I've heard a little in the forum here on elevation and where the birds seem to go at different points in the season. Let's get a discussion started about this.

I've always been of the school that higher is better. If you have the guts and the muscle to get higher up the mountain than other hunters, as well as above the gobbler you're after, you've improved your chances. But this school of thought didn't help me out AT ALL the Saturday AM when that big gobbler hollered all the way down the valley in response to my calls and then STAYED THERE, refusing to come up the hill to me.

I also know that turkeys love to roost around creeks . . . which of course follow the lowest course possible. I've heard that later in the season, hunting pressure forces turkeys higher just to avoid contact with the people that seem now to always be around their usual hang-outs. Is there a point at which they vacate their normal areas and head for the high ground? Do they like it all the time? Would they rather stay low? What has been your experience?

Remember one thing they stay where the hens are and hens are where the food is and near nesting cover. For the most part until things green up high and they have food they usually wont spent a lot of time there unless there is some source of nutrition. Also they sure like the fields this time of year so they hang out close to them. It also depends on how much elevation change you speak of. I know for a fact a few years back while hunting Tenn that birds a few miles away up 1500 feet were much farther behind in gobbling than the birds down low. The green up difference was quite drastic as well.

Great advice. Thanks.

There is a group of birds around a creek I've been hunting, and they seem to have suddenly vanished. I hunted Saturday, and then Monday. They were there and responsive Saturday, and I accidentally spooked them. I mean, I went WAAAY out of my way to avoid the spot I thought they were on my way out. But, they moved and I spooked them. Then Monday, they were GONE. I didn't think that one bump would send them to the next county. I wondered if they've gone higher up?

Spending many a spring morning on the ridges in Craig/Montgomery/Giles/Roanoke/Botetourt counties, I can say that I've found birds both high and low. I've had birds that seem to consistently roost high (Ol' Reliable) and birds that consistently roost low. The birds that roost lower get worked harder and in my opinion are more easily bumped. There does seem to be a magic line in elevation in the areas I hunt where the birds that roost high typically roost. I've not gotten an elevation on my GPS for these birds, but have spent many a morning walking at the same elevation across ridge after ridge and have struck birds at about the same height. Most of the birds that I've connected with and played the game, I've worked in from above them.