locating roosted birds

**rakatak** · 03-07-2013, 05:20 PM

hey guys,
getting ready to take my son on his first turkey hunt during youth season. know where some birds were hanging out back during deer season. do you guys blow a crow call or another locator call after dark a day or two before the hunt to see if the birds are roosted therebouts? thanks a lot.

**TurkeyFoot** · 03-07-2013, 05:35 PM

I can't speak for everyone else, but what has always worked for me is go out a couple weekends before and sit and listen. I personally don't use locator calls. If I have a pretty good idea where they are roosting, I'll go the night before and watch or listen for them to fly up! Where I hunt in green co there are so many hunters that use crow and owl calls, the turkeys don't pay much attention to them. Wish your son the best of luck!

**bamacamp** · 03-07-2013, 05:36 PM

an owl or crow call should do fine for roosting birds, especially during the early season as they arent accustomed to any calls and will typically roost gooble to any type of foreign noise. wouldnt wait till after dark though, anytime within 30 minutes prior to dark should work. good luck!

**ky.longbeard** · 03-07-2013, 05:49 PM

I pay very little attention to where I see turkeys in the fall,because most of the time they will be bunched up together and when springtime comes they have busted up and are located all over the place.Where I hunt I normally start scouting about 2 weeks before I plan on going hunting.....I have a big hill that I listen and watch with binoculars and try and establish travel patterns....Turkeys are usually creatures of habit until they are spooked several times....I went one morning a couple of years ago and it was about a month before season.......I heard at least a dozen turkeys gobbling that morning and they were all fairly close to each other,I thought to myself how could anyone not kill a turkey here,but by opening day there were only 2 roosted in that same location.....I did here 3 more ,but they were at least 300 to 400 yds away.If you have 2 or 3 mornings that you can go out right before season comes in and listen and watch where they like to go to me is the best. By the way I have never had much luck with roosting birds of the afternoon,but I'm sure some have great luck doing it .

**hollandhunter** · 03-07-2013, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by ky.longbeard

I pay very little attention to where I see turkeys in the fall,because most of the time they will be bunched up together and when springtime comes they have busted up and are located all over the place.Where I hunt I normally start scouting about 2 weeks before I plan on going hunting.....I have a big hill that I listen and watch with binoculars and try and establish travel patterns....Turkeys are usually creatures of habit until they are spooked several times....I went one morning a couple of years ago and it was about a month before season.......I heard at least a dozen turkeys gobbling that morning and they were all fairly close to each other,I thought to myself how could anyone not kill a turkey here,but by opening day there were only 2 roosted in that same location.....I did here 3 more ,but they were at least 300 to 400 yds away.If you have 2 or 3 mornings that you can go out right before season comes in and listen and watch where they like to go to me is the best. By the way I have never had much luck with roosting birds of the afternoon,but I'm sure some have great luck doing it .

I agree with this!!! I have never had any luck much roosting birds in the afternoon either with locator calls. For the most part if I do get lucky and roost a bird he ends up gobbling on his own and tells me where he is at. But its few and far between. The best way to scout pre season turkeys for opening day is like said. Get up a few mornings in a row right before season go to were you think turkeys are gonna be preferably in a place where you can hear and see a long way and just listen. They will do there thing let nature run its coures. If theres birds in the area they will let you know they are there without locator calls most of the time. JMO

**buckchaser** · 03-07-2013, 07:14 PM

Some very good advise in the posts above IMO Good luck

**rakatak** · 03-07-2013, 08:16 PM

thanks for all the info guys, i have killed a few birds but have never roosted any. usually just head to the dbnf and run and gun and have pretty good luck with it. just wanting to make sure i give my son a good chance of getting one. gonna hunt an overgrown field out of a blind. first time i ever tried this but there are always turkey in this area. appreciate the info.

**TurkeyFoot** · 03-07-2013, 08:23 PM

Hadn't never had much luck hunting turkeys in a growed up field!!

**ky.longbeard** · 03-07-2013, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by rakatak

thanks for all the info guys, i have killed a few birds but have never roosted any. usually just head to the dbnf and run and gun and have pretty good luck with it. just wanting to make sure i give my son a good chance of getting one. gonna hunt an overgrown field out of a blind. first time i ever tried this but there are always turkey in this area. appreciate the info.

I don't know how big of a field your talking about ,but if its the only field around ......can you cut any of it down a week or two before season comes in. Cut it and they will come !