Morning/Midday/Evening?

[Coach]

What is the best time to hunt turkeys? I have been hearing that the morning is the best but we have been seeing more in the midday. This is the 1st year we have been hunting turkeys. Thanks for the info!!

[Archerysniper]

Most of the time it is better in the mornings at flydown but I have shot most of my birds at 8:30-9:00 in the moring they seem to get hened up in the mornings and after the hens leave to nest the toms pay more attention to the calls. For evening hunt you have to get close to the roost and be willing to sit real late if you dont get your bird so you dont spook them out of the roost and ruin your next morning hunt. But it sounds like your doing your home work so you want to be where you are seeing the birds before they get there. It's a big chess game with them and I hope you win.

[simpzenith]

Depends. The morning is the best for hearing birds gobble. This allows you to move in closer and try to work them and you'll also know where other birds are for later hunts if you strike out on the first one. Mid-morning to early afternoon offers the best chances at success if you locate a bird that responds to your calls. They are usually alone and will sometimes come running to your calls. I'd guess that my success rate is around 80% to 85% when I've gotten a bird to gobble mid-morning to early afternoon. Hope this helps.

[PostFrontal]

My experience is the earlier in the season, the earlier I hunt. Later in the season is better in the afternoon after the hens have left to nest leaving the gobblers looking for hens. I have better luck calling them in (even if they don't gobble back) in the afteroon later in the season.

My season starts this coming Sunday. I will go all day because it is the weekend, and I want to be out there. But during the week, we will only hunt afternoon into the evening.

[DonBo]

Stay out all day if you can. Like others have said, mornings are a lot of fun because of the gobbling activity but mid day is probably more productive.

Here's a post I did in the VIP forum a while back.

Just more proof to hunt all day. This big guy was out all alone strutting his stuff at 10:00 this morning.

These birds are very killable after the ladies have left them for the day. My advice for mid-day hunting is set up on a field edge, or in the middle of a field (if you have a blind) and let your decoys work for you. This is especially true with the rain we're having these days. Turkeys will often spend all day in the middle of a big field while it's raining and the pop-up blind will keep you dry and comfortable.

Good luck!

[Leaddog]

I love to hear hunters say, "if you can't call one in from the roost, go home." Or, "If you haven't got your bird by 7 go home." I just agree and encourage them to do so. It leave more room and birds for the rest of us.

[Wallydog]

If I had 4 hours to hunt it would be 10 til 2.

I beleive that if you get a tom to vocalize after 10 a.m. you can kill him 8 out of 10 times!

WD