[RutStrut23]

Anybody ever seen em fly down that early?
On some public land yesterday I got in super early and was about to doze off when they started gobbling at 525. Gobbled till 540 when they flew down then of course they went silent till about 615. Gobbled about every 5 minutes after that so i made a move and got down the hill, through the valley, across the creek, up the other ridge and just as i got towards the top thinking i had headed em off at the pass 1 bird gobbles just on the other side of the massive ridge top thicket that you couldnt drive a tank through. The other 2 gobble immediately and i realize they are already past me. I belly crawled towards the end of the thicket and gave a few clucks and a purr and nothing.... Sit there for a few minutes with the safety off positive they are coming over to check me out and nothing... Few minutes later i made a move around the thicket and they were gone.... Ugggggggg....
If i would have got there just a few minutes earlier.. Ha.. Well thats turkey hunting.. It was still quite a thrill to have 3 gobbling within 30 yards.

 

[RutStrut23]

What time was sunrise where you hunted? I try to be walking quietly to my spot an hour before sunrise unless I have a long walk, then even earlier. Sunrise this morning at Jeff City was 6:06 am which would have made legal shooting time at 5:36. Sometime they are still on the roost at legal shooting time and sometime they have already flown down. You can have about a 20 minute difference between sunrise in the east and west part of Missouri.

Not sure exactly but pretty sure it was around 610 or so. It just felt awful early as it was a cloudy morning so it was still pretty dark when they flew down. I was pretty surprised because they usually wait till its a little more light. But then again they're turkeys.. So who knows why they fly down when they do or dont gobble on some days