Often, turkey hunters believe the most ideal way to hunt turkeys is by locating where the gobbler is roosted and predicting where the gobblers will pitch down in the morning. Ideally, you can find a gobbler the evening before a hunt and hear where he is roosted once the sun has set below the tree line. This is a great way to kill a mature gobbler if everything goes as plan the following morning. However I learned many years ago, no matter how well you have scouted nor how well you think you have a gobbler patterned, there is always a good chance the gobbler will not follow the script. This can be frustrating and discouraging to hunters. However, it doesn’t have to be if you understand the nature and habits of wild turkeys. I will cover the main reason why you should hunt turkeys in the middle of part of the morning at the end of this post. It all has to do with the nature of turkeys and their normal habits. In this post we will share five we love hunting turkeys up in the morning. In fact, I almost prefer to hunt turkeys in the middle to later part of the morning over setting up for a daylight hunt. There are a number of benefits to hunting in the middle part of the morning that are often overlooked by hunters.
Reason 1: You can sleep in
You do not have to get up so early
Of course the early bird usually gets the worm. However, hear me out on this. Getting up and getting ready to leave before daylight is a challenge. For some of us, we are in a mad dash early in the mornings rushing to get dressed and make sure we have everything we need for the hunt. Sure, you can make a check list and load up all your equipment the night before. However, there is always a good chance you will forget something or be so excited you could overlook the little things such as locking your house door as you walk out or forgetting you shot gun still in the gun safe. Some of you might think this won’t happen to you but, trust me, it happens far more often than you think. Depending on the distance you have to commute to you hunting area, you might want to try sleeping in for a change. Often I just make it a point to get in the woods about 7:30 or 8:00 instead of 5:30 or 6:00. Giving yourself just a little more time to sleep and taking a little more time to make sure you have your equipment will often allow you to make better decisions during a turkey hunt.
Reason 2: Eliminate spooking birds before beginning
I firmly believe on of the biggest keys to success turkey hunting is to be as stealthy as humanly possible. What do I mean by that? Obviously being quiet while making an approach to a setup is critical. However, one of the biggest mistakes I think hunters make is alerting turkey still on the roost before daylight. This can be caused by slamming a truck door or riding your ATV through the woods before daylight. Yet in my opinion, nothing is more alarming to a turkey then bright lights shining from an ATV or pickup truck before daylight. This is a dead giveaway a human is in the woods. Flash lights are another thing that can alert a mature gobbler of danger and cause him to fly off a roost before daylight and leave your hunting area. This has personally happened to me.
If you wait and start your hunt up in the middle of the morning, you can avoid spooking mature gobblers with lights. Plus, you can see what you are doing when you are gathering your hunting vest to begin the hunt without the aid of artificial light.
Reason 3: Safer to walk in the woods
This reason might not be a big deal for some of you younger hunters with good vision and sharp reflexes. However, for you older turkey hunting veterans, this is a big deal and should be took into consideration if you have slower reflexes, declining balance or impaired vision. We want everyone to be successful turkey hunting but more importantly, we want everyone to be safe while turkey hunting. I know this might be obvious but it is a lot easier to walk through the woods in daylight when compared to dark. Of course flash lights are great tools to allow hunters to navigate the woods at night. However, the chance of missing a step or potentially having an accident while walking before daylight even with the use of a flash light is substantially higher when compared to walking during daylight hours. Another reason for me is, I can see my surroundings better during daylight and potentially see a turkey from a distance and avoid spooking him while I make an approach. Also, here in the south, snakes become active around turkey season. This is another good reason to wait until mid-morning to start walking into the turkey woods
Reason 4: Pinpoint the gobblers easier
By locating a gobbler in the middle of the morning, you can make a more educated approach for a potential setup because you can better pinpoint where he is and what direction he is headed. Once gobblers are on the ground, they are more easy to pinpoint and will often indicate which direction they are traveling. Just simply listen to the gobblers and quietly move in front or near the general area they are gobbling.
In my opinion, you should never call at a bird while he is on the roost. Why? Well a gobbler will often fly down and expect the hens to come to him. This is why he gobbles. However if he has been on the ground for a couple hours, he is more willing to go to a hen. This is the basic nature of a wild turkey, which leads me to my final reason for waiting until mid-morning to hunt turkeys.
Reason 5: Catch them during a moment of weakness
The number one reason to hunt turkeys I the middle part of the morning is, this the time during the day when the hens slip off to their nests and the gobblers are all alone. This situation sets a hunter’s odds in his favor. I cannot tell you how many times I have hunted early in the morning only to see gobblers get with hens and go silent. Yet after a couple of hours, they all of a sudden begin gobbling again. Typically around 8:30 to 10:00 has been a magic time for me to kill a gobbler on countless occasions.
Once the hens have been around the gobblers for a couple hours after flying off the roost, they will typically go to their nest to lay an egg. Once the gobblers have breed the hens, they continue to strut throughout the morning and will look up to find the hens have slipped away. They will then become vocal again and begin to search for hens. This is when a hunter will have a great opportunity to call even the wise old birds into range. Understanding the nature of turkeys and their habits will allow you to gain an edge in the older more experienced gobblers as well.
Based on my experience, I have killed far more older birds up in the morning compared to the ones I have killed early in the morning. This might not be the case for you but give this a try and see how your results stack up.
Conclusion
Give this technique a try the next time you feel like sleeping in one morning. You might be surprised at the results. I am not going to say this technique is better than others, but it has produced great results for us in the past. It even worked for us on opening weekend this season. I love hunting this way and encourage you to try it. Another reason to try this, some hunters will go home after the initial early hunt which will give you a great opportunity to have the turkeys all to yourself if you are hunting public land.
I hope you guys found this post helpful and encouraging. Thank you for reading. If you would like more useful tips and trick check out our website americanhuntingsafari.com. Please go to our home page to find more tips for hunting fishing and cooking wild game.
Thanks for reading and good luck in the woods and on the water.