# Spring Bird Movement



## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

First season turkey hunter question. I have been watching and patterning a couple of flocks for the past few weeks. They come and go from the area I see them in and one day I stalked them far far up a drainage. How much are these birds moving in a day and are they going to be coming back to the same roost every night?


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

seems like you are the one to answer that question... so haw far do they move up the canyon? love to know.


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## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

Seems like they are going 2-3 miles up the drainage, but that seems like an awful far distance to cover in one day for a bird like that. Especially if they are just going to return to the same tree to sleep. I guess a better question is are these birds going to start moving further up the canyon? They are at about 5600 feet right now.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

they make a loop . they will cover ground for a day and yes they will go back to the roost unless you blow them out of there


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

NewState said:


> I guess a better question is are these birds going to start moving further up the canyon? They are at about 5600 feet right now.


Are the toms and hens together in a big group or just a flock of toms and jakes? A lot of hens are laying eggs and sitting nests right now in central utah area I hunt. Very few of them are seen after about 7:30am which means the hens aren't moving and the gobblers will stick around that general area hoping for hens that still need breeding. Having said that, I have seen toms move out of the area hoping for greener pastures. I have seen some toms that will move 2+ miles away from the roost to come back to the roost at night especially later in the season. The things to remember is they will often take the exact same route day after day. Use that to your advantage.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Once birds get settled into the area that they normally habitat....winter, spring or summer area...they will not normally travel 2-3 miles(downtown Mendon to the very tip of Mendon Peak is only 3 miles) and back to a roost. The flock would normally travel a daily route that might be a couple miles total or sometimes only a few hundred yards total before returning to roost. They might have several roosting trees along that route and it seems they switch off using a certain roost every few days. Sounds like you pretty well have these birds figured out, are you just curious or are you hunting???


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## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

BP I am hunting, just haven't been able to get on top of them. The terrain they are in is steep and they move quicker than I do. They are in a big group of 4-5 toms and jakes and 8-10 hens. I haven't seen the toms without a bunch of hen groupies. Guess I'll just keep at the roost I've found and hope I can catch them on their way out one of these mornings. They are silent after 7:20 making it pretty hard.


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## SCtransplant (Jul 31, 2015)

Let's go kill them!


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

NewState said:


> BP I am hunting, just haven't been able to get on top of them. The terrain they are in is steep and they move quicker than I do. They are in a big group of 4-5 toms and jakes and 8-10 hens. I haven't seen the toms without a bunch of hen groupies. Guess I'll just keep at the roost I've found and hope I can catch them on their way out one of these mornings. They are silent after 7:20 making it pretty hard.


IMO, if they are in a big group like that, they are still on the move to the spot that they will start nesting. My bet is they will probably not be back down the lower elevation roost. Keep us updated on what happens.


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## kstorrs (Oct 29, 2012)

NewState said:


> BP I am hunting, just haven't been able to get on top of them. The terrain they are in is steep and they move quicker than I do. They are in a big group of 4-5 toms and jakes and 8-10 hens. I haven't seen the toms without a bunch of hen groupies. Guess I'll just keep at the roost I've found and hope I can catch them on their way out one of these mornings. They are silent after 7:20 making it pretty hard.


Sounds very similar to the group (4+ toms, at least 1-2 jakes & 15+ hens) I shot my tom out of 2 weeks ago. They hung out in the same area day after day until mid afternoon. I happened to intercept them while they were on the move. Keep after them. You'll get one 8)


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## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

kstorrs said:


> Sounds very similar to the group (4+ toms, at least 1-2 jakes & 15+ hens) I shot my tom out of 2 weeks ago. They hung out in the same area day after day until mid afternoon. I happened to intercept them while they were on the move. Keep after them. You'll get one 8)


I hope so!! Went out again this morning, didnt see the same number of hens but toms and jakes were still there. Had them gobbling close in some thick cover 30 yards away but they decided not to come my direction. For sure though I had them for a minute. I'll let you all know once I finally get one. Including youth hunt(scouting for me) we are at 5 days now.


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## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

Looks like the birds have moved. I had to go out of town for a week and this morning when i went back out there was little sign of birds and only a single gobble about as far away as the sound could travel. Only have a week left so if anyone has any tips on finding new birds in cache valley, which they are everywhere but there is no longer time to look everywhere, it would be much appreciated.


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## NewState (Sep 29, 2015)

Figured I would just keep my questions in this thread if anyone is still checking it. This morning we shot at a bird that had come into a field straight off his roost. Shot was no good though due to an adrenaline flinch im guessing because it was at the 25-30 yard mark when we ranged it after. We couldn't find any promising signs of a hit or him (yes we patterned guns). What are the chances of those birds returning to a field in a relatively un pressured area if they were shot at once?


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

NewState said:


> Figured I would just keep my questions in this thread if anyone is still checking it. This morning we shot at a bird that had come into a field straight off his roost. Shot was no good though due to an adrenaline flinch im guessing because it was at the 25-30 yard mark when we ranged it after. We couldn't find any promising signs of a hit or him (yes we patterned guns). What are the chances of those birds returning to a field in a relatively un pressured area if they were shot at once?


You can never know. If they don't get any pressure, I would not be surprised to see them back in the field within a couple days. I have seen birds back to a spot where shot at in the morning that same evening and I have seen birds shot at that never came back to that spot. This year, the birds really liked a little meadow and they were back in there within about 3 days of getting shot at in the meadow a couple of times. I'd say it is 50/50 chance that they are there again 2-3 days after you shot at them.


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