What is the best way to go about it. I Have a huge tom im going after on my farm since taking one of his buddys on opening day. I know about were he roost and he is always vocal in the mornings but not so much in the afternoons. With my senior year still going on i usually only get to hunt on weekends and afternoons. Any suggestions on how i should approach taking this bird?
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afternoon hunting?
- Thread starter rem.30-06
- Start date
Sneak in as slow and quiet as you can, to where you think he ought to be(might crow call well before you start in). I'd start by being soft for the first good while and if nothing happens, i'd get on him pretty good, but only a time or two. Chances are, he has hens and won't budge, so don't over do it if he fires up but won't move. If you're pretty sure you know where he should be...and he happens to not have hens, he'll come running/gobblin or may walk in silent....Just from what i've seen here in the last few days.
WMAn
Well-Known Member
Place a popup blind or natural blind within 100 yards of where he roosts. Be there 2-3 hours before dark and wait on him. Learn a little more about how he approaches his roost and where he flys up from every time you hunt him. Use what you learn and change your setup accordingly. With luck you'll get him.
kdxdude
Well-Known Member
We had an old bird on our property about 4-5 years ago & nobody could do anything with him. He'd gobble at every sound in the woods but he would not come to a call. He roosted in about the same place every night. There was a little meadow just above where he roosted. I suspected he might be feeding in the meadow before he went to roost. I set up beside the meadow around 4:00pm, it was real windy. I made a series of calls, waited 30 min., called again. I called every 30 mins. or so & at about 6:30pm I thought I heard a faint gobble but I wasn't sure because of the wind. Around 7:30pm I heard him walking up the ridge. He walked up & just peeked his head over the edge of the meadow, looked around a bit, then walked into the meadow. He gobbled while I was watching him from 20 yards away. I shot him & felt as if I had done what I needed to do to kill that particular bird. I prefer the run & gun method of hunting, but sometimes if ya can't find one that will play, ya gotta change it up.
String Music
Well-Known Member
Turkeys are different creatures in the afternoons. Hens are coming off the nest and generally head to fields to feed prior to roosting. This is also where the hens meet back up with the local gobblers.
The key here is patience. Only on rare occassions have I heard aggressive hens in the afternoons compared to in the morning. This is because the hens are more concerned with feeding at this time of day than they are breeding.
My favorite afternoon call is a non-aggressive, assembly yelp. Once a hen comes off her nest, she will try to locate other hens and gobblers to prepare for roosting. The assembly yelp is a much more realistic call to use rather than aggressive cutting and yelping (which works best early in the day through mid-afternoon).
With that being said, I would try to get in his area without making any hen calls. Gobblers prefer to strut in the afternoon over gobbling. I would set up around any field or open areas near his roost and call sparingly. You need to be prepared for him to come in silent rather than gobbling.
Also, if you have a couple days to hunt, you might want to play it safe the first evening and try to pattern him. If you get too tight the first evening you might mess things up for a couple of days.
The key here is patience. Only on rare occassions have I heard aggressive hens in the afternoons compared to in the morning. This is because the hens are more concerned with feeding at this time of day than they are breeding.
My favorite afternoon call is a non-aggressive, assembly yelp. Once a hen comes off her nest, she will try to locate other hens and gobblers to prepare for roosting. The assembly yelp is a much more realistic call to use rather than aggressive cutting and yelping (which works best early in the day through mid-afternoon).
With that being said, I would try to get in his area without making any hen calls. Gobblers prefer to strut in the afternoon over gobbling. I would set up around any field or open areas near his roost and call sparingly. You need to be prepared for him to come in silent rather than gobbling.
Also, if you have a couple days to hunt, you might want to play it safe the first evening and try to pattern him. If you get too tight the first evening you might mess things up for a couple of days.
im gonna try to get him on good friday and if i dont hunt him hard that weekend probably my best chance is in the mornings. Thanks for all the imput. This is my 3rd year hunting the birds but my first to ever kill one. Appreciate all the help
im gonna try to get him on good friday and if i dont hunt him hard that weekend probably my best chance is in the mornings. Thanks for all the imput. This is my 3rd year hunting the birds but my first to ever kill one. Appreciate all the help
