Phil from Maine

This year our season starts April 28th and runs threw the month of May.. Now we have a first for hunting hours. We finally get to hunt from a half hour before to a half hour after sunrise and sunset. Is it any different to hunt in the afternoon and evening than just the mornings we are used to hunting? The season has always been a half hour before sunrise to 12pm.. So we have something new to us and I am guessing pretty much the same except I can be more selective on my early season hunting.. Not that I do not try to be as we have seen some nice toms after our hours has closed..

neb

IMO hunting from non till evening has been very kind to me. I do nothing differant then how I hunt them in the morning. Many times I go out right after work and have great luck. I do use a blind and bow nunt them. If you know where the birds are at that will be the trick just like hunting them in the morning. You have to have birds no natter what. If you know where they sleep they always head that way at evening you will catch them. Good Luck!

w123t

Phil.

I've hunted states with Late closing times. The major
differences are the Toms can be very receptive
in the early afternoon 9 12-2pm range after those
hens have gone to their nests ( I have had great
luck in Maine hunting 11am-noon in the past
for the same reason ). Also, hunting near where you know
Tom likes to roost can be good during the last couple hours of the day ( I already can think of one Tom I had trouble with
last spring that may be in for a big surprise this year
as he makes his way towards his favorite roosting area).
Good luck this spring!

LBADG

We have a noon limit here in NYS's spring season...but I know that it is 11am till around 2pm that the Toms are out and on the move I see and hear them as I work. Usually just see, for they are very quiet after May 1..but from mid April till May they wake me up any day I try to sleep in past 5am.

Phil from Maine

I knew where there was a few birds last year that I could not get because of the hens being with them.. Along with one big tom that was scared of the calls right from the get go. I got to see him up close after I had nailed a jake for my second bird. It was a real wet day after a big rain and wind storm had taken place. I was driving back with the jake when the tom took running right along side of my truck in some brush. I will be trying for him again as he had a nice beard on him..

I also noticed last year they were very quite during most of the season here as well. Now with our cold temps and heavey snow fall I am hoping they will treat me good our first week.. This fella is going to be on vacation that week so I will be finding out.. Thanks everyone for the input.. I was figuring it would be like using the same methods but was not sure..

Erno86

You can probably gain an advantage next day...buy listening for the wing flaps and yelps/cackles, when the flock tree roost's in the evening; in order to help a hunter locate the roost.

Mojotex

Over the past 40 +/- years of hunting Eastern turkeys here in Alabama and several times in Arkansas, I'd say I have killed 3X as many before 08:00 than after 12:00. As for "afternoon" hunting, I do. And have had good luck in the time frame of 2:00 until they hit the roost. Most of the time when I hunt in the afternoon, I do what I call "field hunt" , set up on woods roads or very open areas of the woods or try to set up along routes that I have seen turkeys use regularly when headed to a roosting area.

My experience is that it is rather rare for a gobbler to be sounding off in the afternoon. They will very often react to a shock call. But for the most part my experience is that p.m. gobblers are quiet. But if you find a Tom that is gobbling in the afternoon ??? ... He is about as killable as it gets. I believe, though I cannot prove it, that a Tom that does a lot of gobbling in the afternoon is "henless" and actively searching for hens .... and therefore more apt to be called in.

RockyMtnGobblers

The afternoon can get you a lonely gobbler and evening can get you a gobbler near the roost area looking for hens also a lonely gobbler.
I hunt all day maybe take a break from 11 till 2 just depends. I would not skip the afternoon and evening hunts!

Phil from Maine

Thanks everyone.. As stated I have never hunted in the afternoon before so that will be new to me.. I have shot most of my birds from 9 to 10 in this area. I have seen them early in the am but they almost always go the other way on me.. Most of my season it appears that they do not gobble that much except when they come down from the roost.. Normally the snow is gone by the first of April. This year the snow will be leaving late I am thinking. As we are still getting below 0 at night and in the upper teens to low 20s during the day.. That can change rather quickly though..

Again thanks for all the input..

w123t

Phil,

Two possibilities with those Toms that
are going the other way on you when they
come down. One they are with hens and the hens
are leading them away from perceived competition
---you or two your calling too much while they
are still on the roost and they are getting the
picture that your not believable. Try making
just a couple quiet calls when they are on the roost
then put the call away until you are positive
they are on the ground. Best of luck this
spring.