To be flat honest, I couldn' t tell you if it is legal or not to take a bird from the roost here in the turkey capital of the world. But, I know I wouldn' t take one from the roost anyway, even if, and as long as, it is legal or ethical. I have no problem with someone taking one from the roost, but I enjoy the thunderous booms and the excitement of the " Big' un" coming in from behind me. The anticipation of a good shot on a tom that is coming 100 yards across a cut bean or corn field to the edge of the timber where I lay in wait. The thrill, nervousness, and exhaustion I have after holding " Ol Painless" for 20 minutes on the shoulder, as the tom hangs up just out of range. Wishing I had a glass of water in that time to quench my dry mouth, just to work the diaphram perfectly one more time to bring him in a bit closer. And the joy of success when everything falls into place, knowing that I harvested and bested witts with an animal that is so savvy in the ways of survival. The thought of an animal with this keen of eyesight and not too bad of hearing either, knowing that if it could smell, I may not ever harvest one.

I would hate to miss that rush during a turkey hunt.

That' s just my opinion.......I could be wrong.

If I' m not mistaken, this subject went round and round last year.
Legality of this situation doesn' t hold much water with me. If you need a bird that bad go buy a Butterball at a store. Filling a tag is not what Turkey... or any other hunting is about.
I think it' s bush league to shoot one of the roost.
I' m sure I' ll get beat-up pretty good for these comments, but I really don' t care. Everyone needs to develope a set of ethics along with following local game laws.
My ethics include not shooting them off the roost.

If its legal.......Sure. Its no easy task to sneak up on a roosted bird. Dont give your
friend too hard of a time. It may not be your idea of fair chase but I really dont think its unethical.

Would you set up and ambush a gobbler going to a strut area or on his way to the roost in the evening? How about shooting at a big gobbler flying that you jump? Ethics, how far should you go.......only shoot if they' re called in??

What you call an ambush, some would call good scouting and a good set-up.

I can aleady see that there is many opinions on this matter but here is the big question, Legality aside. Is it the kill or the hunt that is most important? I posted a poem that my wife wrote me that sums up what Turkey hunting means to me. I know that I relish being in my hunting spot when the first gobble is heard. I enjoy the battle to get him to come to me instead of doing as nature has taught him, that the hen will come if called. Is it unethical? I guess it all just comes down to the individual hunter, is it the filling of the tag that is important or accomplishment and pride that comes with doing your homework and enjoying what most people take for granted.
Just my opinion.

I' d say shooting a turkey off the roost is comparable to shooting a duck on the water - sure its legal, and some people may actually do it... I don' t, but I won' t hold it against someone who will. Actually, once in a blue moon, I might just pop one off the water, so, I' d also probably take a tom off the roost - depending on the season and freezer.

I don' t believe there is anything in the MO Dept. of Conservation rulebook that states taking a turkey off the roost is illegal here and I don' t condemn anyone who does it where it is legal. Each of us can' t say what is personally satisfying to another hunter. I personally would think that I had been shortchanged if I would have to resort to taking a bird off the roost in the spring. The whole overall experience and thrill of the hunt would be lost for me. I like to bring home an old gobbler as bad as the next guy but hey, when that old boy is down on the ground struttin' and gobblin' and coming in to your calls.........it don' t get no better!!

MTT