Fly Down Time

[870Express]

About what time have you guys been noticing the birds flying down?

[Hotspotter]

Had one come down as early as 5:15 on Thursday! I heard the flapping and couldn't see him in the field for a few minutes. I was a ways away, and not hunting. Most of them have been in the 5:35-5:45 region however for the groups of birds I've been scouting. Cloud cover and sunniness has played a big role as it usually does.

Joel

[870Express]

Thanks Joel, I had a hen fly down next to me at about 5:30 this morning. I've got a coulple more general questions: Does a tom gobble on the roost every morning before he flies down or is he silent some mornings? What do you look for when scouting through the woods? This morning I found an area with around 30 big tail feathers at the base of a large tree. Is that most likely where a tom is roosting or where one has been fighting or something else? Thanks!

[chillincarp870]

this morning we had 3 birds stay in the roost until around 7. It was insane we were about 40 yards from the tree and we could not get them to come down. yes toms eill have silent days i think it depends on the weather. when scouting i look for both feathers and [PoorWordUsage]. they tend to like oak trees also but that is not the only place they will roost.

[goblueM]

40 yards from the tree? Betcha they busted you moving in and really didn't want to get down. Hopefully you didn't push them out or put them on Terror Alert Red

[badfish]

40 yards??? Thats way too close in my opinion. I was always told stay at least 100 yards from the roost but I guess everyone does things differently. I also didn't get a turkey this year so that might explain how much i know

[Borch]

I've been closer than that, (not on purpose of course). If you get there early it's amazing how close you can get without getting busted especially later in the season when thing leaf out a bit. I've found that on rainy days the birds usually stay on the roost longer and 7 am is not unusual for the type of day that Saturday was.

Some mornings the gobblers won't talk at all and other mornings they won't shut up. May be weather or the fact they are roosting with hens already. Who really know for sure.

[Wanderer]

Only the turks really know for sure!

I've usually noticed that the toms stay up later and are quieter on rainy mornings. Cold, clouds or wind doesn't seem to bother them as much. Just my experience.

I've flushed toms off the roost as late as 11:30 on rainy days. I don't think they were down earlier and flew back up either because they were still in the area that I heard A gobble in earlier. I just didn't think they would still be there.

Twice in my life I've called toms to fly down to my set up. Both times by 5:30 am. What a way to start the day.

[chillincarp870]

it wasn't intended to be 40 yards from the roost but i was setting decoys and looked up and saw them. We got in without spooking them and we ended up sticking one last night on their way back to the same trees. Good luck to all

[Hotspotter]

30 tailfeathers is likely where a coyote found supper, or more likely, multiple coyotes found more than one supper.

Joel

[badfish]

I hate those darn coyotes if they weren't around i would have had me a turkey this year.

[Hotspotter]

Badfish:

Let's hear the story. Spooked them away from you?

Joel

[badfish]

Yeah I had a couple turkeys coming my way and i was getting really excited. Then I seen a coyote out of the corner of my eye working its way along the creek trying to stay hidden from the turkeys. They were coming right at me, right to my decoys. One of them must have sensed something but they all froze and took off in the other direction towards the woods.

The coyote just kind of layed low but he eventually saw my decoys and must have been watching them for a long time waiting for them to move or something. I couldn't even see him I thought he left but when I stepped out of the blind to leave I saw him bolt towards the woods and he stopped right at the edge and gave me one last look before he dissapeared. Hes lucky there would have been an arrow right through him if he would have been in range.

[870Express]

30 tailfeathers is likely where a coyote found supper, or more likely, multiple coyotes found more than one supper.

Joel

Nice call Joel, as we were sneaking into the woods this morning at about 5:15 we snuck right up on a yote about 35 yds away. If it wasn't so close to where I thought the birds were roosting and a little lighter out so I could make sure of what was behind it, it would've had a nice breakfast of no. 5 shot.

And after further investigation the piles of feathers are wing feathers and I've found about four different ones. Under one tree we found maybe ten fresh feathers and two piles of very fresh droppings. Do turkeys lose a lot of wing feathers when they fly up to the roost?

One more brain-buster: last night we were set up in a 40 acre mature woods on a big hill with slough surrounding most of it. We set up about 75 yds infront of where a we thought a bird was roosting. Well, we were right except he came from behind us and flew up to a tree about 40 yds behind us without any warning. We waited until about 20 min after sunset to sneak out but he busted us and gobbled and flew to a smaller clump of trees in a field next to us we can't hunt. Nice to finally hear a gobble, but not the way I was hoping. My question is if we should try to cut him off going to the same tree again this evening or try another spot? How do you guys hunt big woods? There's signs of turkeys everywhere in it but they fly down out of the woods and I can't get them to come back in the morning. And they won't gobble!

[chillincarp870]

The other day i had a coyote run about 20 yards from a flock of 10-12 birds and the birds didn't seem spooked at all. I thought they might have felt saftey in numbers but i was shocked they didn't run or fly away.

[goblueM]

Killincarp, I had that exact same thing last year - huge open field, we had just killed a bird and were cleaning it at the campsite. Buncha jakes step out of the woods. I think "hey, good opportunity to practice calling!"

Give a few yelps, they start my way. All of a sudden a coyote lopes across the field, they don't even bat an eye. He totally could have had one i think, but he ran too soon. Then they took off into the trees. I was wondering if they read his body language, or what? Very cool to see though

[brittman]

try a putzing landowner on a little john deer. dang 10 acre homesteads.

Had a gobbler moving in my direction until ... why was he not at work Friday morning...

[brittman]

Flydown was consistently 10 minutes before sunrise every day in Season E, except for two hens that slept in Saturday moring.

[Hotspotter]

870 -

The very best roost sites I've found, used year after year, many times day after day, do have good droppings and usually several wing-feathers below. They don't usually fly straight up into the tree, so alot of times you'll find the wing feathers anywhere from 20 - 40 yards from the base of the roost tree; where his launching pad is.

As for this particular bird you're working. I'd say give him a breather if you haven't already. He'll likely be wary of predators coming from or making noise in your direction. You never know though, it's hard to say. If you can hunt him mid-day, his hens might be moving off to nest. All you can do is try a number of different tactics, giving him some time to rest in between.

Good luck,

Joel