Roost question
 

I have been getting to my blind about a half hour before shooting Tim in the mornings. Shortly after I get settled, the birds start gobbling like crazy. Usually there are about 5-6 tons on the roost, but they are all around me. The hens usually start in too. My question is, how much if at all do you call while they are on the roost? My theory is, I want them to know where I am, but I don't want to scare them the other way neither. So far, they seem to be going the other way when they fly down...

I call a few times so the Toms know what direction to look, then shut up till I hear them fly down and I still call sparingly.

I don't call till they are on the ground, have had them set on the limb gobbling they're head off waiting for the hen to walk into sight, when they don't they just turn around and fly the other way.
RR

After I hear a hen or the first gobble I will call softly once or twice then close to fly down I may do a fly down cackle as I hit my hat against a tree and the ground, some times it works some times it does not.
What I would do is if it's possible is set up where they usually fly down to and do a soft call when it's time and shut up.

You know there the roost tree is.

You know there are some "shooters" in the group.

You know they generally head in the "other" direction.

You have them "patterned" - so set up about 100 yards away from the roost tree along the direction they normally head.

I make some soft purrs while they are on the roost; to say, "I'm awake are you awake".

After fly down I let them hunt me................

If they look like they are veering-off, I will putt & purr softly to see if I can get those Toms interested in leaving the lead hen to check me out.

I do a few soft tree yelps too let them know where I am. A fly-down cackle later with wing beats with my hat, followed by a few yelps.

I saw a hen do a fly-down cackle this morning...but the two toms that later followed her, were completely silent when they flew down from the same roost tree.

I was lucky enough to bag one of them this morning with my shotgun --- 23 pounds, 10" beard with 1 1/8" spurs.

If they are with hens, you need to call the hens to you. I tend to call a lot in this situation to get the hens fired up. The toms are going to go which ever the hens go. Best advice is set up where the birds want to be. If you can't do that try to get them to come to you. Or wait it out till they are done with those hens and then you would have a much better chance of calling them in. In my experience, birds off the roost is a crap shoot and things get better about an hour and a half after flydown. I have killed almost all of my birds between 8:00 am and 11:00 am.

Get there earlier if you can. It starts getting light as much as an hour before dawn. You may not be able to see yet, but they can. Even if this isn't the reason they go the other direction, it is worth a try. Besides, you are just gonna lay there in bed awake that last hour waiting for the alarm to go off.

I try to set my decoys in an open field close to the woods where I think they are roosted, and where they may be able to see them from the roost. After the first gobble, do a few calls to get their attention toward the decoys. If they can see them, they may fly down straight to them. Most of my turkeys have been shot before 7am.

Setting up between the gobbler's strut zone and his roost tree sometimes is an advantage.
Old fire roads are good places for a strut zone.

Set up between the roost area and their usual direction of travel, off to the side of your best guess of their path.

Wait until you hear a soft tree call or two, then respond with the same. Don't overcall and try to drown them out at the first calls you hear. If you can get the hens to "talk back" to you, follow their lead and make the same calls they do. Let them do most of the calling. They're the pros.

Like someone posted, try to get the hens to hunt for you.