State land or home ground?

[turkeygirl]

So I'm sitting here trying to decide, where I should roost turkeys tonight? Should I stick with the homeground and go where that turkey roosted the other night, although I don't know if it was a hen or tom, and I don't even know if the tom is still around. Or, should I go over to the state land I haven't been to in 2 weeks, where there was alot of turkey sign up on this logging trail on a ridge, where I saw 2 hens one night, and see if there are any birds there? Or, my other thought was I could try to roost birds on the homeground tonight, and if no luck, hit the state land in the am, or hunt home in the morning for a couple hours, then drive over to the state land and try that for a few hours? Hmmm...late season decisions are tough. Anyone have a suggestion?

[okbowman]

Try them all, this late in the season, you never know when that big ole gobbler will get fired up!!

[borch]

It sure gets tough this time of year. A person starts to second guess everything they do if they haven't thumped a turkey yet. With that saId, Have you been on the state land recently to see what the turkey sign looks like? Things change over the course of the season. Personally I do go out a try to roost them on occassion. Many times I've located birds on roost only too not take them in the morning. Generally I've fouond that rosting hasn't impacted my success rates. Use the time tonight to do some scouting. If you roost a tom great! At least you'll know one is there. If you don't, do get discouraged. I've had a lot of great hunts without hearing a b ird the evening before. Kinda reminds me of all my hunts this spring.

If it were me I'd check out the state land if it was plan "A" or "B" if I hadn't been there for a while just to see what the current turkey movement is like. Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on where turkeys are spending time on your home ground.

Good Luck!

[Rhino]

Like borch, I didn't get a single bird to gobble on the roost this year in the afternoon. They gobbled a lot on the roost in the morning though. Here at home they tend to roost close to the same area so I used that to my advantage for moving close in to roosted birds each morning.

I agree with what borch said too. It's easy to 2nd guess yourself late in the season when you don't have a bird in the bag yet. I'd check for sign rather than listen for a gobbling bird on the roost in the late afternoon now.

[turkeygirl]

Thanks guys! i'm probably going to go to the home ground tonight, I wanted to get some photos of some wildflowers and I'll see what's happening. If nothing, then tomorrow night at least. I'll head over to state land and check it out, maybe I can find one. This late in the season I don't think there is going to be any other guys out there.

[ruttinbuc]

Run and gun TG! Call and wait an hour, then move . If you know turkeys are in the area be patient. After a spring full of hunting pressure a lot of gobblers will come in silent. Some will mouth off if the the mood strikes them. Good luck!