Late afternoon and evening hunting

[prairiedog555]

I normally do not hunt afternoons, but I want to start.  Less pressure and give me more hunting time.  I live in the country and am 10-15 min from hunting sites.
My question is do you have luck in afternoon? 

Best time?

Tactics?

And when do they fly up into the trees, is it at dusk?

Thanks

[valvesinmyhead]

I try to catch them on the way to roost. Know their habits and don't set up to close to the roost spot.

[dukkillr]

There is a surprising amount of variance in when turkeys fly up.  Depending on gender, location, weather, and pressure turkeys may fly up 20-30 minutes before sunset up to completely dark.  On rainy, dark days they may even fly up in the afternoon. 

I figure I kill 30-40% of my toms in the afternoon or evening.  Generally you have to be much more conservative with your calling and decoys.  Toms will come in quietly and alone much more often than they do in the morning.  Soft purrs and clucks and scratching is about all I do in the evening.

To me the real value of afternoon hunting is that I know where they turkeys will be in the morning.  It's scouting with a gun, and that information is invaluable.  I'd rather kill them in the morning, the show is almost always better, and some times I let them walk in the evening depending on whether I'm guiding in the morning or closing in on a season limit...

Think ahead of time about how you're going to make your escape without bumping stuff off the roost.  If you don't know where they will roost, be very conservative in your location. 

[1marty]

In NY we're only allowed to hunt until 12 noon in the Spring. I never saw the logic behind this.

[JPSaxMan]

In NY we're only allowed to hunt until 12 noon in the Spring. I never saw the logic behind this.

That's how it is Pennsylvania too. Seems like bankers' hours to me...

[Big Nasty]

I've only shot one bird in the morning, all the rest in the evening, they show up out of no were.

[Forestclimber]

A lot of times the hens are on the nest in the afternoon, and the toms are out looking.  I've had good luck in the afternoon.  Indiana used to be morning only.  I think some guys didn't think it was ethical to hunt in the afternoon.  I think anything is ethical if you are following the law.  It's hunting.

[SHOOTALL]

Here some shoot them when they are feeding in a field. They either see them while riding around or sit and wait. When they see them they shoot them with a rifle .

[BigMuddy]

In NY we're only allowed to hunt until 12 noon in the Spring. I never saw the logic behind this.

We can only hunt until 1:00 in Missouri. The "logic" is that hens will be on nests, and hunters may bump them off, thus possibly affecting the hatching of the eggs. Not sure I buy that one, but it is the reason it was explained to me. I like the half day hunt because I would never get any sleep at all if I got to hunt all day. I might not survive

I did the all day thing in Florida, and after many years of hunting until mid-day it felt strange.

Dan