If you KNOW your property holds turkeys......

[GMMAT]

Why the need to scout? I mean.....other than to roost them just before the season.....what would you be looking for....and why?

Season opens here on 4/12. I "might" go out a week ahead of time and see if I see them roosting.....but I'm more afraid of being seen if I do this.

So......I admit....I will probably do close to zero "scouting".

[Rory/MO]

ORIGINAL: GMMAT

Why the need to scout? I mean.....other than to roost them just before the season.....what would you be looking for....and why?

Season opens here on 4/12. I "might" go out a week ahead of time and see if I see them roosting.....but I'm more afraid of being seen if I do this.

So......I admit....I will probably do close to zero "scouting".

we (my family)scout each of our farms once every year. we try to find "strut zones", roost areas, where they like to feed in fields, etc.
we have found this to be the best way to scout, and you dont mess with the birds before the season AT ALL
my dads killed over 50 total turkeys, so i try to follow in his footsteps when it comes to this kind of stuff.
i can def. see where youre coming from though GMMAT

[Rob/PA Bowyer]

I don't scout. The turkeys are there every year. I only need less than a week to confirm it. I don't go near it, I know the property and I listen from afar and can tell you where they are. No point in educating them.

[GMMAT]

Glad to hear you won't think I'm laying down on the job, Rob.

I just find it pointless.....and counterproductive.

[bawanajim]

ORIGINAL: GMMAT

Glad to hear you won't think I'm laying down on the job, Rob.

I just find it pointless.....and counterproductive.

Shouldn't you be shed hunting ? Deer scouting ? Hell if deer made half as much noise as turkeys do you wouldn't need to scout them either.

[MN/Kyle]

ORIGINAL: GMMAT

Why the need to scout?

I scout because you always hear about guys targeting certain deer, I like to do that with turkeys. I like the challenge of singling one out, and chasing him in the spring.

If you don't want to do this, roosting birds would be all I do as well.

I like to pick up sheds and scout turks and the same time too.

[wingchaser_labs]

Scouting only dirupts the bird IMO unless you are doing it from a road or somethign by spotting scope..... I never scout cuz our birds use the same strutting areas every year and all I do is go out and find em the night before on roost. Then I set up between where they are roosted and where I think they want to go (hen roosting areas or strutting areas/on the edge of it) depending on what part of the season we are in. If thetoms are locked up with hens I get between them and the hens on roost. If the toms are really looking I go straight for the strutting areas cuz they will show up real fast comin off of roost. WCL

[psebwhntr16]

ORIGINAL: wingchaser_labs

Scouting only dirupts the bird IMO unless you are doing it from a road or somethign by spotting scope..... I never scout cuz our birds use the same strutting areas every year and all I do is go out and find em the night before on roost. Then I set up between where they are roosted and where I think they want to go (hen roosting areas or strutting areas/on the edge of it) depending on what part of the season we are in. If thetoms are locked up with hens I get between them and the hens on roost. If the toms are really looking I go straight for the strutting areas cuz they will show up real fast comin off of roost. WCL

I agree. Living on a thoroughbred, I do my scouting from horse back because it doesnt spook the birds. When I scout this time of the year I put more emphasis on where the hens are, rather than the males. Because, like winchester_labs said, during the course of the season your males are eventually gona get henned up, and it will pay to know where the hens are going to lead those gobblers.

[shed33]

soon as the grass is right from the snow melt, they'll be in and aroundmy pastures.. this year being much different from the past three.. with all the snow we have.. I did see my first gobblers strutting the past two days while traveling to work.. They will come..I'll wait.. Or.. hit some of my other areas with less snow and the birds seem to use the same areas year after year.. just matter of getting them to talk and going to them..

[Steven McBee]

i dont scout for turkeys . but the night before we hunt i go and roost some birds. from deer hunting i already know where they like to hang out, besides i have one tactic that has been 14/14 on toms when i wasnt able to call them in. its called a polaris ranger! just chase them out of the fields into a block of timber and set guys on one end of the timber and start walking through just like on a deer drive