Gecko
Senior Member
I would never shoot one off of a limb, period. Unless of course he was wounded like others have posted. Just would not be right. I enjoy the challenge of calling them too much.
Welcome Guest!
Would you shoot one off the roost?
- Thread starter BPR
- Start date
florida boy
Senior Member
probally because they taste good !
DonArkie
Senior Member
Mike made a good point. If I saw one in a tree with a arrow or cross bow bolt, or a shotgun \ rifle shot and it was suffering, yes I would, other than that, nope I wouldnt. I've done mercy kill'n on young yearing deer do to busted up leg or badly placed shot.
boparks
Senior Member
No not off the roost.
When I first started hunting I had a bird coming in mid morning when he flew up into a tree for whatever reason.
I remember thinking about shooting him for a while but I didn't know if you were supposed to and I figured he was going to fly down towards me anyway because he was looking my way.
He didn't and I didn't
When I first started hunting I had a bird coming in mid morning when he flew up into a tree for whatever reason.
I remember thinking about shooting him for a while but I didn't know if you were supposed to and I figured he was going to fly down towards me anyway because he was looking my way.
He didn't and I didn't
Wacenturion
Senior Member
No...............and never will.
Gut_Pile
Senior Member
No not me. If he was gobblin and was coming to my call and flew up in a tree he might be in trouble...but not off the roost.
Just out of curiosity...who has actually snuck up close enough to a gobbler on a limb in good light to shoot him from it? They have such an advantage up in the tree and would more than likely spook before you got into range.
Just out of curiosity...who has actually snuck up close enough to a gobbler on a limb in good light to shoot him from it? They have such an advantage up in the tree and would more than likely spook before you got into range.
Iff'n it is legal and in range, I will shoot.
I might go turkey hunting 2 or 3 times a year and you can bet yourself your last and next paycheck that a legal bird in range is as good as dead.
I've only had that happen 3 times and I've only killed 3 turkeys. 1 walked under my stand while bow hunting (12 years ago), 1 came running down a grassy road to a call & hen decoy (that was really neat - 4 years ago), 1 was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (last year) - ran into them on a road while turkey hunting with a buddy, dove into the underbrush and they walked within 10 feet...milled around and exploded into flight - when my buddy whacked one, ...got my bird on the wing.
Oh - I forgot to say that I'm basically DEAF and can't hear them much anyway. A gobbler 100 yards away gobbling isn't there to my ears. So, pretty much, I take what opportunities present themselves and am very happy when they do.
You won't have me pretending to be a "turkey hunter", I just hunt turkeys from time to time.
'Supposed to get some new hearing aids that might change all that - will take some getting used to but, maybe I'll hear some this spring?
I might go turkey hunting 2 or 3 times a year and you can bet yourself your last and next paycheck that a legal bird in range is as good as dead.
I've only had that happen 3 times and I've only killed 3 turkeys. 1 walked under my stand while bow hunting (12 years ago), 1 came running down a grassy road to a call & hen decoy (that was really neat - 4 years ago), 1 was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (last year) - ran into them on a road while turkey hunting with a buddy, dove into the underbrush and they walked within 10 feet...milled around and exploded into flight - when my buddy whacked one, ...got my bird on the wing.
Oh - I forgot to say that I'm basically DEAF and can't hear them much anyway. A gobbler 100 yards away gobbling isn't there to my ears. So, pretty much, I take what opportunities present themselves and am very happy when they do.
You won't have me pretending to be a "turkey hunter", I just hunt turkeys from time to time.
'Supposed to get some new hearing aids that might change all that - will take some getting used to but, maybe I'll hear some this spring?
Mr. Longbeard
Banned
I've never shot a gobbler off the limb in my 17 years of turkey hunting... But I am not going to sit hear and say i will never do it...
It is perfectly leagal as long as it's leagal shooting light...
If I have went the whole season with out killing me a gobbler and I've about reached my point of frustration with chasing Pressured Gobblers... I may very well smoke one off the limb... I am not talking about purposly sneaking up to one on the roost and waiting for enough light to see him and then punking him off the limb..
I'm saying if I have gotton lucky enough to get in the woods and by some crazy odds I happen to set up within 30 yards off a roosted gobbler and i see him up on his limb gobbling his brains out... I prob will put his butt to sleep...
Say what you will... I am honest and aint ashamed to tell it like it is...
One thing you will get from me is the truth and nothin but the truth... I'm not like 90% of the people on these forum that act like there holier than thow and when there all by them selfs there punking birds out of fields and off the sides of roads from there truck... I don't live in a make believe world...
Oh and Im not a attorney either...
It is perfectly leagal as long as it's leagal shooting light...
If I have went the whole season with out killing me a gobbler and I've about reached my point of frustration with chasing Pressured Gobblers... I may very well smoke one off the limb... I am not talking about purposly sneaking up to one on the roost and waiting for enough light to see him and then punking him off the limb..
I'm saying if I have gotton lucky enough to get in the woods and by some crazy odds I happen to set up within 30 yards off a roosted gobbler and i see him up on his limb gobbling his brains out... I prob will put his butt to sleep...
Say what you will... I am honest and aint ashamed to tell it like it is...
One thing you will get from me is the truth and nothin but the truth... I'm not like 90% of the people on these forum that act like there holier than thow and when there all by them selfs there punking birds out of fields and off the sides of roads from there truck... I don't live in a make believe world...
Oh and Im not a attorney either...
pnome
Senior Member
This is an important point I think.
In my 4 years of hunting. I've seen plenty of turkeys in the wild but I've seen exactly 0 gobblers on the roost. None.
That includes off season as well. Maybe i'm just not looking up in the trees enough.
I can't imagine that it's somehow "easy" to sneak up on them like that.
I just don't understand the prohibition or inhibition about roost shooting.
Just curious why you would shoot one if you happened to find yourself in the situation and but why you wouldn't put yourself in that situation.
And what does the fact that you aren't an attorney have to do with anything?
shawn mills
Senior Member
I've killed over 50 longbeards and consider myself an above average turkey hunter. All have been legal but the one that I'd love to be able to take back is the one I shot off the roost about 20 years ago. I hunted him for two seasons. He roosted over a big creek every evening and would wait until well after sunrise to pitch out and sail into a 250 acre pasture with ZERO cover. He would spend all day eating and breeding in that pasture only to fly back up to the same spot every evening. The last morning of season I waded through the big creek in the darkness until I was under where I thought he was. When it got fly down time, all the hens started pitching out up the creek, flying into the pasture and he started gobbling. I eased the gun up and shot him and watched as he fell into the creek below. Not trying to brag here, just hoping someone else might learn from my mistake. I've killed MANY trophy whitetails and MANY exceptional longbearded ol gobblers and I have to say its the one regret I have in my turkey hunting "memory bank". I'd rather never have killed him and kept trying than to have taken that smart old bird that way...
Fanfare
Banned
I can't imagine planning on killing a gobbler off the roost.To me part of the game is guessing what he will do when he flies down and trying to set up accordingly.Most times I guess wrong and thats what makes the bird seem intelligent which only increases my drive to outsmart him.Slipping up under him in the dark knowing he will not fly off because he cannot see just does not seem fair game to me.
TurkeyManiac
Senior Member
Only if I am next to him on the limb.
....it could happen
....it could happen
Cane_Cutter
Banned
ive shot plenty off the limb, after legal shooting hours of course. how i got my first bow kill.
dwills
Senior Member
I don't think I could ever justify killing a bird on the roost. The thrill of turkey hunting to me is hearing the gobbling and watching the strutting. To me, the reward lies in knowing that you outsmarted a bird with your calling and woodsmanship. Is it really hunting if you sneak in on a gobbler while it is still dark (before he can see to fly away) and blast him off the limb when it is light enough to see?
silvestris
Senior Member
The term "holier than thou" gets tossed around a bit. But there are hunters out there that really are holier than thou. They possess principles that they refuse to disobey whatever the circumstances. They understand that the game they play has unwritten rules set down long before they ever came into the world and they feel an obligation to follow those unwritten rules. They know that all hunters are not on that high of a pedestal and they accept that fact. They do wish that those other hunters could experience and appreciate the exhilaration that comes from engaging in fair battle with the wild turkey, whether the turkey comes home him or not. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast". And I hope for all of you to reach the higher plateau of the "holier than thou".
Ok, I'm hearing an awful of the so-called unwritten rules so many folks are not obeying lately.
What are those rules?
After legal shooting hours as in after sunset or after sunrise.
Sterlo58
Senior Member
I have had the opportunity and chose not to. The thrill is in the hunt. Calling him in and watchin the show. 
