Roosting Leads to Roasting

By Paul E. Moore

Scouting and knowing the location of game is paramount to success in any type of hunting. It is especially true for turkey hunters hunting the early days of spring season. Although everyone wants to be out there on opening day and wants to take a big adult bird, it doesn’t always work out that way. In most locations, the early season can be a difficult time to take a big gobbler. The successful hunters who take a big tom on opening morning are the ones who do their homework before that morning arrives.

Gobblers usually have plenty of hens early on in the season and are hard to call. The dominant birds will often gobble like crazy on the roost and then fly down and join a harem of waiting hens. The late-arriving hunter who just happens to walk within hearing distance of the gobbling bird may get all excited and thinks, “I’m going to get my bird today.” The sad truth, though, is that more times than not, the hunter will never see that bird.

The best gobbler to call in is the one that is alone and looking for female companionship. A gobbler surrounded by hens is not apt to leave them to seek out one lone voice crying in the wilderness. The hunter mentioned above stumbles on the gobbler and thinks he will be easy to call in for a quick hunt. In most all situations like this, the bird will fly down and stay with the hens he already has and the hunter will go home empty-handed or settle for a subordinate bird, which does not have a harem.

That situation can often be changed with some advance scouting and planning. If the hunter had roosted that particular bird the night before and then set up accordingly the next morning, the chances for success would greatly increase. Roosting is not always possible and does not guarantee success when it is possible. However, it can make for a very exciting hunt when everything goes right.

Take a turkey to bed

The technique for putting a turkey to bed is varied among hunters, but can be broken down into three main categories. The first is the hunter who just sits quietly and listens for gobbles and fly-ups to help locate the birds. The second is a more aggressive approach, which usually involves moving and trying to locate gobblers with a locator call. The third, and my favorite, uses a combination of the first two.

The hunter should have already scouted the hunting area extensively and have a general idea of topography and also the areas which are being frequented by turkeys. Feathers, dusting areas, droppings, and actual sightings will help the hunter locate the areas to target when attempting to roost a bird. Areas close to late evening feeding spots are the preferred choice.

The hunter can slip into these areas and sit quietly until near dark. Many times, if the scouting has been successful, the hunter will have an opportunity to hear birds fly up to roost, hear them gobble on their own, or actually see birds. This situation is best for locating an undisturbed gobbler.

If this situation does not manifest, then the hunter may want to use a locator call to attempt to entice the tom into gobbling. Locator calls such as owl hooters and coyote howlers will often shock the tom into gobbling. I do not like to use these calls unless absolutely necessary.

Long-time turkey hunter Greg Ballard shares my concern. He says, “I don't use a locator call at all unless it is almost dark and I didn't hear any birds fly up or gobble on their own. I think too many people like to hear them gobble so much that they will over-locate an area for no other reason than to try to make a bird gobble. The object is to locate a gobbler, and then to return without too many disturbances. If all else fails, I generally will use a coyote howler for the evening locator and let out a few short yips and then listen. I prefer to let nature take the lead, though, if at all possible, and not use any call at all.”

Calling technique must also be matched to the location. In some areas, one particular type of call may be so popular with hunters that it is has become very unpopular with the turkeys. Steve Taylor has been in the call business for a number of years and makes some of the best handmade calls available. However, he is the first to say that not all calls will work everywhere.

Taylor says, “I have used owl hooters, coyote howlers, and turkey calls to locate gobblers in the evening. Owl hooting will not work in the area I hunt in Pennsylvania, though. Years ago, when owl hooting started, guys over-did it around here and since the early 80’s, owl hooting has not been productive. In fact, we do not even hear real barred owls and yet I see them all the time.”

The mistake many hunters make once a gobbler is heard in the evening is being satisfied with the gobble and not pinpointing its exact location. Hunters will often hear a gobble and say, “The gobbler is up that big ridge over there,” or “I think he’s on the other side of that field.” When the hunter returns the next morning and sets up, he will often find himself too far away and in the same situation as the hunter who just happens upon a gobbling tom.

The key is to pinpoint the gobbler’s exact location and then plan on setting up as close as possible. By using good light-gathering binoculars or very quietly stalking near the roosting area, a hunter can often find the exact tree the gobbler is using. The birds will often actually be silhouetted against the evening sky and can be seen with good optics. A hunter who can slip to within 100, 75, or maybe even 50 yards of this bird, if the terrain will allow it, will stand a much better chance of taking the bird than the hunter trying to coax the bird away from his harem of hens from 200 yards away.

Locating a bird going to roost takes a lot of effort and even then does not guarantee success. At times, roosted birds will even move during the night if something spooks them badly enough. However, knowing where a tom was at dark the night before is a definite advantage over wandering into the morning woods hoping to stumble onto one with just sheer blind luck.