Shooting a roosted turkey.....

[SRA]

if it was legal in your state (Indiana it is) would you do it??????

[bigmacz71]

only if i couldnt get one to come in all year and it was the last day

[Squirrelhunter91]

No. That to me is not sporting. I'd rather go home with an unfilled tag than shoot a bird out of a tree.

[VermontHunter]

Hhmm..another ethics question.....

I would have to say it would depend on the circumstances and the individual,,,,So to say if I would or wouldn't would have to depend on a whole lot of factors at the time.....

[Rhino]

NO There's no law against it here but IMHO turkey hunting is not about killing a turkey like that at all.

[snapper]

I personally wouldn't do it...however, if its legal and your wanting to put meat in the freezer and don't have issues with shooting them out of a tree...knock your self out!

[Strut10]

Nope. Not ever. Legal or not.

I hunt turkeys for the sport of outwitting them on their own turf and for the thrill of the gobble. I have no interest in filling my tag any other way than calling the bird to my gun.......last minute of the last day included.

[redbeard]

Can't remember what species it was, but I read somewhere where the best and most widely used method to get fowl on the table was to sneek up the roost trees and club 'em. Believe it was in the Midwest somewhere in the early part of the 20th century. Nevertheless, I wouldn't sneek up on a roost and shoot 'em off a limb and I dang sure wouldn't club 'em.

[Squirrelhunter91]

Redbeard, I read an article in the NAHC magazine. It was the ocellated turkey in Mexico. The only way to get kill one was to find one that was "singing" in the morning and shoot it out of the tree. There were no calls known to man that would call these birds in.

[Strut10]

[ QUOTE ]
Redbeard, I read an article in the NAHC magazine. It was the ocellated turkey in Mexico. The only way to get kill one was to find one that was "singing" in the morning and shoot it out of the tree. There were no calls known to man that would call these birds in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Roost shooting is the accepted method for oscellated birds. But, there are newly developed methods for calling oscellateds (May/June 2005 issue Turkey Call magazine p. 68) that are being used and studied. Hopefully, if I ever get to go hunting them (like in a million years) I can call to them.

[redbeard]

Lovett Williams guides out of there and his site says they have in the past resorted to roost shootin' if everything else fails. It goes on further to say the best manual call they have mastered is obtained by using Doug Camp's Owl Hooter. They also use that new electronic caller we see on ebay now that mimics their calls. They discourage roost shootin' as the fall often times breaks the long spurs the hunters are after in the first place, as well as damagin' the feathers of the bird. The site goes onto say they have had 100% success in the past few years. The price wasn't much more than huntin' the Osceola. I may do it once my son gets a few more years on him and can go with me. It's deep jungle hunting, primitive style.

[Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
It's deep jungle hunting, primitive style.

[/ QUOTE ]

From what I hear, that's a bit of an understatement. A freind of mine went 3 years ago. He got his bird but swore he'd never do that again. After hearing the story about his hunt I just don't know if I want an oscellated turkey that bad. What probably made it a bit harder was he went right from a Texas Rio hunt to his oscellated turkey hunt without a break. He's a few years older than me too so I guess that makes him older than dirt.

[redbeard]

Yeah Rhino, I've always been apprehensive about leaving the country huntin', especially Mexico and especially the Yucatan........I'd go if somebody important was along, somebody with clout, somebody with money. Heck, I might resemble some bandit they been chasing for a decade, then where would I be. A good friend and callmaker here in Georgia was at the time, a DNR chief in charge of Ocumugee WMA. He went down with a few others, flew into a private airfield, got picked up by a weathly Mexican landowner's gopher. As they traveled thru the dusty roads, the police stopped them (with uzies) and even though they were with a known Mexican citizen they still hauled there butts into a precienct and held them for 3 hours. Once back on the road, about 40 miles later, they got stopped again but this time they had papers and weren't detained. He said they all limited out the first afternoon there. Said he'd never return. That was for the Gould's turkey.

[INHunterman]

I wouldn't do it. To me it violates the principles of fair chase. Besides it would be awfully hard to get close enought to the tree without spooking the bird.

[6sixpoint_nobrows]

i think if there was a bird with like a 12 or 13 inch beard in a tree everyone would shoot it out of the tree lets be honest...lol..at least i would. i saw michael waddell do it on road trips...?