Can you shoot a turkey in its roost?

[seth30]

WOW!  A lot of double standards in this thread

[Skillet]

Shooting a deer or elk in its bed and shooting a turkey in its roost are completely different. You will never hear of an ethical turkey hunter shoot a roosted bird! That's about as challenging as shooting your neighbors black lab. A deer or elk in its bed has the same opportunity to flea as a deer or elk that is standing or feeding. Turkeys are different, once roosted they generally don't leave. It would be more appropriate to comparing shooting a roosted bird to spotlighting a deer (although yes I know spotlighting is illegal and shooting roosted birds is legal).

Interesting perspective.  I've not spent a lot of time turkey hunting, so I don't know the "norms".  But I do know my grandad would have cuffed the back of my head if I threw a load of lead #6's at a raft of swimming ducks... so it does appear situational.

WOW!  A lot of double standards in this thread

Yep, I'm pretty interested to see where this one goes!

[Huntbear]

Not picking on you specifically MtnMuley...

But would you shoot that buck of a lifetime in its bed?  OR are you going to couch, stomp your feet, Yell,,, HEY DEER... to give it a chance???  Probably not....

I would shoot a turkey in the roost 10/10 times.. go home a very happy hunter...  I would also shoot a deer or an elk in its bed... 

Ethical??  I see more ethics out the window with guys drinking beer while hunting, shooting way past the range you can really hit anything at, etc..... and so on.... 

Shooting a deer or elk in its bed and shooting a turkey in its roost are completely different. You will never hear of an ethical turkey hunter shoot a roosted bird! That's about as challenging as shooting your neighbors black lab. A deer or elk in its bed has the same opportunity to flea as a deer or elk that is standing or feeding. Turkeys are different, once roosted they generally don't leave. It would be more appropriate to comparing shooting a roosted bird to spotlighting a deer (although yes I know spotlighting is illegal and shooting roosted birds is legal).

So,,,, I shot a deer in its bed while it was asleep.....  He never knew I was there.. I put one in his  boiler room at about 150 yds.... was that ethical???  He had no chance to run, get away, he was snoozing away....  Guess that is unethical?  Again.. unethical covers a lot of things,, but this is not one of them...  IF it is legal shooting hours, I am pulling the trigger..  Maybe we should holler, FLY bird, FLY!!!  or maybe fire a warning shot       Maybe,, Just maybe we should have to shoot them using mirrors backwards over our shoulders....  give them a chance....   But really if you are gonna go there, I hope your not using a rangefinder for any of your hunting, some may consider that unethical...  if you use a bow, should it be a recurve only?  you start saying something completely LEGAL is unethical, be prepared to have your own ways of doing things slide down that slippery slope...   because some people think even hunting is unethical.. 

[D-Rock425]

I shot a bear out of a tree.   So id probably shoot a Turkey. 

[Skillet]

An argument for the situational -

When fishing, we adhere to what we call "Captain's rules".  If the host of the trip doesn't keep any oversized walleye (over 22" in most places), then you don't keep any oversized walleye unless the host ok's it.  When you're fishing with me in my boat, if it's legal to keep, feel free.  I hope you enjoyed your trip, and will enjoy your meals to come even more.  But if I'm fishing with Yelp, and he says "we don't keep overs, and we only keep enough for a few filets for tonight's supper", then I'm only keeping a couple of fish for tonight's supper.  Captain's rules.

So, if I'm turkey hunting with Yelp, and he says "we don't shoot birds out of the roost", then I don't either.  But if I'm out by myself, I won't necessarily feel compelled to adhere to another man's ethical standard just for the sake of adhering to another man's ethical standard.  If I choose to shoot a turkey out of a tree, I can still sleep that night.  If someone else does it, I'm sure not going to give him a hard time about it.

BUT - you put that turkey on the side of the road, with half a dozen cars stopped watching the roosted birds and checking them off on their "life list", then some dude gets out and blasts a tom out of a tree in front of them... well, that's a bird of a different feather.

So, I think it's situational.

[Huntbear]

An argument for the situational -

When fishing, we adhere to what we call "Captain's rules".  If the host of the trip doesn't keep any oversized walleye (over 22" in most places), then you don't keep any oversized walleye unless the host ok's it.  When you're fishing with me in my boat, if it's legal to keep, feel free.  I hope you enjoyed your trip, and will enjoy your meals to come even more.  But if I'm fishing with Yelp, and he says "we don't keep overs, and we only keep enough for a few filets for tonight's supper", then I'm only keeping a couple of fish for tonight's supper.  Captain's rules.

So, if I'm turkey hunting with Yelp, and he says "we don't shoot birds out of the roost", then I don't either.  But if I'm out by myself, I won't necessarily feel compelled to adhere to another man's ethical standard just for the sake of adhering to another man's ethical standard.  If I choose to shoot a turkey out of a tree, I can still sleep that night.  If someone else does it, I'm sure not going to give him a hard time about it.

BUT - you put that turkey on the side of the road, with half a dozen cars stopped watching the roosted birds and checking them off on their "life list", then some dude gets out and blasts a tom out of a tree in front of them... well, that's a bird of a different feather.

So, I think it's situational.

Why not???  I hear some others do that with elk ...   

[deerslyr]

Not sure how many "ethics" threads im going to have to post this on; there is no one set of ethics out there published in a book. Its up to the person in the situation and what they think is ethical. You cant expect every one to live by your set of ethics.
I see nothing wrong with shooting a bird out of a roost, I dont find it very sporting and wont do it, but thats me. I also dont find hunting over bait very sporting, or as fun you could say, but im not going to slam any one who does it, and ill fight side by side with them to allow baiting to still be legal. 

[JPhelps]

Can you shoot a turkey in a tree? YES
Will I? NO
Do I care if anyone else does? NO

Pretty simple and everyone is happy

[runamuk]

Can I?? probably not the time I tried that with a grouse I missed?  so my answer is no I probably can't .... now if I had a license and I was out hunting and had a turkey tag and the turkey was just sitting there like a dweeb I might take a crack at it.... my luck I'd miss and instead of flying away it would attack me....in which case I might just bash it over the head with my gun 

[Huntbear]

Can I?? probably not the time I tried that with a grouse I missed?  so my answer is no I probably can't .... now if I had a license and I was out hunting and had a turkey tag and the turkey was just sitting there like a dweeb I might take a crack at it.... my luck I'd miss and instead of flying away it would attack me....in which case I might just bash it over the head with my gun 

I want to be there with a video camera......   

[YellowDog]

Not sure how many "ethics" threads im going to have to post this on; there is no one set of ethics out there published in a book. Its up to the person in the situation and what they think is ethical. You cant expect every one to live by your set of ethics.
I see nothing wrong with shooting a bird out of a roost, I dont find it very sporting and wont do it, but thats me. I also dont find hunting over bait very sporting, or as fun you could say, but im not going to slam any one who does it, and ill fight side by side with them to allow baiting to still be legal. 

I like this response.   
Shooting a turkey on the roost is not illegal therefore it becomes an individual ethical decision, not a legal one. 

Not bashing anyone but I think the folks that do not and would not shoot a turkey on the roost are probably that way because of some tradition passed down from a family member, mentor, etc.  I would say that most serious hard core turkey hunters don't shoot birds off the roost because they don't think it is sporting and they know the importance of not disturbing a roost site.   Not saying they are right and those that would shoot are wrong. 

The comparison to shooting a deer or elk in its bed is not quite the same as shooting a turkey on the roost IMO.  One of the main reasons turkeys roost is to put distance between them and their ground dwelling predators (non-human) so by roosting they are relatively safe from most of their predators and can rest.  Deer and elk obviously don't have that option and have to be alert to predators at all times.  Turkeys are lucky I guess in that they are able to roost.  So a turkey sitting in a tree that thinks he is safe from most predators getting blasted by a shotgun is just a little different for me even though it would probably take some good stalking skills to stalk in under a roost tree. 

I won't slam someone for doing it per se but I may say that I consider it to be unethical.  That is my opinion only and is not really intended as a slam so someone who does shoot turkeys on the roost should not really be too worried about my belief that it is unethical.  If you want to know why it is considered unethical to a lot of folks, research it and confirm your feelings one way or the other.

[bradslam]

I remember a few years back, the game warden in the Davenport area telling me about how he shot a gobbler out of its roost.  As a hardcore turkey hunter that would never dream of doing that, I was shocked.  Legal, yes, but just plain unethical in my opinion.  The difference between a turkey in its roost and a deer in its bed is the expectation of security that the animal has.  A turkey roosts in a tree to avoid predators.  When it is up in its roost tree and it sees a potential predator on the ground, it feels much more secure and is less likely to fly.  At least, until you get very close.  I've had plenty of gobblers let me walk right up directly beneath them.  Of course, most of the time this was an screw up on my part, but the point is it took no skill to do so.  Bottom line is: show the gobbler some respect and if you need to resort to shooting them out of their roost, then maybe you should learn to hunt. 

[Houndhunter]

i shoot ducks on the water, geese in a wheat field, pheasnt holed up, and grouse on the ground..... so ya i def take a gobbler in a tree


but calling them in would be much more fun for me

[Woodchuck]

I remember a few years back, the game warden in the Davenport area telling me about how he shot a gobbler out of its roost.  As a hardcore turkey hunter that would never dream of doing that, I was shocked.  Legal, yes, but just plain unethical in my opinion.  The difference between a turkey in its roost and a deer in its bed is the expectation of security that the animal has.  A turkey roosts in a tree to avoid predators.  When it is up in its roost tree and it sees a potential predator on the ground, it feels much more secure and is less likely to fly.  At least, until you get very close.  I've had plenty of gobblers let me walk right up directly beneath them.  Of course, most of the time this was an screw up on my part, but the point is it took no skill to do so.  Bottom line is: show the gobbler some respect and if you need to resort to shooting them out of their roost, then maybe you should learn to hunt.

So a deer or an elk that beds down on an open hillside with their backs to a ledge and the wind in their face so they can see  and smell predators of any kind don't have the same kind of safety expectation?

[runamuk]

Turkeys have expectations of safety ??  Wow who knew and they are wrong.... weapons give us an advantage shouldn't we use it?  A deer 200-700 yds away browsing a hillside has an expectation of security too....problem is they never hear the bullet approaching like they would any other predator....

I will never understand the whole one is ethical but the other is not go with legal and what you find enjoyable after all its your money and your tag